Striped Dog Face Puffer General Questions

[ups.0fficial]

Hi everyone! I recently got a striped dog face puffer and he’s the cutest fish I’ve ever seen! He’s also my first predatory fish! Naturally, I have some questions about pufferfish care and fun!

Right now, I feed my puffer parts of defrosted shrimp, defrosted scallops, defrosted muscles, and seaweed but I’ve learned that puffers like eating live foods. My puffer is a baby so he’s only around 4.5 inches. I’ve been looking for small crabs to feed him! Right now what I’m considering are live shrimp, live emerald crabs, and live porcelain crabs. Do you think those would be appropriate for his size and diet? Also, I’ve never had experiences with breeding but I want to start an inver breeding tank to supply food for my puffer, how difficult is it usually to have success with those tanks?

Right now I have my puffer in a 36g just because he’s so small, I’m planning on upgrading once he gets larger. Do these puffers grow quickly? I want to make sure that he has as much room as he needs when he gets bigger!

Lastly, I’ve seen a couple threads about teaching pufferfish tricks! Of course I got intrigued and now I have questions lol. What tricks can you teach a pufferfish and how difficult is it to train them?

I’m very much still a beginner with saltwater tanks, so I want to make sure that I learn more about my fish! Thank you all for being patient with me and providing me with so much knowledge!

 

[Sippiku]

Here to see the replies! Good luck with your new fish and tank!

 

[Sam816]

I am quoting what i've read on the internet. live food is good if its freshwater crustaceans. saltwater ones might bring in disease with them. growing freshwater snails is easy but they won't provide enough nutrition. also, the puffers grow very fast so you might not be able to keep up with its needs. it's better to continue with frozen food. just thaw it and add some drops of fish vitamins.
I wanted to start saltwater just to keep a porcupine puffer but then i learned more about corals and the puffer went on back burner.

 

[ups.0fficial]

I am quoting what i've read on the internet. live food is good if its freshwater crustaceans. saltwater ones might bring in disease with them. growing freshwater snails is easy but they won't provide enough nutrition. also, the puffers grow very fast so you might not be able to keep up with its needs. it's better to continue with frozen food. just thaw it and add some drops of fish vitamins.
I wanted to start saltwater just to keep a porcupine puffer but then i learned more about corals and the puffer went on back burner.

Thank you so much! I’ll get some fish vitamins asap and I’ll look into some freshwater crustaceans just as a little bit of entertainment for him! If he ends up growing too fast and too big I’ll probably bring him to my LFS and maybe get another when I have a large enough tank! I used to love porcupine puffers until I saw the video of someone making one puff up and feeding him a carrot, it absolutely broke my heart

 

[lion king]

If you are feeding a variety of human grade seafood, including some fresh when possible, puffers don't need live food per se. They do need something to help manage their teeth, shell on shrimp is a good addition. Don't get me wrong, they will enjoy live crustaceans. Live ghost shrimp and fiddler crabs(when he's large enough) are good choices for live food. Snails are good to manage their teeth but they can't be too hard, the ramshorn snails are a good choice and can be an easy project for breeding. Ghost shrimp will live in saltwater but the fiddler crabs and ramshorn snails should be fed on demand.

 

[Sippiku]

If you are feeding a variety of human grade seafood, including some fresh when possible, puffers don't need live food per se. They do need something to help manage their teeth, shell on shrimp is a good addition. Don't get me wrong, they will enjoy live crustaceans. Live ghost shrimp and fiddler crabs(when he's large enough) are good choices for live food. Snails are good to manage their teeth but they can't be too hard, the ramshorn snails are a good choice and can be an easy project for breeding. Ghost shrimp will live in saltwater but the fiddler crabs and ramshorn snails should be fed on demand.

How often do you need to give them food that will manage their teeth? Just curious.

 

[desull]

How often do you need to give them food that will manage their teeth? Just curious.

you could make some diamond tipped tongs and feed him chunks off those. Mine goes crazy for them and it files down his teeth without worrying about him swallowing a chunk of shell that he can't digest.