The Puffer Forum

Insects ARE food!

They don't really swallow them whole. Puffers have incisor plates are the front of the moth for biting, but use pharyngeal teeth (in their throats) for crushing and chewing. We cannot see those at work.

there are also some insects that should not be food.

Keep in mind that puffers are removed from their environment and some local insects are not suitable.

my father had two oscars (which he kept in a 40g tank and were stunted like crazy, he didnt know, bought them at wal-mart) in which he mainly fed house flies. he lives in the country and the house fills with flies and a few times a day he would just walk around with a fly swatter and swat a few and put them in the oscar tank, they LOVED them and always looked healthy. certain bugs seem alright for fish to eat. i wouldn't give them certain spiders, or bugs i wouldn't touch lets say. fruit flies sometimes fly into my planted tank and the guppies/harlequins snap them up like a tasty treat.