How do I feed my pea puffers?

[VanDogh]

I got my pea puffers a couple of days ago. But they are so insanely scared of me, when I use my tweezers and try to feed them blood worms they get scared and hide. How do I get them to eat? They are 4 in a 60L tank, approx. 16 gallons (it's a low boy tank so more spacecious) 

[Dacotua]

Buy pest snails, put them in the tank.  (Ramshorn and pond snails).  Thats their primary food.

 

[VanDogh]

On 8/18/2024 at 6:38 PM, Dacotua said:

Buy pest snails, put them in the tank.  (Ramshorn and pond snails).  Thats their primary food.

 

Is that enough? I do that as well but can't see if they're actually eating them 

[Lennie]

They need that group dynamic. I highly suggest to increase their number. I had 11 in a 50 liter shallow tank. They were fairly bold but mine were also tank raised.

 

I kept them bare bottom so they could easily find food but I endriched the tank with rocks hiding points floating plants pelia moss etc.

 

Mine loved live bbs, smaller sized daphnia and white worms. Maybe you can try those. Mine didnt accept frozen/fd food even tho they are tankbred.

 

On 8/18/2024 at 7:38 PM, Dacotua said:

uy pest snails, put them in the tank.  (Ramshorn and pond snails).  Thats their primary food.

That's not their primary food at all, infact, you can totally avoid feeding snails, as these guys dont have such beak trimming requirement like many other puffers. Also in my experience they cant even "eat" the snail properly. Ive seen many left injured but not killed, but had their antennas and such injured I(yes Im talking about pest snails), it was extremely bothering to witness such occasion for me

 

I personally dont even advice to feed pest snails. Maybe mini ramshorns are an exception if you wanna try, due to their shell being fairly soft and very small so they can go for them if they really want to.

 

here are two guides including the feeding requirements:

https://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/puffers-in-focus/dwarfpuffercare/

https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldwide.com/post/c-travancoricus

 

Edited August 18 by Lennie

[VanDogh]

On 8/18/2024 at 7:46 PM, Lennie said:

They need that group dynamic. I highly suggest to increase their number. I had 11 in a 50 liter shallow tank. They were fairly bold but mine were also tank raised.

What do you mean by tank raised? I got my second handed, their previous owner were selling them plus the tank. I've heard that introducing new puffers to an already established group can be hard because they're territorial?

How many do you think would be a suitable number on mine?

On 8/18/2024 at 7:46 PM, Lennie said:

Mine loved live bbs, smaller sized daphnia and white worms. Maybe you can try those. Mine didnt accept frozen/fd food even tho they are tankbred.

I am actually not sure how to get my hands on live food 🤔

On 8/18/2024 at 7:46 PM, Lennie said:

here are two guides including the feeding requirements

Thanks! I'll check the links and read them 

[Lennie]

On 8/18/2024 at 9:54 PM, VanDogh said:

I am actually not sure how to get my hands on live food 🤔

You can hatch bbs easily by using eggs but for others you need to find a sterile culture from someone and keep going from there.

White worms are super easy. Daphnia can be more challenging in the long run, imo. Hatching bbs is very easy.

 

you can also try grindal worms I think, white worms are a bit too big but I had them already

 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I have a feeder cone, and I put the bloodworms in there. Mine also get snails (bladder and Ramshorn). 
 

Here’s a link to the one ACO sells: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/worm-feeder-cone

I believe you might be outside the US, do you can’t order from ACO, but you should be able to find something similar.

I too tried to hand feed mine with tweezers when I first got them. Honestly, I didn’t have the patience necessary, and didn’t want feeding to take forever every day, so I got the feeder cone and never looked back. At this point they know that’s where their worms are, and all 6 of them swarm the cone when they see me coming with food. 
 

I’ve had mine for years and they’ve been absolutely fine with bloodworms and snails. Sure, I could culture a bunch of different worms and vary their diet, but my girlfriend isn’t down with worm cultures all over the house, and she already let me fill the house with tanks, so I don’t push my luck when it comes to additional foods for the Pea Puffers. Is it perfect and what is the absolute best for the Puffers? No. Does it work for me and my household, and my Puffers are healthy after a few years? For sure. 

Edited August 19 by AllFishNoBrakes

[VanDogh]

On 8/19/2024 at 5:50 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

I have a feeder cone, and I put the bloodworms in there. Mine also get snails (bladder and Ramshorn). 
 

Here’s a link to the one ACO sells: https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/worm-feeder-cone

I believe you might be outside the US, do you can’t order from ACO, but you should be able to find something similar.

I too tried to hand feed mine with tweezers when I first got them. Honestly, I didn’t have the patience necessary, and didn’t want feeding to take forever every day, so I got the feeder cone and never looked back. At this point they know that’s where their worms are, and all 6 of them swarm the cone when they see me coming with food. 
 

I’ve had mine for years and they’ve been absolutely fine with bloodworms and snails. Sure, I could culture a bunch of different worms and vary their diet, but my girlfriend isn’t down with worm cultures all over the house, and she already let me fill the house with tanks, so I don’t push my luck when it comes to additional foods for the Pea Puffers. Is it perfect and what is the absolute best for the Puffers? No. Does it work for me and my household, and my Puffers are healthy after a few years? For sure. 

That's a very good idea! I'll see of I can find something similar in my country, if not I'll make my own by cutting a plastic container and gluing with aquarium silicone 🤔

I'm also a bit shaky with my hands due to medications so I think it's also scared them and makes it harder to hand-feed them so this is a great solution!

[Dacotua]

On 8/18/2024 at 12:46 PM, Lennie said:

They need that group dynamic. I highly suggest to increase their number. I had 11 in a 50 liter shallow tank. They were fairly bold but mine were also tank raised.

 

I kept them bare bottom so they could easily find food but I endriched the tank with rocks hiding points floating plants pelia moss etc.

 

Mine loved live bbs, smaller sized daphnia and white worms. Maybe you can try those. Mine didnt accept frozen/fd food even tho they are tankbred.

 

That's not their primary food at all, infact, you can totally avoid feeding snails, as these guys dont have such beak trimming requirement like many other puffers. Also in my experience they cant even "eat" the snail properly. Ive seen many left injured but not killed, but had their antennas and such injured I(yes Im talking about pest snails), it was extremely bothering to witness such occasion for me

 

I personally dont even advice to feed pest snails. Maybe mini ramshorns are an exception if you wanna try, due to their shell being fairly soft and very small so they can go for them if they really want to.

 

here are two guides including the feeding requirements:

https://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/puffers-in-focus/dwarfpuffercare/

https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldwide.com/post/c-travancoricus

 

I've kept Pea Puffers for years with only feeding them snails. Even with additional feeding, the pea puffers seemed to ignored the additional food and only ate snails.

 

[Lennie]

On 8/20/2024 at 12:50 AM, Dacotua said:

I've kept Pea Puffers for years with only feeding them snails. Even with additional feeding, the pea puffers seemed to ignored the additional food and only ate snails.

 

I did it and it worked is a bad way of suggesting something, I think. There is no answer for your alternative route of feeding and experience for your past puffer keeping. You cant really know how it really affected them and how else they would end up if they had a richer diet.
 

Wrong diet or undernourishment usually come with a cumulative effect. Simply, today there was a post of my avian vet regarding the effects of feeding very high oily seeds all the time and how they cumulatively effect the birds negatively, and many people commented I give my bird sunflower seeds everyday and nothing happened.  He was like, as an avian vet, Im telling you guys how to provide a better diet for your pet friends to avoid cumulative effects even by showing some patients we get based on their diet related issues, and you come up with “I do this without any issues” in the comments sounding like I care about your pet friends even more than you do.
 

A person may come up with the idea of keeping a goldfish or a betta in a super tiny bowl because their pet is alive for years in there, or a person may claim you can just drop in fish and dont care about cycling nor testing because their fish didnt die so cycling or testing is not needed and their fish is never hurt.  You can give so many instances for “I did it and it worked” behavior. If the ideal is known, we should rather focus on the better alternative and suggest this option instead. A betta may continue its life in a bowl eating only one brand of cheap food, but a bigger planted tank, alternative feeding options with high quality foods and including live foods like bs/daphnia, etc is an obvious better alternative here in my opinion

Edited August 19 by Lennie

[Dacotua]

On 8/19/2024 at 6:09 PM, Lennie said:

I did it and it worked is a bad way of suggesting something, I think. There is no answer for your alternative route of feeding and experience for your past puffer keeping. You cant really know how it really affected them and how else they would end up if they had a richer diet.
 

Wrong diet or undernourishment usually come with a cumulative effect. Simply, today there was a post of my avian vet regarding the effects of feeding very high oily seeds all the time and how they cumulatively effect the birds negatively, and many people commented I give my bird sunflower seeds everyday and nothing happened.  He was like, as an avian vet, Im telling you guys how to provide a better diet for your pet friends to avoid cumulative effects even by showing some patients we get based on their diet related issues, and you come up with “I do this without any issues” in the comments sounding like I care about your pet friends even more than you do.
 

A person may come up with the idea of keeping a goldfish or a betta in a super tiny bowl because their pet is alive for years in there, or a person may claim you can just drop in fish and dont care about cycling nor testing because their fish didnt die so cycling or testing is not needed and their fish is never hurt.  You can give so many instances for “I did it and it worked” behavior. If the ideal is known, we should rather focus on the better alternative and suggest this option instead. A betta may continue its life in a bowl eating only one brand of cheap food, but a bigger planted tank, alternative feeding options with high quality foods and including live foods like bs/daphnia, etc is an obvious better alternative here in my opinion

 We will agree to disagree. You nor I know the proper diet of a pea puffer. Even Vets can "Guess" what they need. But in Nature, Pea Puffers feed on snails among other things.

 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

To be fair, OP didn’t ask about the best possible varied diet for Pea Puffers. They asked about hand feeding bloodworms and how to get them to eat in general. I don’t even like to answer Pea Puffer questions on here even though I have years of practical experience with them because everyone always chimes in about best possible diet and all the worm cultures I should be doing, but it’s just not practical or applicable to my living situation. We can argue opinions and get defensive, or we can try to help OP by answering the question they actually asked. 
 

One thing I wanted to add about the worm feeder cone is that it keeps the worms suspended in the water column, meaning the Puffers can pick and eat at their leisure. If you just drop the worms in the tank they’ll sink to the bottom and the Puffers lose interest. The cone holds them up in the water, which I think is a plus. I’ll regularly watch my Pea Puffers pick a few worms, and then go explore the tank, and then come back and pick a few more. 
 

If you have any snail colonies going, they make great food for the Puffers. It’s a great way to keep your snail population in check, and it’s a great live food for the puffers. Plus, it’s super fun to watch their natural instincts kick in while they use their big ol’ eyes to lock on to the prey, curl their tail, strike in an instant, and suck the snail out of the shell. Free entertainment that’s also good for your Puffers. 
 

Enjoy your tanks, friends!

[Lennie]

On 8/20/2024 at 6:52 AM, AllFishNoBrakes said:

 

To be fair, OP didn’t ask about the best possible varied diet for Pea Puffers. They asked about hand feeding bloodworms and how to get them to eat in general

 

I did struggle a lot about getting some fish to eat in the past. Like a lot. I know working for 8 months with some fish to make them accept healthy level varied food, and even one sort at the beginning. I know how desperate one can feel not having their pet friends get to eat, from my first hand experience. Helping someone is not only responding one question, but also guiding the way sometimes. 

Trying many different food alternatives helps a ton to figure out what your fish may eat, especially to get them going. Also having a group dynamic, feeling safer, having no off parameters, well designed tank, and such also promotes fish to eat. As these are schooling species, and likely wc fish, even maybe their numbers being low or water parameters being off, being sort of sick, and more can be the reason why they don’t eat.
 

If the aim here is to help the OP, I would share two reliable guides covering all potential food sources for pea puffers and my own experience, as well as their care requirement so they may be more likely to accept one food if not taking another, to help them in other possible ways. As I said, mine were tankbred peas and they were not accepting frozen food. I can put them any sort of cone and they wouldnt accept. No picky fish of mine ever accepted food from a worm cone in my very own experience till today, somehow even my normal fish hesistate to eat from it( mine is blue color maybe thats why? I have no clue)

So to me, how they get their puffer to eat is first making sure they are not sick, second they have a more crowded population with balanced m-f ratio in a tank designed well for the puffers, third offering different live foods like grindal/white worms, live bbs, daphnia, etc. so that basically includes feeding a varied diet to increase the chance of accepting one or more food options to stay healthy and keep going.

Helping is not limited to the question itself when you notice someone actually needs your help in general to basically answer the question above.
 

[Lonkley]

On 8/18/2024 at 8:38 AM, VanDogh said:

I got my pea puffers a couple of days ago.

I don't know any fish that doesn't freak out for a couple weeks before settling in to it's home. Just keep offering and the cone is probably a good middle step.

[DansFish]

We get new Pea Puffers in at the warehouse every few weeks, and we have great luck using frozen bloodworms as a first food. The trick is to put just a few in, then walk away for half an hour (I know its hard!) so they can eat in peace. If there is no food left in half an hour, I know they ate. If their little bellies are not full, they can eat some more and the process gets repeated. Within a couple of weeks, they recognize their humane as the food source and will come to the front of the glass to beg...that's when it gets fun! Also, that's when its easier to start introducing new food items to help vary their diet.

I'm assuming there are not other species in the tank which might eat the bloodworms. If there are, this probably won't work, but I find it works great with a species-only tank.

Edited August 20 by DansFish