The Puffer Forum

I've seen that some people here on the forum feed their puffers veggies as treats, so I tried giving my irrubesco half a frozen pea along with her soaked freeze-dried plankton. She seemed to enjoy it (she actually ate most of it, which is high praise from my little snob), so was wondering if it is safe to feed her peas and other forms of vegetable matter now and then for variety. I was thinking 2-4 times per month, maybe? How often can vegetable matter be safely fed to a carnivore? I'm not trying to make her a vegetarian, I'm just trying to spice up her menu a little. In addition to the peas, have some sushi nori (seaweed) in the cupboards I was thinking of trying next week. Is that too salty for a FW fish to eat?

If anyone has heard of ill effects from feeding occasional vegetable matter (digestive troubles, impactions, etc.) please let me know!

I think 2 - 4 times per month would be just fine. They probably get that much or more veggie matter in the wild along with their prey. They may not get too much out of it since they probably aren't built to digest veggie matter, but it could help clean them out a bit and maybe give some vitamins.

I gut-load ghost shrimp w/algae wafers, so my puffs get their veggies.

I gut load crickets with flake fish food and veggies before feeding them to my puffer.

My irrubesco used to like peas. About once a week as a treat. He kinda stopped eating them now though. Stares at them and rolls his beady eyes at me.

"Booooooor-ing! I want speacialer food!"

The cry of the irrubesco.

So peas as a treat it is! I doubt she has the digestive equipment to get much nutrition out of it, but she does seem to enjoy the taste and variety.

Gut-loaded food is a great idea, PP! The herbivores do all the hard work digesting the cellulose and so forth, and the puffers get the nutrition. Alaska ate about half a wild cricket we caught in the house last night and really seemed to enjoy it. I might get her some more (properly gut-loaded domestic crickets this time)--especially if I get that lizard I've been coveting. Do puffers ever get impacted if they eat a lot of chitin, like some smaller lizards do?

I sort of gut-load my snails; they eat a mix of spirulina wafers, green beans, and fish food. I never though of it as gut-loading until now; I just figured my puff should be eating healthy snails. I've been considering gut-loaded ghost shrimps too, but I'm not certain I could get a colony going without getting a new tank and the associated equipment. They can't go in my 5-gallon snail breeder, can they?

Do puffers ever get impacted if they eat a lot of chitin, like some smaller lizards do?

Yes, I wouldn't feed too many king/mealworms to them.

The ghost shrimp would likely eat your snail eggs and babies if you put them in the snail breeder.

Pufferpunk wrote:

Do puffers ever get impacted if they eat a lot of chitin, like some smaller lizards do?

Yes, I wouldn't feed too many king/mealworms to them.

Good to know! I'll definitely keep that in mind when shopping.

Thanks, Phaedrus. I figured it'd be something like that. When I get more space I might set up a ghostie tank, but for now I'll stick with snails.

So has anyone had any luck with seaweed for FW puffs, or is it too salty?

I feed my puffs peas all the time.

I always unthaw and sometimes I take the skins off too.

hi at all,
while it is known that some puffs eat plants and algae and some sea-puffs even eat up to 90% only algae i don`t know any academic text which has analyzed the food of c. irrubescu. because of that we just can`t know. some asian freshwater species love to eat plants and algae and it makes a good proportion of their diet. for example some of the auriglobus species.
my auriglobus modestus start to eat all kinds of algae as soon as i don´t feed them one day. they also love cucumber.
it has been suggested that c.irrubescu is also feeding on insects because of the form of his mouth. my irrubescus loved insects, but those worms you were talking about should not be the best.
martin

I read on a goldfish information website that peas can be fed to goldfish to aid with their digestion because they act as a mild laxative.

Do you think there's any truth to this? If so it may help make the case for feeding the occasional pea to puffs.

Peas are often fed to bettas who are constipated.

hi,
i´ve never heard of that. and while i never feed peas i know that a lot of people feed their catfish with it. for humans they are a little poisonous if eaten raw, maybe it´s the same with some animals?
martin

Peas aren't poisonous raw. Many beans are bad to eat uncooked, but peas can be eaten straight from the shell. I do it all the time. As with any food, you could probably have some ill effects if you ate way too much, but in average quantities raw peas are quite tasty and healthy.