force feeding a fish

[EXVISOR]

Hi all ,by now you know that I have a puffer thats not eating, has been about a week now ,some of the members refered me to a puffer site where they sggested fore feeding if needed , has anyone done this before
I'm not sure Iwant to atempt this as my first thoughts is he will never forget and hate me and not trust me down the road
My second thought is how the heck do you do this
My game plain I was thinking was a large net ,put a hole in it so the seringe will fit threw, the net will hold him in place in the tank while I attempt to gve him some food
Cant believe im even thinking about attempting this

[Doctor_Reef]

Well, I have never done this....but sounds good...The alternative to not getting food down him is that he starves and won't be around to forgive you!!!!
Is he still active and moving around????
You may want to try medicating the food also????

[EXVISOR]

yes stll active and swimming, in fact I cleaned the side glass of my tank, no he se's his reflection and he spends all day tring to bit what he believes is another puffer

[Doctor_Reef]

I had a snowflake eel that went 16 days and didn't take a thing from me and then started eating like a horse....He had never done that before and I thought for sure he was a goner....I know there are live mouth breading fish that don't eat while holding the eggs in there mouth for almost a month...

[EXVISOR]

I just dont know if I should leave him alone or attempt to force feed ,to me his color is different, looks lighter to me which sems like a bad sign unless he is changinf colors ,some folks say he should be fine for a week sme say even two weeks, not sure what to do, its been 7 days now I believe

[Doctor_Reef]

I just don't know either...never had a puffer do that...and can't tell you what to do...Can you post a picture of him while he was eating and one now...That way maybe someone can help by determining what is wrong by what they see????

[EXVISOR]

I wish I could, dont have a digital camara

[Doctor_Reef]

Might be a good time to find a good cheap one!!! :)

On a side note---wish I lived closer I'd come take a picture for you!!!

[EXVISOR]

true ,just find a digital does not work for me with what I use a camara for, I like to be able to zoom up to 90 or so so I have a rgular canon with changable lenses I use when I go to events or what ever ,didital only zoom up tp 20 I believe

[EXVISOR]

I found a pictur on the web of my puffer, dont know how to sent or attach here on this site

[EXVISOR]

on http://www.deepseaimages.com/dsilibrary/showphoto.php?photo=10743&sort=1&cat=last14&page=1s web site there a pcture of the pufer I have ,first one far left side ,white and brown spotted

*Edited by FishinInTheDark to fix link.

[saltwaterrocks]

i had the same problem. what i did was got some krill and stuck it on a wire then moved it around in his face. he ate it like that and after a while he would eat it when i dropped it in the tank.

[EXVISOR]

well today he is still not eating ,not interested in any food

[Doctor_Reef]

Sorry man!!!! :(

[EXVISOR]

STILL NOT EATING BUT AMAZINGLY STILL SWIMMING AND LOOKING GOOD, SOME OF THE PUFFER OWNERS TOLD ME THEY HAVE HAD PUFFERS NOT EAT FOR A MONTH WHICH IS WILD BUT IM JUST PLAYING THE WAITING GAME

[Doctor_Reef]

Did they say that they started eating again or did they lose the fish???

[EXVISOR]

said started to eat again like a pig

[Doctor_Reef]

How goes it today....

[EXVISOR]

still not eating, two weks now

[Doctor_Reef]

Man....that is really freaky!!!!

[EXVISOR]

its weird because its like he's looking for food, blowing in the sand to see if any thing satable ,searching the top of the tank but nothing I offer is good enough, I was thinking of trying something else today like maybe crickets or something ,so far no meaty foods are wanted, maybe pellits or something, I have the real small pellits that are soaked with garlic and other good things but there tinny, my other small fish eat them