The Puffer Forum

I feed mine with tweezers, small ones and i feel the specs; stay cleaner that way.ex; ammonia ect; He don't miss a thing and i know how much he gets this way.I find him a very clean eater not messy at all.This morning he had shrimp with shell ate some of the middle of the shrimp then some of the shell almost a large shrimp and he is just now cruising around, looking at his live prey.Please put your opinion in to see how we all feed these beautiful big guys. Thanks to all that respond. river

I hand feed mine he's about 8-9"

I find if I put my whole hand in to do maintainence on the tank he backs down.

I have never been bitten!

I have before just for fun..dont get too comfortable he may get your finger...i just throw my dead food in there after defrost ing...the mess that they make from eating is just a part of having one for me. I use my net for larger debrees and remove all uneaten chunks or shell after he lays in his corner after pigging out... if you hand feed too much he may get used to ot and refuse all dead food after..

I wouldn't if I had one, but I don't think my hand should be in the aquarium anyway, who knows where it has been .

No chance I have been bitten before and would never risk bleeding in the tank again.

I use long tweezers/forceps to feed predators. I am not stupid. I am going to have to get some hand surgery done fairly soon, but it will not be done by fish and not in a fish tank. I have seem Mycobaterium marinum infections. No thank you, not for me.

Bertie; and RTR; Thank you and i have long tweezers as well and i do use them too but i have always fed with tweezers to all my puffs-10-in total and my red eye is just learning to eat from them.Mark421; never say never it can happen.And i am very careful but man these guys swoop in out of no where. With 10-of these babies i just like to make sure every one has enough to eat.and i can get a closer look at their teeth and their bodies just to make sure all is well. I guess i worry too much but i test my water quit often too. And i have ammonia alerts on all tanks. I bought the kind that last a year and they are great and work must better then the standard kind.My dwarfs i am traning to eat from tweezers too as i have 3-now in a 20-gal; and i just make sure each gets their share.And on sun; I clean all tanks and my Fahaka knows i am cleaning and no food other then a couple of snails for being a good boy and staying put while i clean him up and threw the week i spot clean in those that are neccessary. And he loves his water changes but not happy when i mess with his tank-i straighten up and he puts it back the way he wants it lol .Very smart fish. And i wonder sometimes if they can tell the diff; of your fingers or food. My little gsp seems to know as i put finger in to play with her the very odd time and she will swim like mad right up to finger and come to a full stop-it's like she has brakes on lol and doe's seem to know. I would NEVER do that with the fahaka. But i wonder if they do know. Especially if they can feel pain you would think they would KNOW, and they also know you as their feeder. Mine knows the tweezers are hard to eat from and he's very careful so not to hurt himself. Thanks to all who respond river.

I just offer the crawfish, mussel, or whatever under the water's surface with my fingers and the Mbu takes it. Yes, he's an aggressive feeder but it's not like we're talking about a great white shark, LOL.

sounds like a good way to lose a finger

I've hand fed mbu, fahaka and oblongatus with no problems. I let the food hang in the tank while they carefully removed it from my grasp. When I had to put my hand into the tank to clean or move/remove things, each of them kept away from me.

I have always found smaller puffers are more aggresive than their larger counterparts. Of course as with other animals, YMMV as each fish has a different temperment and react differently regards to thier slaves.

Darkling wrote:sounds like a good way to lose a finger

Just don't let your fingers get beween the puffer and the food item, LOL. It's not a big deal. I was just feeding ours. He takes each one aggressively but it's not like you're feeding a chainsaw or something.

Has anyone actually been bitten by a puffer? I have, if they want to they can cause serious damage. Trust me on that one

bertie 83 wrote:Has anyone actually been bitten by a puffer? I have, if they want to they can cause serious damage. Trust me on that one

My wife was dangling a crayfish into the tank for our Mbu when he was younger. I guess she left her fingers dangling in the water, or whatever, after he had already taken the crayfish, wasn't paying attention, and then he nipped her. No harm done, probably was just curious and "sampling" what her finger was. No doubt in my mind that he could take the tip off a finger if he really wanted to. That being said, feeding them by hand is not an overly hazardous thing. We routinely invite friends/company to feed ours by hand.

Just my 2-cents as always.

I certainly would not allow friends to put their hands in with something as dangerous as a puffer. I used to hand feed until being bitten, now my hand does not enter the tank without something defending me. He has gone for me on several occasions whilst doing routine maintenance.

bertie 83 wrote:I certainly would not allow friends to put their hands in with something as dangerous as a puffer. I used to hand feed until being bitten, now my hand does not enter the tank without something defending me. He has gone for me on several occasions whilst doing routine maintenance.

Crazy: Fahaka sound like a whole different deal than Mbu, then.