The Puffer Forum

My other concern is his behavior and these chompers. He looks good IMO, he has taken on a few snails but has not crushed the shell. As mentioned before, he gobbled up brine shrimp, but since he has gotten in the tank most of his time has been spent trying to bite the glass!! He wasn't easy to photograph while doing this, but I got a couple of halfway decent shots, it was amazing for one to see them....but then I got scared wondering if his chompers need to be a little smaller?? There are plenty of snails, so hopefully he will do his best.
For those of you that have modestus, also give me some hints on what their fav foods are. He is only about 1 3/4 - 2" at the moment. I have frozen bloodworms, snails, frozen mussel and various other frozen stuff. Some ghost shrimp will come in on Wednesday and I can pick some up and see how he likes 'em.

Can he actually close his mouth?

looks like the beak is massive, if needing trimmed.

I am worried that trimming might be necessary. I couldn't see that in the store before purchase, just since he was put into the tank because he is trying to bite the glass and will show them to you! I will keep close tabs on how and what he eats for a few days to see if I can get him to eat some crunchies and wear it down before I go about trying to trim them.

Mine eat the small orange-brown sinking goldfish pellets, and, being hard, they help keep their teeth trimmed.

This, of course, is not the only thing I feed them!

Modestus have teeth that overgrow like SAPs. That one needs trimming.

Now that he is not attacking the glass those chompers are back where they belong. His mouth closes with just a slight space, and I do mean slight, just like most puffers who always look like they are smiling.
I took some pics of him now that he is mellowing out, but they aren't too great of facial shots, so you wouldn't be able to tell anyway. I will continue to monitor his eating, he has taken dried krill and munched a few snails so it isn't like he isn't eating. As I keep a close eye on him I will watch for more indications of overgrown teeth, but we may still be okay. Living on brine shrimp at the LFS doesn't offer much of a diet!

Funny pictures...making me laugh....hahahahahaha!

Oh, watching him for the first couple of days running around "snarling" at the glass was something else! He has settled down tremendously now and is munching some snail shells, even if he doesn't eat the whole shell I have found several with cracked shells and pieces missing from the edge. You definitely don't see his teeth like that anymore, it was something he was doing. Maybe he has finally realized that the puff in the glass is not a threat!!! I know he realizes I am the one bringing the nummies for him to eat

so funny. thanks for posting

Please do kreep in mind though, that this species is known for overgrown teeth that need trimming regularly. Keep an eye on them.

Thanks for the tip pufferpunk. Although teeth trimming wouldn't be first pick of "what should I do today" I am willing to learn and do it if necessary. I just really didn't want to do it right after bringing the guy home. He had already been thru 2 homes and returned, they said because of his aggressiveness......maybe living on only brine shrimp did not a happy puff make.

Another Q....how much is known about the lifestyles of these puffs in the wild? I know there aren't any dentists in their natural habitat so is there enough information about how they keep their own teeth trimmed in the wild? Is there something I might be able to keep in his tank for him to nibble on if he feels the need?

More than likely, a consistant diet of snails.

A consistent diet of snails in this house is easy enough! When I first got overloaded with snails I started looking for a way to get rid of them, ended up with my first dp along with some bad advice (imagine that), now that I have puffers snails are allowed to breed everywhere and I can have my pick whenever I want.