The Puffer Forum

Today I went to feed Jack (Red/Orange Congo Puffer) his normal lunch of shrimp and he went right for my fingers!! He didn't actually get me but it was a close call! I've always hand fed him, but lately he has taken an interest in my delicious fingers! After the near miss, he kept begging me for more foods We are now looking at an alternate way to get foods to his face that won't involve risking my poor digits. But it got me thinking - anyone else ever experience "near misses" with your fishes? Or maybe not a miss at all? What happened?

Ha! Silly potato. Olive bit my finger when I didn't realize it was in the water and scared both of us lol

My Cochin didn't have his teeth yet, he was so young when he came home. So I never had a fear of his bite... plus he rubs against my finger when in tank, so I figured he was sweet... I went to feed him a snail the other day (stuck to the tip of my finger). He snatched the snail, dropped it and went right for my finger again, all in the matter of about 10 seconds. I didn't know what was happening so I made no quick move to remove my finger and he actually took a chuck out of my finger tip!!! And he clamped on too, he didn't let go until he was almost half way out of the water (I jerked my hand back out of pain, it was instinct). I bled but one drop, but I was both butt hurt and stunned.

I use planting tongs to feed all my kiddos. They have "feeding" ones, but they're more expensive and are exactly the same as the long (10-14") FW planting tongs. I use both the straight and curved tweezers. The edges are round and the insides are rigged to help hold what you're picking up. I spent 15$ on my two tongs, but they're really nice (we will see if they're gonna hold their worth)- you can get a full set of 3-5 different ones In a pack (tweezers, tongs, and scissors) on Amazon for $13-$17, and they come in different lengths.