The Puffer Forum

Is it only big puffer like fahaka and mbu who need to be fed hard shell food to control the beak growth ?

how about t. palembangensis and samurai puffer (t.erythronia), i keep both of them and 1 fahaka, do they need it to ?

With few exceptions (I just read about someone with a particular kind of puffer that I can't remember right now and how he feeds the puffer nothing but blackworms and has never had to trim its teeth) puffers need hard-shelled, crunchy foods as a very common part of their diet. Some more than others, such as the A. modestus/silus twins, and South American puffers too I believe. Piscivore puffers would probably not need crunchy foods quite as much as others.

A;most all puffers need crunchy foods to keep their beaks in check.

To be honest pretty much all puffers need it to some degree just to help keep their beaks in trim. Its worth just suplimenting their diet every now and then with a little snail or hard shelled feed. I suppose its easier with larger puffers as once they reach a good size can be fed crab claw, shelled mussles etc...

The only puffer that I know of that dosen't need hard shelled foods is a porc.

The lurker species don't need as much, their teeth don't grow very fast at all. (crunchy food is still a good idea though)

But the rest of them, for the most part, do need crunchy food as much as possible.

I don't think porc's have "teeth" like most puffers, but I could be wrong. Burrfish have "grinding plates" inside their mouth that they crush food with, and I *think* porcs are the same way, they are a different family...

Diodon and other puffer fish with two teeth, rather than four, don't seem to get beak overgrowth, and neither do dwarf puffers, by and large. Other than that, crunch is needed to some extent or another.

[quote="marksrush"]With few exceptions (I just read about someone with a particular kind of puffer that I can't remember right now and how he feeds the puffer nothing but blackworms and has never had to trim its teeth)...quote]
That would be DPs.

cool advice, i am still listening....