Puffer eating sand?

gordonj1 · Mar 26, 2014

Hi everyone. I have a green spotted puffer in a 20g long reef tank. He is the only fish in the tank. He has 4 peppermint shrimp in there with him that he doesn't pick on. There are also hermit crabs and snails in my tank. It is a very open concept tank so he has plenty of room to swim. He eats like a champ and feels no need to eat corals.

Anyway, he has started eating sand. He will go to the sand bed and grab a mouthful of sand and chew on it the. Let it come out his gills. Surely he has to be ingesting some in this process. Yesterday he wouldn't come out to see me and hid all day. If you have puffers you know this is not typical behavior. He usually begs like a dog all day.

We have been feeding him pond snails, rams horns, and trumpets occasionally. He gets a lot of krill, clams, and squid. I also sometimes feed him some kale.

His beak isn't too large to eat and hasn't grown too large to eat. What is causing this? Reminds me of pica. I just did a big water change so I'm hoping if that was the issue it will stop.

Any ideas what it could be?

Eienna · Mar 26, 2014

No idea. Maybe he thinks the sand is tasty? I have one myself but the only time I've seen him chomp sand was by accident when goinh after other food.

gordonj1 · Mar 26, 2014

Yeah he has never done hat before except by accident. He is purposefully eating it right now.

Eienna · Mar 27, 2014

How's he doing?

gordonj1 · Mar 27, 2014

He still doing it, but at least now he's hanging out in front of the tank. Idk what's up with him still. He doesn't seem very interested in food. He's usually such a fatty!

Eienna · Mar 27, 2014

gordonj1 said:
He still doing it, but at least now he's hanging out in front of the tank. Idk what's up with him still. He doesn't seem very interested in food. He's usually such a fatty!

They're quite intelligent for fish. Perhaps he's not digesting so well and is using the sand to grind it like birds do with grit? Kind of a left-field guess, I suppose...but hey...

iretthepirate · Mar 28, 2014

No worries mine does it all the time and just poops it out kinda funny to watch. I think they think they see something to eat and just grab and gulp it down even though there's really nothing there but sand they are pigs when it comes to food

gordonj1 · Mar 30, 2014

Thank you for your replies. I gave him around 20 pond snails yesterday in the hopes that if it is his beak he would grind it down enough to stop. It didn't work. He is still acing funny and eating sand. I've had him for almost 3 years now and this is his first episode of sand eating. I just hope it isn't a sign of a larger problem. I'm going to give him a massive amount of snails tomorrow too. Hes spitting sand all over my Scoly and acan lol!

Eienna · Mar 30, 2014

It occurs to me you may be overfeeding him or he might be getting a stomachache from all those shells. Mine gets what the other fish get (minus the pellets/flakes he won't eat) and 3-5 ramshorn snails a week and stays nice and tubby.

gordonj1 · May 24, 2014

I have him the snails after game started to act this way. He usually gets a couple a week plus tons of krill. He is doing much better now. I rearranged my tank and he seems less stressed. He always lobes when I bring home new corals. I think this was just a phase.