puffers smart.

ironbone · Post by **ironbone** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 12:17 am

is it good or bad that a puffer begs for food?personally my puff eats good,but he begs and begs and begs.i thought being a wild fish you dont have to worry about that,its not a dog or a cat.its kinda weird how he/she can decipher between things.just for instance i feed my puff krill every other day snails and seaweed on the off days but he knows when lite comes on it is vittles?
lite stays on for 8 hrs than i have rigged for red for coupkle hrs thean lights out except for tv hes up???he has a window for ambient lite he hangs in his plants then he just rushes out to meety whover walks by,with them big beggin eyes

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 12:28 am

neither good or bad really....just nature.

Doesn't take long for any animal to learn that people=food

just don't give in to those cute little beggin eyes...only becomes a problem if he gets over-fed

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 12:36 am

I'm glad he's happy but you really need to stop feeding him so much krill. Vary the diet with worms, people shrimp, mussels/oysters/clams, etc.

luna1580 · Post by **luna1580** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 3:06 am

i've yet to keep any "pet" animal that never displayed any "begging-type behavior" -other than invertebrates like apple snails and cherry shrimp ('though i'm sure captive inverts like octopus and cuttlefish are smart enough to associate their keepers with food and may beg in some way).

my aquatic turts are the worst -they beg worse than my dog! literally if i am sitting in my living room near my large RES tank and shift myself at all she turns to look, and always begs with grand-splashing "pawing" at the aquarium glass when i walk into the room -even if i fed her 15 mins ago, lol. there is also observational lab data to show that animals like captive turtles can engage in "play" behaviors: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr= ... g=56ulr7oW

-so why rule out some fish having similar abilities?

so in a way begging in a fish is good: it means your pet associates you with food and "knows" you are her caregiver/housemate. but it's bad if it successfully temps you into overfeeding -fat pets have as many health problems as fat people, and don't forget "exercise" in even our largest tanks is nothing like the seemingly endless waters (from their perspective) of their native environments.....

so as PP advised: feed a varied diet in general. do not overfeed!

and yes, your fish is, in its way, quite smart. probably smarter than you thought fish could be

good wishes to you and your wet pets

geronimo69 · Post by **geronimo69** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:23 am

My Fahaka begs like crazy. Follows me (or whoever else) from one end of his 150 to the other....

blackghostknife · Post by **blackghostknife** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:58 pm

I am getting a puffer but do not have one at the moment but even I know that they beg for food and act like they are hungry all the time. Don't let him fool you, other than scheduled feedings I wouldn't feed him if he begs all of my fish beg.

greenspottedlover · Post by **greenspottedlover** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 4:09 pm

Pufferpunk wrote:I'm glad he's happy but you really need to stop feeding him so much krill. Vary the diet with worms, people shrimp, mussels/oysters/clams, etc.

I now feed mine mostly people shrimp, snails, freeze dried krill and shrimp, live (gut loaded) ghost shrimp, and occasionally maggots, or worms. Also some other unthawed people seafood when available to me. This has been working.

Post by **RTR** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 10:35 am

Puffers (like many Cichlids as well, and all goldfish) are excellent at training their owners.

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