The Puffer Forum

I posted this message in the "general discussion" forum, but think here may be more appropriate.

I've had my blue spotted puffer for about 3 months now. I absolutely love him. His teeth have started coming in and I am starting to get worried. I have a bunch of snails (the ones with the cone type shells, sorry, I don't know their actual name) and have just added some hermit crabs. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get him to eat some of the "harder" foods to help grind down his teeth?

The 'cone' snails are MTS, are are inappropriate to feed puffers, as they are too hard and can crack their dental plates. Please read here: http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/puffer/food.html

Welcome!

would you suggest that i add as many crabs as possible so maybe he'll get the idea? I feed him frozen foods every other day, but they do not contain anything solid that would do the job on his teeth. Thanks very much.

Isn't this a SW puffer? I wouldn't think those snails are MTS in SW. If it's teeth aren't overgrown, try some of the foods recommended in the feeding article. How big is the puffer?

Yeah, it's a saltwater puffer. He's about 2.5 inches long. I'll post a pic if I get a chance. He's my first puffer and I may be just overcautious about his teeth. Basically all he eats is a selection of frozen food (shrimp, etc..), nothing to coarse to wear down his teeth as far as I'm concerned (i could be wrong).

Pufferpunk wrote:Isn't this a SW puffer? I wouldn't think those snails are MTS in SW.

Very true, I didn't realize they were actually living in the tank.

Pufferpunk wrote:Isn't this a SW puffer? I wouldn't think those snails are MTS in SW.

Pufferpunk, you're so sharp!

I don't think dropping in a whole bunch of crabs would have a greater effect on getting the fish to eat them. When my Congo puffer had only one crayfish to investigate, his instincts kicked in. When prior to that I had a lot of crayfish in the tank, he avoided them (or was getting used to them, or...—the point is that he wasn't eating them).

Do you have any other ideas? It's hard to tell if he's eaten any of them because sometimes you can't really see all the crabs for an accurate count. Do you have any other ideas to get him to eat them? I was thinking about feeding him less often (now every other day) but I don't want the other fish to suffer. Any ideas are welcome

Check out the article in our Library on diet.

Done that, I'm looking for tricks to actually get him to eat those things, lol

Soak em in garlic gaurd. IME works all the time!

really?

Yup, I use it too. I have a snowflake eel that's not eating right now, that I'm going to try it on too.

LL. Just a tip sinve my eels went through their starving porcess. Look into live ghosties to feed them for a while to get the sense of hunting. After that move to unsoaked krill etc. Hopefully your eel doesnt starve itself like mine did for over a few months...

Great news! I just dumped a bunch of hermit crabs into the tank and my puffer started poking at them, I hope he'll figure out the rest, lol


Any instructions on the garlic guard?