The Puffer Forum

so got home and my puffers were hungry and just hang on the top of the water. my shy one will warm up when he is hungry. today he let me pet him a little until my little baby one surprised attacked me... get its not a wise idea to put something that looks like food in a tank with a baby puffer thats hungry. it was the funniest thing ever though. didnt hurt much but sure a surprise lol

apply, a tourniquet, suck out the poison, pray. Not really.

Heehee, you're not the first! Heck, one member actually wound up in the ER with a huge stellatus bite.

FYI, when you pet a fish, it can disturb the slime coat, which leaves the fish open to potential infection. Just something to be careful about.

oh really. this is my second time. When i first got him, anytime i walked near the tank he would jump out of the water. Then he would just swim away. He is really started to get more social since i put him in the 46gal. seems a lot happier now. He will let me put my finger right next to him and today let me touch him.
it really wants a bite, more of a nibble. my finger hurt for like a minute but its fine. guess he just needed to file his teeth on my finger lol

U shouldn't be touching them at all for any reason. Same as your other post.

back when my gsp was a little healthier, he used to nip at me too whenever I would stick my hand in the tank for whatever reason. I wish he would still

I got a nasty bite from my baileyi a couple of years ago, right under my finger nail. I was down the doctors with my finger in the air for 3 hours waiting for the bleeding to stop, while they were on the phone to the dept. of toxins (thinking they had poisonous bites!). They couldn't stitch my finger as there was no flesh to stich.

Since then, I've always fed Esau before cleaning the tank!!

I'll repeat my usual comment: Hand feeding puffers qualifies you for the Darwin Awards.

Petting puffers - or any other fish - is risky or injurious to the fish.