Saw these 2 new puffers at my LFS

[boohbahbah]

From far away, I was like wow, cute puffers! Then, I got closer and they were shaped weird. Do some puffers go through an awkward stage while growing, such as being in bent shapes or do they keep the same shape throughout growing? The porcupine look like someone took it by hand & bent its rear portion down...like a L shape, but sideways. The dog face looked like someone literally squeezed it. Its rear portion was all skinny and wrinkly. It didn't look healthy at all, I felt bad for them...to the point that they should be put down... my hubby says it was probably because they're not being fed, so they got skinny...but I didn't think a fish's body changed shape much when it comes to starvation? I know their colors become faded. Trying to figure out if these were just naturally deformed.
The dog face's teeth were severely overgrown, so I already know neglect with that...but the body shapes of them...omg.

 

[fretfreak13]

Aww...poor things. I can't offer any information, I have all nano reefs and can't keep puffers so I never researched them.

 

[boohbahbah]

Originally Posted by Fretfreak13
http:///forum/post/3165780
Aww...poor things. I can't offer any information, I have all nano reefs and can't keep puffers so I never researched them.
ooo reef...I hope to have one of those tanks someday.
I googled dog face puffers in google images...all of the pictures I saw were of fat healthy looking dog faces...so that one I saw had to be bad off...don't even know why they bothered to take them in.

 

[louti]

The "L" shape sounds pretty normal. Puffers will often swim with their tail bent to the side like that. As far, as the dogface, that doesnt sound good, but probably just isnt being well fed. Most stores dont bother to feed their livestock much.

 

[boohbahbah]

Originally Posted by louti
http:///forum/post/3165937
The "L" shape sounds pretty normal. Puffers will often swim with their tail bent to the side like that. As far, as the dogface, that doesnt sound good, but probably just isnt being well fed. Most stores dont bother to feed their livestock much.
really? i never seen porcupines with their tails bent down so far...wasn't just the tail, the rear of his body was down with it. thats what i mean by it looks like someone took their hands and bent it down like a cheap bendy toy...

 

[aquaknight]

The Porcupine look like this? Maybe exaggerated a bit by a sunken belly? The reason is not certain. Believe to be related to injury and/or malnutrition. Sometimes when the Porcupine 'puffs up', one of the spines gets caught, and gives the impression of the shape. It's happened to my Burrfish (avatar) twice.

The dogface sounds like it's on death's doorstep, horribly starved from not eating. All puffers have big jaws with large bony teeth, and massive muscles that occupy almost all of the front half of their body. In fact, it's why their eyes bulge, to make room for jaw muscles. If a puffer has been starved, you can usually only see it in the rear half of the body. It's starts to shrink and in severe cases like you saw, you end up with one like that.
Dogface puffers need some foods that help grind their teeth down. Shell-on shrimp, clams, etc. Their teeth can grow to the point they can't open their jaws any wider and food can't get in. You can manually chip the teeth back down, but nearly everyone is not comfortable doing this, and a fish that far starved, it does sounds like euthanasia is the best option...

 

[boohbahbah]

The porcupine did looked like that, but perfect L shape. Was disgusting that I ended up walking out from the discomfort I had from looking at the poor thing.
Thanks for the info on the dog face, we have one and I love him so! Our own dogface's teeth were sorta long when we adopted him, but he's all cool now. - Seems like the wafers did the job for his chompers. I saw pictures on google of people shaving their teeth...that's interesting. I'd probably do it if I had to...I've given the poor thing a tummy massage when he had some severe bloating/constipation (my dad fed him too many wafers without even asking me if he could!) ...so I'd probably wouldn't fear doing anything else!
Good to know about the muscles and stuff. When I research info on fish, it's usually just about what to feed and expect of them...never about their bodies! I need to start reading more into that section.

 

[keith gray]

I have had a puffer for about 3 months and feed him a shrimp that has already been peeled. I have never heard of the wafers. What are they and where do you get them ?
Should I feed him shrimp with peel still on it ? Will he eat the peel too or will it just float forever and become a nitrate in my tank ??!!

 

[aquaknight]

Originally Posted by Keith Gray
http:///forum/post/3166728
I have had a puffer for about 3 months and feed him a shrimp that has already been peeled. I have never heard of the wafers. What are they and where do you get them ?
Should I feed him shrimp with peel still on it ? Will he eat the peel too or will it just float forever and become a nitrate in my tank ??!!
Shell-on is typically better as it's a bit harder so it's better for the puffers teeth, and a workout for his jaw muscles. You have be careful with peeled, because many times it's already cooked shrimp. Pre-cooked shrimp is not recommended as fish food. Always look for raw.
What type of puffer do you have, and how big is he? If the puffer is large enough, such as the 8" Burrfish in my avatar he can and sometimes does consume the whole shrimp, even tail and all (slips from my hand during feeding). My 3.5" Bluespotted Toby can only help but pick at shrimp, and if he gets part of the shell, spits it out. Thankfully as long as the shell is free of any 'meat' of the shrimp, the shell doesn't really decompose, and won't add to your nitrates.

 

[keith gray]

I have a porcupine and I would guess he is about 4". I can cut a medium size shrimp up into 3-4 pieces and feed it to him piece by piece. He sucks it in and out chomping as he goes until it is all gone. I don't think he has any tooth problems right now, I just wanted to look ahead as a preventative thing.

 

[aquaknight]

Aw, Diodontidae puffers, Porcupine/Burrfish, have a bit different 'teeth' then Arothron puffers (Dogface, Guiena Fowl, Mappa) and usually don't have the overgrowth problems. It's still important to feed good foods, but rarely will Porky's have teeth issues. Not saying it doesn't happen, just their jaws/teeth are constructed a bit different and it's less of a concern.

 

[boohbahbah]

Originally Posted by Keith Gray
http:///forum/post/3166728
I have had a puffer for about 3 months and feed him a shrimp that has already been peeled. I have never heard of the wafers. What are they and where do you get them ?
Should I feed him shrimp with peel still on it ? Will he eat the peel too or will it just float forever and become a nitrate in my tank ??!!
I found the wafers when I was ordering some other stuff from {EDIT}. It was this {EDIT LINK}
I originally ordered them for the hermits to munch on every now and again...but our puffer loves these things. So now I give 1 or 2 to him every few days, to switch up his diet. The label say it's meant for all fresh & saltwater fish. He works away at them until every piece is gone.

 

[boohbahbah]

Originally Posted by Keith Gray
http:///forum/post/3166741
I have a porcupine and I would guess he is about 4". I can cut a medium size shrimp up into 3-4 pieces and feed it to him piece by piece. He sucks it in and out chomping as he goes until it is all gone. I don't think he has any tooth problems right now, I just wanted to look ahead as a preventative thing.
Ahhh a porcupine puffer, our porcupine refuses to eat the wafers..I think it's because he was never raised on dry goods. Our dogface is the only one who was raised on dry food so he takes to them easily.

 

[eric b 125]

i've also heard of people providing their puffers w/ a cuddle bone to help file the teeth down. never tried since i dont keep puffers, but thought i'd add my $.02