Valentini won't eat

[oddjob1531]

I just got a Valentini Puffer and he won't eat any food. he nips at the snails and crabs, but thats about it. what should I do? He's from the ocean, so he is use to catching live food. Am I going to have to keep buying more and more snails everytime he eats them?

thanks

[reefcrazy20]

that's the reason why they aren't reef safe. you can try some enriched live brine shrimp. will he eat frozen mysis shrimp. you stated he won't eat food so i don't know if you are just feeding flake or pellet food. good luck with him










shanna

[oddjob1531]

hes in a tank with 2 other false perculas and i feed them prime reef food, i have also tried some little pellets. hes eating some small little things off the rocks, but im not sure if he can survive on that. hes in a 35 gallon, with 35 lbs. of live rock, and about 50 lbs. of live sand. i will try brineshrimp and see how that goes.

thanks

[alligatorami]

You can try adding some garlic. I hear it is supposed to really attract fish. You can also try sinking a natural colored pumice stone with bits of nori or even some seafood. Perhaps this will perk his interest in eating. We use the pumice stone in our "toby" tank. It also helps the beak stay short. Good luck!

-A :twisted:

[oddjob1531]

brine shrimps workin fine, i put in some food in along with the brine shrimp, and he eats that too. the only problem is that he hides in the rock, so when the food is out, the clowns get there first and eat most of it before he even has a chance to see it. but hes eating well and is thriving in my tank. i bought him from liveaquaria.com and got him shipped in a box that was suppose to get here the next day, but it got delayed in atlanta, so he sat in his box for even longer. when we finally got him, we thought he was gonna die, but he was alive and well, and how he is happier then a clam. we named him lucky.