MY NEW PUFFER :)

dethsight

dethsight

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/386379/my-new-puffer/20#post_3393432
CONGRATS....can't wait to see them.....and YES....a lot of times I do act like a kid....haha
BTW...does anyone know if puffers can jump? The tank is not open, BUT just sitting here I left the front section of lid off while I was doing something
mine has jumped out before. while he was trying to take my arm off, since, as we all know, even when u have the food in ur fingers the rest of ur body becomes food too. they also can become geysers. mine shoots me with water if i have the lid open too long now-a-days. saltwater+puffer geyser+carpet=fun times...lol
 
S

smartorl

Guest
Mine hasn't tried but I have my invention "eel guard" around the perimeter of his tank.
I feed him a little each night. His favorite are scallops. I buy whatever seafood is on sale for my fish food. I usually keep out a few scallops and a few shrimp and chop into smaller pieces (1/2 the scallops and 1/4 the shrimp) and put those into snack baggies and freeze them. I just smack the bag on the counter, pull out a small piece or two and let thaw. He eats when I normally feed the tank but each night we have 9'oclock snack.
For the most part, I have never found anything that he would not eat. He will even pick at the algae sheets, although he is most likely just trying to look cool.
 
dethsight

dethsight

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by smartorl http:///forum/thread/386379/my-new-puffer/40#post_3393482
Mine hasn't tried but I have my invention "eel guard" around the perimeter of his tank.
I feed him a little each night. His favorite are scallops. I buy whatever seafood is on sale for my fish food. I usually keep out a few scallops and a few shrimp and chop into smaller pieces (1/2 the scallops and 1/4 the shrimp) and put those into snack baggies and freeze them. I just smack the bag on the counter, pull out a small piece or two and let thaw. He eats when I normally feed the tank but each night we have 9'oclock snack.
For the most part, I have never found anything that he would not eat. He will even pick at the algae sheets, although he is most likely just trying to look cool.
mine will inhale algae wafers. he goes nuts when i get the bag out. like trying-to-bite-through-the-glass nuts. lol.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I tried a piece of algae sheet last night.....it turned from me, BUT was still new....
It LOVED the scallop and squid this morning thoough, and also went after the mysis and other stuff I feed.....I will buy some raw shrimp tomorrow for it also
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
smartorl, you mentioned you got your puffer from a bucket of bait fish, this was in Florida (or Mass.)? What species of puffer did you get? A regular porcupine?
Meow, definitely an awesome little fish. Large puffers, IMHO are among the smartest fish we kept. They just develop so strong of personalities, begging for food from 'the food god' is only the start. Couple of things first, unlike Arothron puffers (dogface, golden, etc), Diodontidae puffers (which include Porcupines and the aforementioned Spiny Burrfish) usually don't develop tooth or beak problems. Their teeth are flatter, more plate shaped. It's still important to offer hard-shelled foods to keep his jaws/muscles in shape. Diodontidae also tend to been much more reef safe then Arothron puffers. Porcupines are also more 'disease-resistant' then their Spiny Burrfish cousins, but are still lower on the overall scale. The upside is with their huge fins and eyes, it's very easy to spot disease(s). With a solid steady diet of good fish, and a generally stress-free environment, however, outbreaks can be mostly prevented.
The other part of this post, is the part I don't want to do, but feel I must. It evolves a "are you sure" comment..... My honest opinion is that I would only keep fish I wouldn't be heartbroken if they died, with the Porky. There used to be a video on youtube of a 4" Porky which had bitten most of the back off a slightly smaller yellow tang, and was still pestering it. I'm sure there's lots of success stories out there, and to be honest, I'd bet that stories of aggressive Porkys are actually a smaller minority, but the chances are definitely still there. In addition, I'm sure you did but eventually having a football floating around the tank, and the food required to support that football, may not exactly be the best combination for a reef. My 10" Spiny Burrfish is at 1 jumbo shrimp and 4 scallops a day for food intake (she's actually ate 3 whole jumbo shrimp at one sitting). That's quiet the bioload, even for a 225gal. And much like a Volitian Lionfish, this is fish that will grow, regardless of tank size.
I don't want to be a downer, just hopefully sledding some light on the 'whole picture.' If ya'll did a bunch of research and are up, for a bit of challenge, great. Need anymore help, lemme know. However if you are hoping a 8" Porcupine won't occasionally sample some 1.5" reef fish tankmates, hopefully that's what I sled some light on....
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
YIKES.....Thanks, I DO need to do some more research.....As much as I hate to say this...I know "some" about them, and just kinda fell in love with it....so bought it

What a bad example I am setting here :( IF...it turns out to be more then I can handle...or a burden on my tanks...I will find other accomodations for it :(
I do have a question.....I am going to buy some raw shrimp today...obviously frozen from Walmart....SHOULD I buy shell on shrimp and feed the puffer the shell too?
 
S

smartorl

Guest
AK, Puffy was discovered here in Florida on the East coast near Sebastian Inlet. Where the bait fish were caught, I'm not sure if that would have been in the Atlantic, Gulf, or farm raised to be honest. Although we do frequent the same bait shops, where they get their bait from varies so much. About the only thing that is a constant are the clams.
He is a plain old porc.
He has only ever puffed once, scared the heck out of all of us. A medium sized hermit got into the biggest shell in the tank and Puff went in after it and I'm not sure whether he got pinched or just panicked and he inflated. My son was a little guy at the time and was hysterical thinking the crab was killing him.
I have been very fortunate in that mine is a model citizen.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
OMG It devoured the shrimp...well most of it....I had to break some tiny pieces off for the other fish
MIA is one small blue reef chromis.....LOL....BUT to be honest, I don't think I saw it Saturday either
 
mproctor4

mproctor4

Member
I really doubt it ate your chromis at 3". My dad's got to 9"ish and never bit/ate another fish, just your arm. Also, about the previous conversation, his was in a tank that had ick and never got it. My spiney boxfish puffer came directly from the ocean to our tank, so it is doubtful it had ick until he reached our tank, he just happened to be the first one it really affected. Hopefully yours will stay ick free and healthy. I saw one at the LFS right after you posted about yours, it was hard to restrain myself!!! You just can't help but like them.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
LOL...Yeah I don't think the puffer ate it either....I think the larger chromis was mean to it......
I love this guy already...LOL.....
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Eating the shrimp....it seems to like the shrimp a lot better then the scallops though....sometimes I think it is going after my nail polish though

 
al&burke

al&burke

Active Member
I like that shot meowzer, hmmm I still haven't got a fuzzy for my 40 gallon maybe a puffer might be another option.
 
kilofey

kilofey

Member
Ey meowzer, I have a 12" long freshwater fahaka puffer. I was told that they should be trained to let you handle/pet them because sometimes their teeth will overgrow and they need to have their teeth clipped with nail clippers so you need to be able to handle them. The other alternative is sedateing them, which can be dangerous. My fahaka never had teeth problems but I always keep up on his daily pets just in case. After a while, he actually would beg for his loveins! He swims to the top and tip on his side so you could get his belly, then i stick my hand in there and rub his belly :) just make sure your hands are clean. Wanna watch something really cool, feed him a live crayfish! Thats a site to see... Those crayfish can live without a very significant portion of their bodies lol
Also, at the beginning of the post when someone asked if he recently puffed cause his spikes werent flat.... He may have. They practice puff randomly sometimes to keep their skin esastic incase they ever need to do it defensively. When they practice puff, its only usially for a few seconds, but if they arent stressed, them puffing is a good thing. Ill see if I can find a pic of mine practice puffing, I was lucky to get the shot!
I hate to say it if its already been stated in this post, but make sure he never touches air, puffing with air is bad, make sure you research how to "burp" them just in case, its a good thing to have in your mental library, cause ya never know... Like if he jumps out and you notice him puffed on the carpet
Just my 2¢ HTH
Welcome to the puffer addiction btw :)
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Thanks.....I will tell you he is lazy....only seems to take the food if I hand it to him.....does not seem to want to go after it....is this normal??
 
S

smartorl

Guest
Yes mam! They are one of the few fish I have come across that want the interaction with you as much as the food.
I lost my guy
. He won't be replaced so I am going to live vicariously through you and yours now!
 
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