The Puffer Forum

I woke up this morning and saw the one of Lil' Fish's front teeth was missing. Has anyone else ever seen this happen? Ive never heard of such a thing. I know their teeth grow back, but losing a whole one?

It can happen if they're too persistent biting anything too hard for them. The most commonly blamed cause is feeding MTS, which, as a snail that is very hard to break, can make a tempting target for such activity.

I only have ramshorn snails. : /

He probably got persistent with a rock that had something tasty pinned to it, then.

Indeed, as Nick says, could be lost for a variety of reasons. Nothing to worry about, and will likely grow back in time. Although Melanoides spp. snails are often mentioned as being likely reasons for puffers losing teeth, that's something with precious little evidence to support it, and even if it does happen, it happens in the wild as well, and puffers have evolved to feed in precisely this way. It's like worrying your dog will break a tooth by chewing on a bone.

Cheers, Neale

Is there more of a chance of him chipping the remaining tooth, since it's weaker alone?

Possibly, but it's rather like asking if you're more likely to break another fingernail because you've already broken one. Even if he does chip another tooth, what's the big deal? I've seen SAPs with oddly chipped teeth and they soon grew them back to normal. My understanding is that fish (all fish) can constantly grow their teeth, so it isn't like it is with humans where damaging a tooth means living with that broken tooth for life.

Cheers, Neale

Pufferpunk wrote:Is there more of a chance of him chipping the remaining tooth, since it's weaker alone?

Yep, just wait for it to grow back.. all you can do is hope it comes in straight and with no infection problems (keep that water clean!) and when its long enough, clip it even with the other tooth to get things back even.

Thanks so much!

Puffers have a unique and comical way of swimming. Puffers often nip at the fins of other Puffer and other species of fish. This nipping can be minimized by keeping puffers very well fed. Freshwater Dwarf Puffers do less nipping than many other types of of Puffer Fish.Some species of Puffer Fish live best in freshwater,

I find DPs to be quite nippy for their size, sometimes taking "fin rides" on fish 20x their size!

"any fish too big to take notice of me as a potential food source feels my existence is irrelevant, enough so as to make said fish, and/or any available fins that won't place me near its mouth, a valid food source..."
~Most dwarf puffers