Feeding time, first 3 cockles were chewed to bits with ease. Last one actually got stuck in the mouth, then the smart alec me threw in a piece of prawn.. Hoping the excitement would encourage him to spit out the stuck cockle.. but to my horror he swallowed the whole cockle together with the prawn.. The size of the damn shellfish is just about the size of what his mouth can open.. He is coming to 19in. so, that whole cockle work out to appx 3cm in diameter. which is many many times the size of his back end...
He ate big things before and pooped out ridiculously large chunks of stuffs but they were all broken down to smaller bits.. Anyone forsee that that it may get stuck somewhere in the inside, intestines, stomach etc? Will be keeping a close eye on his poop tomorrow....
Don't forget that puffers have teeth at front of their mouth (for biting and crushing) and also teeth in what we would call their throat. The pharyngeal teeth are for grinding and crushing the bites to smaller size. Those provide for the reduced size of the particles you have seen from earlier overfeeding. That really is more of an issue with water pollution and wasted food than with the fish not being able to handle it. Try pre-cracking shellfish if there is a potential size issue, or just space the servings a bit more spaced between bites.
Anyway there's no sign of that rouge cockle anywhere.. So it's still in there somewhere. Usually by now he should be finished with his business.. Very sure he didn't have the chance to chew on that as I saw him swallowed it along with the prawn.. No lumpiness anywhere either.. Still as happy as a.. Fish.
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles
Like RTR said, it may have appeared to have swallowed it whole but he has teeth farther back in his mouth for crushing shellfish, so he probably will not poop out a whole shell. I do agree with him--crush larger foods before feeding, if you don't want a repeat of this.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
I usually will open up the shell so there will be some leverage for him to chew on.. That particular one somehow closed up again when he suck it into his mouth... I understand the "teeths" at the throat part, but this time rough, I swear I saw him swallowed the whole thing.. Hoping for tmr.
To eieio: if you respond to my random attention to detail I will have the honors on being your 666th post as a reply to my randomness. Something like "wtf" would suffice.
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles
defool89 wrote:To eieio: if you respond to my random attention to detail I will have the honors on being your 666th post as a reply to my randomness. Something like "wtf" would suffice.
how appropriate!
"I plan ahead. That way, I don't have to do anything right now!"
defool89 wrote:To eieio: if you respond to my random attention to detail I will have the honors on being your 666th post as a reply to my randomness. Something like "wtf" would suffice.
The specimen in question have finally dislodged the foreign from is bowel. It will still kept under observation for any post condition related anomalies. Unfortunately, pictorial evidence of the foreign object retrieved is impossible as it have been removed.
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles
he swallowed the whole cockle together with the prawn.. The size of the damn shellfish is just about the size of what his mouth can open.. He is coming to 19in. so, that whole cockle work out to appx 3cm in diameter. which is many many times the size of his back end...
