Amazon Puffer Fish

[NOLANANO]

Anyone on here keep Amazon Puffers? I am curious about what you feed them to file down their teeth and where you buy the food. I am considering a group of 6 for my 75G planted community tank but I am nervous about feeding them/their beak situation.

[NOLANANO]

I guess this means that I need to get some Amazon Puffers and step up as the board expert lol

[govsfabshop]

I've got  a ceylon, not amazon but i'm sure the theory is the same, anything hard that they can scrape on, mine devours ramshorn snails and then spits the shell pieces out, clams, and mussels work well too, mines not big enough to break those shells yet but he you can hear him scraping to get every bit out. I've heard of crushed oyster shells in rapashy as well, but i've never experimented with that. 

[NOLANANO]

Where do you get the ramshorn snails? I don't have an extra tank to let them breed and even if they were $2 a piece at the LFS (not sure the price) that would add up to $10 per day if each puffer only needs one snail per day (I plan to get 5).  Thats $70 per week and $280 per month to feed them.  Or can you buy bulk frozen rams horns or something like that?

I found 150 ramshorn snails for $48 on Amazon which is better. How far would that go do you think? A month?

Edited December 28, 2023 by NOLANANO

[AllFishNoBrakes]

@NOLANANO Your best bet really is to farm your own. You said you don’t have another tank, but could you set up a tub with a sponge filter for them? They take some time to grow out, so if I was doing it, I’d definitely get a colony going long before getting the puffer. 
 

Puffers are awesome, but they’re expensive to feed. Even going frozen clams/muscles/etc. in addition to snails those costs add up and are often times a big deterrent for people. 

[NOLANANO]

I was just thinking that I might have to get the 150 snails off of Amazon and set up a breeding bin or something.

This may be an unfair question but I have found that there isn't a ton of info on feeding amazon puffers online so I will ask anyway. How many snails per puffer and how often? 

I also saw a guy on Youtube who has had his Amazons for a couple of years and he says that he just feeds them frozen blood worms but doesn't thaw the cube. He holds the cube in the tank with planting tweezers and he says the grinding of their teeth on the frozen cube works decently. He said he had to trim their beaks at about the 18 month mark so obviously his plan isn't perfect.  He is also skeptical that snails help Amazon puffers trim their beaks like other puffers because in his experience they just suck the snail out of the opening and don't bother with the shell at all. He thinks they might not have a strong enough bite to break the shells or something. If push came to shove, I would trim the beaks myself but I am obviously nervous about it.

MD on Youtube also recently got some Amazon Puffers that he will set a scape up for in the near future. His aquarium shop said they have been feeding meal worms and that has been effective in trimming the beaks. Maybe I need a trio of meal worms, Rams horn snails, and frozen bloodworms. IDK, Its a lot to figure out with not a ton of online help.

I keep going from "I am definitely getting these and its going to be awesome" to "I don't know, this seems like more work than I originally thought" and I can't decide what I want to do. I feel like the puffers would be incredibly rewarding and enjoyable, I just worry about the extra care they need being too much. I'd say that right now I am about 70/30 I am getting them in the near future, I just need to figure out the whole beak/feeding thing. Thats why I was hopeful someone on here had experience with this particular species of puffer.

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Yup, those growing beaks are the scary part about them and why I think a lot of people end up with Pea Puffers. 
 

Where there is a will, there’s a way! If I was going to attempt this I would make sure I could afford the frozen clams and frozen muscles (perhaps on the half shell to start with) to try to have something for them to scrape their beaks on in the hopes that I wouldn’t have to trim their beaks myself. I would also probably do an individual puffer instead of a group so I could focus on one. I have a hard time thinking that ramshorn snail shells alone would be enough. Thats just me, though. 
 

Hopefully someone who has first hand experience will chime in for you. 

[govsfabshop]

On 12/28/2023 at 10:18 AM, NOLANANO said:

Where do you get the ramshorn snails? I don't have an extra tank to let them breed and even if they were $2 a piece at the LFS (not sure the price) that would add up to $10 per day if each puffer only needs one snail per day (I plan to get 5).  Thats $70 per week and $280 per month to feed them.  Or can you buy bulk frozen rams horns or something like that?

I found 150 ramshorn snails for $48 on Amazon which is better. How far would that go do you think? A month?

I started with 10 from a online supplier and turned into hundreds in a real big hurry, originally i just put them in a breeder net in my qt tank to qt them before they went in my 40 gallon and even in the net i had a 10gal full of baby snails in a hurry. My puffers on the bigger side so i will generally toss him 4 or 5 on off feeding days just as a snack. I doubt the snails do a ton for the beak but he loves em and i'll try to hide the snails and see how long it takes him to find them in the tank.

On 12/28/2023 at 11:39 AM, NOLANANO said:

I was just thinking that I might have to get the 150 snails off of Amazon and set up a breeding bin or something.

This may be an unfair question but I have found that there isn't a ton of info on feeding amazon puffers online so I will ask anyway. How many snails per puffer and how often? 

I also saw a guy on Youtube who has had his Amazons for a couple of years and he says that he just feeds them frozen blood worms but doesn't thaw the cube. He holds the cube in the tank with planting tweezers and he says the grinding of their teeth on the frozen cube works decently. He said he had to trim their beaks at about the 18 month mark so obviously his plan isn't perfect.  He is also skeptical that snails help Amazon puffers trim their beaks like other puffers because in his experience they just suck the snail out of the opening and don't bother with the shell at all. He thinks they might not have a strong enough bite to break the shells or something. If push came to shove, I would trim the beaks myself but I am obviously nervous about it.

MD on Youtube also recently got some Amazon Puffers that he will set a scape up for in the near future. His aquarium shop said they have been feeding meal worms and that has been effective in trimming the beaks. Maybe I need a trio of meal worms, Rams horn snails, and frozen bloodworms. IDK, Its a lot to figure out with not a ton of online help.

I keep going from "I am definitely getting these and its going to be awesome" to "I don't know, this seems like more work than I originally thought" and I can't decide what I want to do. I feel like the puffers would be incredibly rewarding and enjoyable, I just worry about the extra care they need being too much. I'd say that right now I am about 70/30 I am getting them in the near future, I just need to figure out the whole beak/feeding thing. Thats why I was hopeful someone on here had experience with this particular species of puffer.

I think allot of people overthink the beaks, if you get them young and maintain in my experience you dont have to worry, mine was an emergency rescue from my father in law after he went on a big silver dollar killing spree in the tank (a 2" fish wiped out 5 6-7" fish in 2 weeks) He had got him very young and fed much of what i feed and you really have to look when his mouths open to see the chompers. I feed mine enough to get his belly fat without being bloated and lazy, its really easy to tell on them when they've got food in em! Only thing mine hasnt liked was frozen brine shrimp. i vary his diet with blood worms, snails, mussels, clams, silversides, and raw skin on shrimp. I'll feed usually every 3rd day so a bag of clams on the half shell or a pound of mussels from the grocery store go a long long way and mines probably pushing 4" now. 

 

Don't let them scare you, they are an absolute blast of a fish to keep and have so much personality they are an incredible wet pet. Mines brackish so takes a bit more work but man once you get them figured out you will love em! I just wish mine wasnt so violent and kill anything that is in the tank with him! Mine will bob at the top of the tank making slurping noises and then take the food right out of your fingers!

Edited December 28, 2023 by govsfabshop