The Puffer Forum

Hi, All. GSP 3.5", has been having trouble eating. It is a 75 Gal tank, 60 lbs of live rock, 30 gal sump, chaeto and caulupera in the fuge area. There is a bio pellet reactor as well as a phosban reactor with carbon at the top of the chamber. It has a cone protein skimmer rated for 120 Gal heavy load tank. The parameters are- Nitrite:0 Ammonia:0 Nitrate: 10 Phosphate: 0 Calcium: 410 Hardness: 10 PH: 8.5 and Salinity 1.018. In the tank with him is a 2.5" GSP and a 12" snow flake eel, All get along great. There is a sun coral under a ledge, Halimeda plant and sea lettuce. I feed dried krill and a homemade cube food and some small snails once or twice a month to all. He was eating fine up till about two weeks ago when I noticed he was not really biting the food but trying to just suck it down whole.... he used to do this before as well but would bite and chew the odd one. Now he seems to suck it in, spit it out, suck it in and finally gets it down. His teeth do not look to be long but have not actually knocked him out to take a close look..... sort of a last resort. Do their bottom teeth line up with their top? Do they have a second 'jaw' to help grind the shells like parrot fish do. Does anyone know where there is an antomy chart for these fish?

Hey,
Sounds like a pretty nice tank. I'd try live earthworms especially, and clams or market snow crab, etc. You might be on to something with the beak suspicions. Once they've got overgrown "teeth" they need to be clipped. I know they (or at least the biggest saltwater puffs) have back, "pharyngeal" teeth.

Is the picky puff losing weight? Does he get distracted by benevolent bullying at mealtimes? I've had to get a cheap divider to slide in at mealtimes with my dwarf puffers because of food aggression issues. Or a big net to ward off the other fish. They don't want to violate the "pecking order", maybe that's it?

Wish you luck with some more varied food items. I know there is a library article about GSP diet as well as beak trimming.
Peace

Bump

good Q on the anatomy chart. I've been looking for one myself.

Regarding the food... how's his/her poop look? Sometimes a small parasite infection can irritate the mouth and throat area making it difficult for them to eat. Not saying that is the case, just a possibility.