fileling down teeth

[A.K.A Zak]

i keep reading sites, yes i'm doing my research, and some ites say i need not to worry or ithers might say i have to keep my green spotted puffer's teeth filed, do you think a puffer would chew on sand, wood, or a rock to keep them filed?, i am really hopping it would so i can save money.

 

[CFC]

The best thing for keeping puffers teeth filed is shellfish, go to your local fishmongers or fresh fish section of the super market and get some mussels still in their shells, cockels in shells are good too.

 

[A.K.A Zak]

thanks CFC.

 

[A.K.A Zak]

ok now i'm hereing i should use marine salt insted of aquarium salt for brakish water, my lfs owner told me to use aquarium salt, is this still ok, or will i have to change my salt when my puffer gets bigger?

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Either will do (I think) but marine salt buffers the water up to a higher pH which might or might not be liked by your puffer (depends on your type of puffer). But marine salt is alot cheaper to buy in bulk than aquarium salt.

 

[carppy]

brackish puffers..that is something I know about. Depending on the type of puffer you have. I had a fahaka puffer for a few years. THey normally start out in fresh water and moved out toward the ocean. I always used marine salt, and it should be added gradually. Some fish rooms in fact keep most of their brackish fish in fresh water so its best to test the water they are coming from first then match the salt content of your tank to the tank that they're coming from, then gradually build the salt up to the recomended amount for that particular strain. I keep a small container of aquarium salt on hand( btw you can also just use epsom salt its way cheap) to use for medicinal purposes in my tanks.

And the tooth filing thing...well my fish used to nibble gravel and at his hiding rock..in fact all of my pufffers did that and if you are feeding him live fish..yes the bones of the food will help too. Funny story my 10" fahaka puffer once for some apparant reason attacked his hiding rock, puffed right up and charged at it and broke his beak. He had one hell of a hard time chompin his goldfish in half for a while

 

[A.K.A Zak]

my lfs told me that puffer fish teeth fall out at a sertain lengh snd will be regrown, is this true or is he a dumb ass?

 

[Lithril]

I've never heard of that one. If you feed the puffer plenty of crunchy food you should never have to worry about trimming their teeth. I actually put loads of snails in my tank, the trumpet snails I use are great for keeping the sand from forming dead spots and also provide food. I'll try and hook out a link to trimming puffers beaks if you really want to know but it shouldn't be a problem. (the beaks are actually trimmed with cuticle scissors instead of being filed and u anaethatise them first with a couple of drops of clove oil in a large container of tank water.) If I can't find the link ask Pufferpack, he found it for me - may even be in the Puffer Species pinned link.

 

[ketyana]

I was going to start a new topic, but I hope I get some replies tacking it on the end here.

I have been looking at buying a dwarf puffer fish for a litle species tank and was asking the fish shop that sells them where I get the snails to keep its beak trimmed, nowhere in the local area appears to sell them......and err even if they did could not sell cheap snails for food!!!

Will puffers live just as well on cockles? I do not want to feel like a criminal sneaking around in the dead of night (or even at 4pm on a tuesday ) going for store to store buying up snails under the guise that I like they, just to throw them to the mercy (or lack of!!) of my puffer, I will feel like a drug dealer or something!

 

[CFC]

If you want some snails just buy a few pond snails from the coldwater section of a fish store or garden centre (or better yet pinch a few from someones pond) and keep them in container outside, they will reproduce rapidly and the young snails can be harvested to feed your puffers.

 

[Lithril]

Will the LFS not give you any, mine usually has a stock that they pull off of plants that they'll just give away. Yes u can feed puffers on cockles, just wash them well first.