[weez1959]

This is an inquiry from someone else:
How much is an appropriate meal for a porcupine puffer measuring 4" with tail. Right now he eats a cherry stone clam and a sliver of raw shrimp the size of a pencil and 1.5" long. Is this too much, just right or not enough, he always looks like he wants more. I've heard that they can eat three times their weight a day, is this true?

[leebca]

You've only given part of the picture. You told me how much it eats, but not how often. Is that per day?

I've seen CS clams from the size/diameter of a quarter (Manilla) up to the size/diameter of a baseball. Care to be more specific?

[leebca]

Regardless of the missing information, I can answer the concerns posed.

A puffer in general will continue to beg for food. Most predatory fishes will do this. They are on the constant 'hunt.' In nature they don't generally get to eat daily, but they continue hunting.

A puffer and most predatory fishes should be fed about 5% of their body weight, about 3 or 4 times (every other day) a week.

Puffers are prone to getting liver diseases from being overfed, so you don't want to go there! Feeding freshwater foods are very unhealthy for them. Make sure the foods are truly from the sea and vary the flesh listed by adding squid and once a month, scallop. You want a whole sea food (fish, krill, plankton, etc.) to be the usual food.

[weez1959]

he eats once sometimes twice a day. the cs clams are about the size of a silver dollar. Same puffer from the previous enquiry about a week or 2 back that didn't want to eat. Now he eats with gusto. Is it possible that he throws up his food about 1 hour later? Or is it possible that it's coming out the other end looking the same as when it went in? This is my daughters fish so I don't get to watch him that much. I'm not sure which end it's coming out. If he is throwing up, could it be intestinal parasites? He doesn't look stressed, never puffed up in the QT but the dealer who sold it to my daughter for sure made a display of him with potental customers because she said he made him puff up just before she bought him.

[leebca]

Like marine fishes need extra stress from human irritation.

Overfeeding usually leads to liver problems in these fishes. They may defecate foods that are not completely digested, which is the usual result. A fish spitting out chewed food may have intestinal worms. At least there is an intestinal problem.

The frequency of feeding needs to slow down considerably.

[weez1959]

I'll tell her to feed him every other day and cut down the quantity a bit. I'll try to feed him myself for a day or two and stay with hm an hour or so to see what is going on with his food, see which end it comes out.

The pestering of the fish is what incited her to buy him I think, she had pitty for the poor little guy but now he looks like a happy camper.

Now she has the problem of getting a bigger tank in the near future. Do you happen to know the growing rate of this little piglet. Right now he's about 4" but how big do you think he'll be 6 months down the road?

[leebca]

I don't have an exact answer for that question. With proper nutrition and care the fish could increase its mass by another 20% on the high end. It should be in a display aquarium of no less than 75 gallons this year. Next year; a 125. They can get up to 18 inches long in captivity.

It's a realistic problem with these fishes. They always look 'cute' when small, but what becomes of them when it becomes too large? There are many sad stories that go with the answer to that question.

[weez1959]

I will pass this on to her,

She is going to have my 75 this spring so it's a start.

My daughter has the problem of listening to the LFS employees way too much and she's always being steered in the wrong direction. She came home with him saying the she was told he would be OK in a 20g because he doesn't swim fast!!! Where do they get this stuff??? I've learned since not to bother asking these guys questions anymore because mostly it's useless.

I remember when I first started out I was told by the LFS that I could have a French Angel with corals without a worry because he was young and would get used to fish food. Also that he wouldn't get too big either. At the time he was 1.5" and so cute so I brought him home and then looked him up.... SURPRISE!!!!

Anyways.... Right now she has a 40g so that should hold him for 2-3 months.


I will try to convince her once he makes it to the 75g to post a local ad to get him adopted to a really good home although this will probably break her heart. She's already very attached to him. I don't think she plans on bigger than 75g so it might help convince her. She won't be in a rush once he's in the 75g.
He still has a little while to go in the QT....

[leebca]

I once overheard a salesperson tell a potential customer that the Picasso Triggerfish is a peaceful fish because its mouth is so small. :slap:

I understand the commercial perspective.

The problem when someone mis-reps the space needed by a fish is that the customer/aquarist wants to believe it. The aquarist wants to pack in all the wonders of the sea into a small container and it takes little encouragement for the novice to do this.

Along comes the 'experts' and 'experienced' aquarists to advise the novice the fish needs more space or can't be put together with other marine life. The novice doesn't want to listen, showing 'evidence' of what they were told or what is on sites that sell fishes. It's frustrating for me and others to convince the poster they were given less than accurate advice or advice that would harm the marine life in their care.

[weez1959]

I once overheard a salesperson tell a potential customer that the Picasso Triggerfish is a peaceful fish because its mouth is so small

Oh my god!!

I haven't had the misfortune of wanting to believe the LFS because I was had 3 times when I started out and each of those times I truly believed what I was told because I thought they were there to help me.
After that I just let them babble on and on about what ever fish I was looking at and then I'd go home and search the net to get as much info as possible.

He has since tried to sell me a long-horned cowfish, a panther grouper and a lion fish!