Puffer Live Food
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nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
Can I make this as clear as possible without being rude -- brackish water pufferfish should not be fed guppies or any other feeder fish! If you want to feed them live food, and you also want to be a good fishkeeper, then breed snails. OK, snails may not satisfy your "Roman arena" wish to see one fish eat another, but snails are [a] the correct and natural food in terms of nutrients and the best food for wearing down the continually-growing teeth on a pufferfish. Nothing else comes close to snails in these regards, and all serious pufferfish keepers either breed snails or regularly collect them from a clean source (like a fish-free garden pond).
There are some pufferfish that eat fish in the wild. But the green spotted puffer, topaz puffer, and figure-8 puffer are not among them. These fish are pure invertebrate feeders, and want snails, shrimps, insect larvae, clams, and the like. Suitable substitutes include frozen mussels, squid, krill, and prawns. But snails are the key element of the diet. Without them, the teeth can become too long, preventing the fish from feeding properly. Eventually, you need to clip the teeth using cuticle cutters, which is a bit of chore, so anything you do to stave off that day will be a good idea. So ditch the guppies, and go get some snails!
Cheers,
Neale
PS. There is a Feeder Fish FAQ in the oddball section. Have a read of it. Essentially, the only safe way to use feeder fish is to raise your own (to prevent feeding parasites and bacteria to your fish). Livebearers are ideal because they can be easily gut-loaded with vegetable foods, which is key to giving predatory fish the vitamins they need.
There are some pufferfish that eat fish in the wild. But the green spotted puffer, topaz puffer, and figure-8 puffer are not among them. These fish are pure invertebrate feeders, and want snails, shrimps, insect larvae, clams, and the like. Suitable substitutes include frozen mussels, squid, krill, and prawns. But snails are the key element of the diet. Without them, the teeth can become too long, preventing the fish from feeding properly. Eventually, you need to clip the teeth using cuticle cutters, which is a bit of chore, so anything you do to stave off that day will be a good idea. So ditch the guppies, and go get some snails!
Cheers,
Neale
PS. There is a Feeder Fish FAQ in the oddball section. Have a read of it. Essentially, the only safe way to use feeder fish is to raise your own (to prevent feeding parasites and bacteria to your fish). Livebearers are ideal because they can be easily gut-loaded with vegetable foods, which is key to giving predatory fish the vitamins they need.
yes (sigh) i am aware of this - maybe i was asking for trouble for posting in the brackish section but for puffer questions i thought it might be the best place.
so anyone who would like to advise about puffer fish (ie. congo puffer) that do eat guppies (and if this is neccessary to their diet) please do
so anyone who would like to advise about puffer fish (ie. congo puffer) that do eat guppies (and if this is neccessary to their diet) please do
k.o.d
Fish Crazy
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As in the post above, why do you feed your puffers guppies?
River shrimp are a much more economical way of feeding gut-loaded live food
Am not particularly bothered about the do/do not use live fish debate for feeding, but when your fish would be better off eating something else I just wonder about the motives
Steve
River shrimp are a much more economical way of feeding gut-loaded live food
Am not particularly bothered about the do/do not use live fish debate for feeding, but when your fish would be better off eating something else I just wonder about the motives
Steve
when i looked up what congo puffers eat on the internet guppies seemed to be the recomended live food - i've not gone down this avenue yet but was just wondering whether its generally recomended/actually done.
heres the link: http
/puffernet.tripod.com/miurus.html
my puffer gets snails and shrimps at the moment but he's quite small and since he'll grow to up 6 inches i thought at some point he might need larger food.
heres the link: http
/puffernet.tripod.com/miurus.htmlmy puffer gets snails and shrimps at the moment but he's quite small and since he'll grow to up 6 inches i thought at some point he might need larger food.
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
Hmmm.... well, the Oddballs section is really the place for freshwater pufferfish discussion.
There's no need for these fish to be given guppies, though provided you are raising your own and gut loading them for a week or so before hand, there's nothing wrong with using guppies. Going out and buying guppies from the tropical fish shop would be a bad idea. Over the long term (and these puffers can live 10-15 years) sooner or later one of those guppies from the store will bring in worms, external parasites, or whatever. Because pufferfish are intolerant of copper-based medications (i.e., most of the commercial ones) caring for a sick pufferfish is somewhere you don't want to be.
Pufferfish experts (like Klaus Ebert, author of the Aqualog book) recommend mussels as the staple for all -- ALL -- pufferfish. His logic is sound: they are nutritious, low in fat, and come gut-loaded with algae providing the pufferfish with essential vitamins. In terms of adding variety, as Steve has said above, river shrimps are ideal, but also try snails and woodlice. Frozen prawns, squid, and so on from the supermarket are good to have as a stand-by. Some people have had good luck with live crayfish, which you can obtain (not inexpensively!) from upmarket fishmongers. Big pufferfish certainly do seem to enjoy them.
Cheers,
Neale
PS. There's a very good review of feeding pufferfish here.
when i looked up what congo puffers eat on the internet guppies seemed to be the recomended live food - i've not gone down this avenue yet but was just wondering whether its generally recomended/actually done.
heres the link: http
my puffer gets snails and shrimps at the moment but he's quite small and since he'll grow to up 6 inches i thought at some point he might need larger food.
Not sure I'd trust that site. They're not even sure what fish it is. The photo in the bottom left isn't a congo, it's a tetraodon palembangensis, a totally different fish.
As Nmonks states, there is no need to feed a puffer live food. It's a very risky business, and one that isn't very fair on the creature. With store bought guppies it would be a gamble on the fishes health.
Stick to other foods.
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
If you're into pufferfish, you won't go far wrong buying the Aqualog book. It's about £15-20 in the UK, depending on where you get it. Cheaper if you buy in Germany. More expensive in the US. Either way, it's the absolute bible for solid puffer-oriented information. There's a smaller book at about £4 by Chris Ralph called "Pufferfish" or something similar that's not quite so good but covers thw basics pretty well.
Cheers,
Neale
Cheers,
Neale
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