The Puffer Forum

Hi-

Im new here. I have a 3" mappa that I finally decided to buy. He is housed as the only fish in my 90 gallon tank. At the moment he is being fed clams on the half shell and freshwater mysis enriched with selcon on alterneting days. I have a few questions that I was hoping I could get a little help with. I appreciate any help very much!

Are freshwater mysis a good food or should I be looking for the marine mysid shrimp? Can I just feed him a sheet of toasted nori bought at the store or should I offer the raw version of the nori?

Are you guys feeding your puffers freshwater crayfish? Is this a quality food for them? if so where do I get them? Is there a risk of introducing any pathogen or parasites by offering live food like crayfish?

BTW- I realize this tank is way too small. I have more questions about that but lets just start with this right now. Thanks a million.

Hi! and welcome to the forum I am glad you found us.

as to answering your questions I think these are the correct answers but if they aren't one of the experts will come along with the correct answer.

I think its perfectly fine to feed your puffer fresh water mysis as long as he will eat em.

crayfish are a good source for him, cutting off the claws will make it easier for him.

I dont think you should use nori bought from the store since its processed and not as healthy for him. So nori that is prepared for fish would be a better alternative.

There are always risks with introduction of live food but if you use a quarantine tank to house them in before you can check for problems before you give em to the puffer. I think someone on this forum has a contact with one of those self replicating crayfish.

self replicating crayfish? You guys breed them for feedings?

some people do ya. When it comes to puffers its good to have diversity in the foods that you offer.

I think you nailed that puffykid. Just to highlight before you put live crays etc in quarantine them for at least 4 wks. Also i dont bother with claw removal, occasionally they fight back but never win lol.

lols to that.

I just remember reading some posts about a claw getting stuck on a puffer face after the crayfish is already in the stomach, so it was more of a fair warning kind of deal.

las welcome to the Puffer Forum. Here is a great link in our libary on feeding, to give you more ideas.

library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

I had anexperience recently with a red clawed crab. Had to pull the claw off myself lol. That may have been my post

I leave the claws on , My Porcupine bites them off first thing!

Hey las

Do you have any pix or vids of your mappa we can see

puffykid wrote:Hi! and welcome to the forum I am glad you found us.

as to answering your questions I think these are the correct answers but if they aren't one of the experts will come along with the correct answer.

I think its perfectly fine to feed your puffer fresh water mysis as long as he will eat em.

crayfish are a good source for him, cutting off the claws will make it easier for him.

I dont think you should use nori bought from the store since its processed and not as healthy for him. So nori that is prepared for fish would be a better alternative.

There are always risks with introduction of live food but if you use a quarantine tank to house them in before you can check for problems before you give em to the puffer. I think someone on this forum has a contact with one of those self replicating crayfish.

Thanks puffykid-

So is there anywhere to get frozen crayfish or crawdads to feed? I cant think of a marine fish vendor who carries these. Is a snail culturing tank a worthwhile idea?

trekenk wrote:las welcome to the Puffer Forum. Here is a great link in our libary on feeding, to give you more ideas.

library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

Yeah I read this thanks.... Where do you guys find cockles? I honestly have never heard of them. My puffer is 3". Can he even eat these yet?

Arny wrote:Hey las

Do you have any pix or vids of your mappa we can see

Not yet Arny. I am working on it. I am working on getting a new iphone. Ill get pics up here soon.

When feeding FW foods to my SW animals, I soak them in marine Vita-Chem & Selcon. You could try feeding the cray foods soaked in these things. Try not make FW foods a staple for your SW animals. What are your eventual upgrading plans for that monster?

Pufferpunk wrote:When feeding FW foods to my SW animals, I soak them in marine Vita-Chem & Selcon. You could try feeding the cray foods soaked in these things. Try not make FW foods a staple for your SW animals. What are your eventual upgrading plans for that monster?

Thanks pufferpunk - Are you saying the freshwater mysis is a bad idea for a staple? The marine mysid is way smaller but I guess I could use them.

Im glad you asked the question about the tank size. Currently he is in the 90 gallon by himself. About 100 LBS of bali live rock in there. So I tried to make an intricate landscape with caves and such. I ve got a 6" DSB in the refugium with Gracilara algae lit on a reverse daylight photoperiod. My protein skimmer is a redline series rated for 150 gallons. I am running a vortech mp40 for flow. Im guessing the tank gets turned over about 35x an hour. Can you have too much flow? I see him fighting the current when the vortech kicks into its high gear stage. Im guessing a little excercise is good.

PH: 8.19 ORP: 331 ALK: 10 DKH SPG: 1.025 Temp: 78.4

After reading articles about stunting, I kinda was concerned if I am already limiting his growth. Ill be honest, he has to stay in this tank until bonus time at the end of the year. He is only 3". Do you think I am causing stunting in this situation?

I am also wondering if I should Ditch the DSB and go with just live rock and algae in the refugium. Do you think a Nutrient sink scenario could develop with a remote DSB contained in a tank with such a messy fish?