Messiest Fish EVER

[TextsFromParrots]

The forums and websites did not lie, puffers are MESSY. I have a filter designed for twice the size of what I have running because there were a lot of sites talking about the huge bio load that puffers have. They were not lying. First off, feeding him is hard because he is a little mass murderer. I put in a few ghost shrimp for him this morning and he ate one, and then promptly killed the others without eating them. He's also getting meal worms and blood worms, which he just tears up creating more of a mess. The filter has small openings which means most of the larger chunks get stuck in the grate leaving me to manually clean them every day. And that's not even counting the mess he makes of the gravel, he burrows and picks rocks up so he can dig out the base of the plant decorations when he's not eating or mussing up the water. I thought people were exaggerating when they said that they often have to replace 40-50% of the water weekly to ensure that it's clean, but now I know they aren't!!

Got a secondary aquarium up and running as well for his food since I can't put it in his tank without him being a little psycho. Hopefully I can start breeding snails on my own for him, since apparently they're easy to get reproducing.

 

[Saemma]

Thank you for reminding me never to consider an aquarium and never to consider puffer fish.

 

[TikiLola]

Ummm....Yeah....sounds like a nightmare!

 

[TextsFromParrots]

I think it's mostly my fault for overfeeding as i figure out how much he should eat. Because he eats and then he destroys whatever is left giving the illusion of eating. Either that, or I need something with larger openings to filter so I don't have to clear it when bits get stuck.

 

[Dani]

Been there, done that! I couldn't stand sacrificing those poor snails.........

 

[Vegemite]

And we all thought birdies were the messiest creatures. They dont even come close to one itty-bitty puffer fish. LOL

 

[Greycloud]

I'm telling you, if you get him braces he can't eat as much!

 

[ramoth]

puffers are cool but there is this saying in SW "If it has a beak it will eat your reef!" never had one!! You might as well give on the the decor sounds like he will make it his tank no matter what you might want! lol I have had a Niger Trigger and I'm thinking they are prolly a lot like puffers when it comes to messy eating! But aren't they cool to watch hunt? Bam Bam food gone.. Do puffers go through an excited color change? Niger go from a black to blue-black to red-black when feeding. I always thought that was neat. Right up there with watching Cuttle ! Now that's one I would LOVE to keep!

 

[Birdbabe]

Sounds like an interesting little. Serial killer you have there.........

 

[CrazyBirdLady]

Any pictures of the psycho mess making puffer?

 

[Anne & Gang]

 

[Featherhead Lady]

I had clowns, tangs, chromis, midas blenny, and cleaner shrimps. Feeding tangs was messy too since you leave seaweed clipped to the rocks. How much live rock are you using? I had a lot of live rock and no decor except for the sand

I do miss my fish! My clowns were always happy to see me like little dogs. My cleaner shrimps would walk on my hand while i cleaned the tank

how often do you need to feed the puffer? Maybe you can do every other day or small feedings through the day. I always wanted a clown trigger -- my dream fish

 

[cosmolove]

I have a SW puffer and he's not too terrible. But I also don't usually feet him live food just due to the mess.

I feed him a lot of frozen krill, your guy should like it too. Its not AS messy if you're careful how much you put in there. You can also cut it up a bit to help. I also feed freeze dried krill when I'm running late I just soak it in aquarium water and then give him a couple pieces. Freeze dried is probably the least messy out of those two but its not as beneficial to them.

Another food I actually just recently discovered and LOVE is clams. You can buy them frozen and they come in just half the shell, its total maybe size of a quarter at most. But the clam is still attached to the shell so you won't get food flying around because its weighed down and he can take bites off it then you can just pull the shell out after. My guy cleans them completely off so I only remove shells when I do water changes just due to laziness and the fact that a shell isn't going to hurt anything.

 

[SandraK]

Umm, so on a completely different tack ... how's the mini-chicken? Hopefully a little tidier?

 

[greymatron]

Hmm, undecided on if I want a puffer or not now..I always liked them.

 

[WIPEOUTMAMA]

I have a SW puffer and he's not too terrible. But I also don't usually feet him live food just due to the mess.

I feed him a lot of frozen krill, your guy should like it too. Its not AS messy if you're careful how much you put in there. You can also cut it up a bit to help. I also feed freeze dried krill when I'm running late I just soak it in aquarium water and then give him a couple pieces. Freeze dried is probably the least messy out of those two but its not as beneficial to them.

Another food I actually just recently discovered and LOVE is clams. You can buy them frozen and they come in just half the shell, its total maybe size of a quarter at most. But the clam is still attached to the shell so you won't get food flying around because its weighed down and he can take bites off it then you can just pull the shell out after. My guy cleans them completely off so I only remove shells when I do water changes just due to laziness and the fact that a shell isn't going to hurt anything.

MINE EATS THE SHELL TOO

 

[blueyez49423]

Can other fish live with him? Puffers are cool looking. I bet he makes an awesome addition to your tank!, even with the murder lol