Puffer Fish Dentistry!

[SDWalters]

So i have a South American Puffer who's 'beak' was overgrown and he was continually struggling to eat, so i read up on here and a few articles elsewhere, to my horror it was apparant i was to become a puffer dentist!!!

So last night i built up the courage and caught the little guy, knocked him out (Clove oil on this occassion but im going to get the 'safer' stuff for the future) and my girlfriend who luckily for me is a nail technician and so well trained in the art of nail/cutile clippers cut the beak down to size!!!


In the future what can i feed him to make this a very irregular occurance???

 

[nmonks]

Wild fish feed extensively on snails, and presumably their beaks are kept worn down that way. In practice, it's pretty difficult to completely eliminate SAP dental work. At best, I've managed to get it down to a once-a-year thing. Having snails in my tanks for them to eat is one thing, and perhaps the fact I use sand rather than gravel also means their teeth are abraded more.

Cheers, Neale

 

[SDWalters]

Wild fish feed extensively on snails, and presumably their beaks are kept worn down that way. In practice, it's pretty difficult to completely eliminate SAP dental work. At best, I've managed to get it down to a once-a-year thing. Having snails in my tanks for them to eat is one thing, and perhaps the fact I use sand rather than gravel also means their teeth are abraded more.

Cheers, Neale

What types of snails do you have in your tank that they will eat?? I hear people talking about feeding them mussels, does this mean still in the shells or just the normal frozen ones?

Also when you do have to do a bit of dental work, what do you use to make the fish unconcious?

 

[nmonks]

What types of snails do you have in your tank that they will eat?? I hear people talking about feeding them mussels, does this mean still in the shells or just the normal frozen ones?

My puffers mostly eat Physa spp. snails from the pond, but they may also be eating Melanoides snails, these latter having very tough shells. Some aquarists maintain these snails could be dangerous by cracking the teeth of their pufferfish. I'm sceptical of that, but in fairness, I've mentioned it here.

As for feeding them mussels, these are a fine food in moderation. They contain a lot of thiaminase, and you really should confine thiaminase-rich foods to the minority part of your puffer's diet. Obviously mussel meat will have no impact on their teeth. Unshelled mussels may well be a viable food for very large puffers that can swallow them whole, but small freshwater species like SAPs simply won't be able to crack their shells. To work as an abrasive, the puffer needs to be grinding its teeth against the shell.

Also when you do have to do a bit of dental work, what do you use to make the fish unconcious?

Do read here.