Boxfish Troubles  2/16/07
Hello from Alabama,
  Thank you for all of the help your website has given me. I have recently purchased two boxfish (male and female, Ostracion meleagris) for a maintenance customer of mine. I tried to talk him out of it but it didn't work. The male is about 6"
<Wow, big!>
and the female is about 3.5". I got them from liveaquaria.com's "Diver's Den", so we could see what we were getting.
<Nice feature, good company>
They haven't eaten since I received them a week ago. The fish are very active but show no interest in food at all. I have tried fresh squid, shrimp, scallops, and even live freshwater ghost shrimp.
<Wow...>
The male does have a small white bump/pimple on his belly, not sure what this is.
<Likely no big deal>
If you think they may need some type of medication what would you recommend?
<I would NOT treat, or even move these Ostraciids... they can/do go on "hunger strikes" particularly when moved... and won't starve for quite a long while if in initially good condition... I would keep trying... with an opened shellfish... when you call on this account>
They are in a 65 gallon quarantine that shares a wet/dry with a 40 gallon quarantine that is holding a Rabbitfish. The customer has ordered a medium Naso tang and a small flasher wrasse that will also go into this quarantine system (in case this has any effect on
medication types). Any help would be greatly appreciated.   
  Thank you,
  Jeremy <><
<I encourage you to go ahead and place these fish... Will likely feed in the main/display tank... in time... versus possibly never feeding and perishing from "stress" in quarantine. Bob Fenner>

What to feed my Puffer
Hi again,
Today I have a question about the puffer fish that I just recently purchased for my tank. At my LFS he was labeled as a Short Nosed Puffer, but in my research online I have found that it is sort of a subcategory of puffer fish, am I correct?
<Do you mean... a Sharpnose puffer... as in the subfamily Canthigastrinae of the family Tetraodontidae?>
Right now I have no way of getting a picture of it for you guys to help me identify it, but I'll describe it the best I can. It has the body shape of a Dog-Faced Puffer, but it is only about 2 inches in size. The LFS told me that he would only get to be about 4 to 5 inches long fully grown. 
<Uhh, "bad form" to buy ahead of investigating... the species... its requirements/needs... We have most all aquarium available species listed... Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/fishindex3.htm. Scroll down to the Puffer articles, related FAQs...>
He is a light gray in color with dark gray horizontal stripes, and his tail is all black. My question is, what should I feed him. They told me at the local fish store that he should eat 3 to 5 feeder guppies a day...
<Negative... see the above where you should read>
...but I have read that freshwater fish are not very nutritious. I also have a Spotted Hawkfish that is on the same diet, but only 2 to 3 a day. I think it would be easier to feed them something frozen, but I'm not sure what they would accept. Would frozen krill be a good choice, or should I try frozen silversides? Or is there another option that I should go with? I originally was feeding the Hawkfish 1 ghost shrimp a day, but they got to be a little expensive. I haven't tried feeding the puffer the shrimp, but I have read that he needs something with a somewhat hard shell from time to time to wear down his teeth.
Thanks for the help,
Daniel
<Study my friend... the mistakes you're making are easily avoided. Bob Fenner> 

Hawaiian Blue Spotted puffer not eating  9/25/05
Purchased a Hawaiian Blue Spotted puffer from an internet site over a week
ago. Looked healthy on arrival and still looks well with no visible
parasites but has not eaten a thing since arriving. I've tried flakes,
krill, plankton, pellets all with and without garlic added.
<Mmm, don't eat dried food/s... and generally don't eat after being shipped for a while>
He is housed in
a 50 gallon FO tank
<Too small>
with a small Picasso Trigger, Flame Angel, and Blue Tang.
<Too crowded>
No one has been bullying him or troubling him since he's arrived.
<Psychologically... is very crowded>
SG is 1.023, Ph is 8.2 and ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites are undetectable. I
have a HOB power filter rated for 500 gallons per hour, an Aqua C Remora
skimmer and 2 1200 Maxi Jets for added water circulation. Temp has been
higher than I would like at 84 degrees and I've ordered a chiller last week
that is yet to arrive.
<... I'd cancel the chiller, put the money toward a reasonable sized system... at least double... better quadruple what you have>
The other fish all appear well and are feeding well.
The puffer has been hiding in a cave but does come out about once a day and
make a slow tour of the tank. Moves slowly but does not have any visible
lesions and doesn't look emaciated yet. He was acclimated over 3 hours via
drip technique and then given a 10 minute freshwater dip with Methylene Blue
added before being added to my tank.
<Good technique>
Any ideas what might be wrong here
before I lose this little guy? All comments would be appreciated. Thanks.
John
<Needs larger quarters... stat! As they say on teevee... Try offering whole/opened shellfish... and add vitamins to the system water. Do get the larger system... ASAP. Bob Fenner>

Re: Hawaiian Blue Spotted puffer not eating
Thanks Bob for your quick response. I'll try to get that larger tank and
offer him the fresh foods as you recommend.
John
<Ah, good... and have been cogitating furiously whether I should've mentioned the toxicity of ostraciids... so I will here. You don't want to disturb boxfishes, particularly in small volumes... they can... poison the water sufficiently to kill your other fishes... in a short while. Bob Fenner>

Cyclop-eeze for Boxfish?
Hi Bob
<Sal>
Thanks for the idea. Maybe I could follow in your footsteps and write a book.
<Of a certainty yes>
I do have a new question ( of course ). I' m reading about a food that I just heard about called Cyclop-eeze. Have you heard of them?
<Yes, saw it fed at a local marine club meeting just two nights back. Has a very good reputation>
Do you think it could be fed to adult fish ( cowfish )?
<It's tiny... but worth a try... you could make it into "cubes"... with a binder... other materials... homemade>
The website says food size is 800 microns. Sounds like a very good food source. Id like to know what you think. As always thank you very much.    
<Worth trying. Bob Fenner>    

Yellow boxfish feeding- 2/3/04
Hey! <Hiya>
    Just a quick question, I have just acquired a yellow boxfish and I haven't noticed him eating yet, he ate at the store. <What did they feed at the store?> I feed my fish tetra marine granules, which sink to the bottom and I read that boxfish are bottom feeders so I didn't see a problem with that. <Well, good theory, but if they aren't eating it yet then time to move to something else.> I was wondering if there was something else I could try, I have never had a problem with fish eating the granules but I understand that boxfish have a specific diet, <correct. When first introduced, the Cubicus Boxfish prefers a diet of live brine shrimp or bloodworms. Once acclimated, the diet should include chopped squid, clams, mussels, and herbivore preparations.> I have bloodworms but am leery about using them because I heard that they could harm my Tang, <Here are some links with some information regarding your fish: http://www.marinedepotlive.com/783554.html and http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=81 and http://www.wetwebmedia.com/boxfishes.htm
Any help would be helpful, thanks.  Matt

Sphoeroides lobatus Feeding Suggestions, Pt. 2 1.13.05
To: Ryan,
<Morning!>
Thank You for replying to my email.  Yes and No about purchasing the Puffers on impulse. We did have our tanks well planned out (we have several) and we do not over crowd them (one pair of Cichlids per 55 gal) and we were looking for a Puffer when we came across these, the only difference was that the store did not know anything about them and they were in a 10 or 15 gal tank. I guess it's a case of I could not bear to see them in that tank where they had been for a few months, with no shelter to hide from all the preying
eyes.
<Everyone with a heart and an aquarium has been there!  The important part is that you're doing what you can now to learn about them!>
I think they will do well, I have a good idea about feeding, and right now they are so small they are doing well in the 40 gal we put them into with lots and lots of hiding places. I will look for the Selcon.  I do have one more question, right now they seem to do well being in the same tank together, but should they be separated when they are older/bigger?
<In a tank full of live rock, and plenty of cover, you may be able to house them together.  But, in a bare, open tank, the conditions aren't favorable for the weaker of the two.  Just monitor the behavior, and be aware that you may need to separate them at some point.>
I have read that you cannot keep more then one puffer to a tank.
Thank you for writing me back so quickly. It certainly has helped confirm
some things for me. I am sure they will do just fine and I am looking
forward to watching them grow, it is amazing to watch them do their
"hummingbird" swim around the tank.
<They're fascinating and personable creatures!  Enjoy them.  Ryan>
Arlene Olson