Do You Have To Cut Sa Puffers Teeth?

[eddyg]

ive been looking at puffers for a while and first thought about getting figure 8 pufffers but the fact that they are brackish has put me off. SA puffers seemed to be perfect until i found out you have to cut their teeth how often do you have to cut them? how do you cut them? can you avoid cutting them some how??

cheers

 

[cheesy feet]

Feed them snails, it will wear their teeth down...No need for cutting.

 

[DarkEntity]

Feed them snails, it will wear their teeth down...No need for cutting.

As much as that helps, i know a few people who still need to trim teeth even with a near 100% crustacean feeding regime. There are people who feed MT's and others who feed from stones so that the fish rasp their teeth on the rock while feeding etc..

At the end of the day, if you don't want to do it ever and don't think you could, pick another fish to keep

 

[geo7x]

Feeding snails does prevent you having to trim the teeth of the majority of FW puffers, however SA puffers' teeth are notoriously fast growing and hard to control. I agree with DarkEntity, the teeth could easily grow out of control and need your intervention.

 

[kj23502]

Here's a great article on cutting teeth. They have a pic of a puffer with over grown teeth.

As long as they're being fed hard foods, it should only need to be done 1 or 2 times a year.

I'm undecided on feeding my future SAP's mts or not. I've heard soooo many people say not to b/c their shells are too hard and it could break their teeth. I've read pond snails are a really good choice.

 

[Fella]

Here's a great article on cutting teeth. They have a pic of a puffer with over grown teeth.

As long as they're being fed hard foods, it should only need to be done 1 or 2 times a year.

I'm undecided on feeding my future SAP's mts or not. I've heard soooo many people say not to b/c their shells are too hard and it could break their teeth. I've read pond snails are a really good choice.

I've never had a problem feeding my puffers MTS snails...

 

[nmonks]

My SAPs only eat snails when they're REALLY hungry, and at that point they'll eat any kind of snail, even Melanoides. The thing with Melanoides is that SAPs appear to bite off the "foot" rather than crunch the shell, but as Fella says, I'm pretty dubious about Melanoides being a serious danger to pufferfish. Yes, there may be one or two reports of problems, but then there are people who break their teeth eating chocolate bars, and no-one says chocolate is dangerous. So you have to put these things into perspective.

SAPs do need some tooth management. But in real terms, trimming their teeth takes about two minutes of work, the actual cutting being less than 15 seconds, and the rest being about sedating the fish before it goes 'under the knife' so to speak. Compared with their innate hardiness, adaptability to a wide range of water conditions, and overall lack of aggression, SAPs are _by far_ the easiest pufferfish to keep in the freshwater hobby.

Cheers, Neale