F8 Puffer Food

Beginner puffer question. I've had the puffer for a couple months now, and knew I was getting into a more "challenging" fish, but I'm coming up on my wits ends. He is the pickiest eater. I am looking for food recommendations from other puffer owners. I'm considering rehoming if I can't get a consistent diet going. He is in a 20 gal brackish tank, and I've started collecting the equipment needed to switch him to a 40 gal tank, but don't want to commit to a new tank unless I know I can keep him. I have tried a the following foods:

Frozen blood worms - was fed these at the store and continued to eat them for about a month, now will spit them out

Frozen brine shrimp - zero interest

Live brine shrimp - slurped up one and promptly spit it out. Zero interest since.

Live ghost shrimp - ate these for about a week before losing interest.

Frozen clams on half shells - zero interest

Pond snails - LOVES. Which I knew he would, and I am breeding them for him, but I fear what may happen if that tank crashes (population got too big and crashed once before I bought the puffer). I also know that variety is important in their diets, so I need more to feed than just snails.

I tried rotating the foods he would eat so he wouldn't get tired of the same thing over and over, but he now refuses to eat anything other than snails. I'm looking for any and all recomendations.

 

Beginner puffer question. I've had the puffer for a couple months now, and knew I was getting into a more "challenging" fish, but I'm coming up on my wits ends. He is the pickiest eater. I am looking for food recommendations from other puffer owners. I'm considering rehoming if I can't get a consistent diet going. He is in a 20 gal brackish tank, and I've started collecting the equipment needed to switch him to a 40 gal tank, but don't want to commit to a new tank unless I know I can keep him. I have tried a the following foods:

Frozen blood worms - was fed these at the store and continued to eat them for about a month, now will spit them out

Frozen brine shrimp - zero interest

Live brine shrimp - slurped up one and promptly spit it out. Zero interest since.

Live ghost shrimp - ate these for about a week before losing interest.

Frozen clams on half shells - zero interest

Pond snails - LOVES. Which I knew he would, and I am breeding them for him, but I fear what may happen if that tank crashes (population got too big and crashed once before I bought the puffer). I also know that variety is important in their diets, so I need more to feed than just snails.

I tried rotating the foods he would eat so he wouldn't get tired of the same thing over and over, but he now refuses to eat anything other than snails. I'm looking for any and all recomendations.

Sometimes they are picky

 

What type of puffer is it? I’m not too experienced with puffers so I don’t have many suggestions, but that will help others out.

If you need snails while you wait for your colony to establish, check with your local fish stores as they often have plenty of surplus snails and will give them away for free. The petsmart near me keeps a betta cup of pest snails to give away as feeders. I wonder is a variety of snail types would offer more nutritional variety?

 

Live foods work the best, so a rotation between the snails and live shrimp is probably your best option. Daphnia may also suit your puffer, depending on the size.

 

Its a juvenile figure 8 puffer. Thank you for the suggestions. Ill also be trying live black worms when my lfs gets them in. I'll also ask to see if they can spare some snails if I need them.

 

When young: snails, brine shrimp, bloodworms, blackworms, mealworms, plankton, , crickets, cockles, prawns, whitebait, daphnia, ghost shrimp, clams, mussels, squid, scallops, shrimp, crab legs, oysters, lobster, and crayfish

I found this using the blue link found when you typed in the type of puffer as well!