SAPs are excellent first puffers. Probably the best. They are very, very hardy fish. I just rescued one that lived a week inside a filter, none the worst for wear! That same fish got passed on to me after being emaciated, having severe finrot, and overgrown teeth. A few months later and it's now in good health with the fins almost completely healed.
Trimming their teeth isn't at all hard. I'm sure the clove oil method has been described elsewhere on TFF. It works very well. Worst-case scenario seems to be that you need to trim the teeth every 3-6 months.
About six months ago I moved mine from a tank with silica sand to one with gravel. Following that, I noticed that the teeth grew much faster. I'm now quite sure that the combination of silica sand plus Malayan livebearing snails helps the puffers wear down their teeth. The puffers perhaps eat the baby snails, since I've never seen them eat the adults, and in the process their teeth get chipped and abraded just as they would in the wild. The sand seems to be a factor: people keeping them in tanks with Melanoides snails but without the sand haven't noticed the same effect. Possibly the sand acts like a kind of abrasive grit while the puffers are hunting? In any case, I found that my SAPs showed hardly any tooth growth, even after a year in the tank with sand and snails.
Some people have very strong opinions about feeding Melanoides snails to pufferfish. I've yet to see any problems -- and indeed only benefits -- but let me at least say that there is a concern that these tough snails could cause serious damage to the teeth or beak. I have yet to see any evidence that this actually happens, but you can make your own mind up.
Cheers, Neale
