Questions about a Blue spotted puffer..

[Reefing_addiction]

As the title says I’m getting blue spotted puffer. Picking him up from a local reefer and I need all the advice I can get.

Guy told me he has been in a tank with at least A soft coral. So that gives me some hope. I hope a varied diet in my tank will also help keep him from eating things he shouldn’t.

My current set up is 75 gallon tank with a tomini tang a yellow wrasse and a mandarin dragonet

I know he may eat my snails and my hermits and I am ok with this (I don’t like the hermits anywAy!)

I found out the guy was only feeding him dried krill and flake food (poor fishie!)

I currently feed LRS frozen

I know this guy needs shelled things to keep his teeth from growing to much. I’d like to provide him with snails and other things. Can I just put ghost shrimp in my DT? Will they survive long enough to be eaten by my new puffer?
What snails can I buy and he will eat? Just any small snails?
My only previous experience with puffers was years ago when I had a brackish leopard puffer and I use to get all the snails I could from local fish stores (all those pesky freshwater snails no one wants but my puffer ate!)
I want him to be happy and healthy! (And leave my corals alone!)

 

[S.Pepper]

GL. One never knows. It is truly a craps roll. Just keep him fed well.

I would luv to have one, but I am not sure it's worth the risk with my wrasse(s).

 

[Spare time]

Mine liked half shelled clams. Occasionally nipped a snail and my green montipora (I think to grind teeth), really liked to destroy an alien maze brain coral.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

GL. One never knows. It is truly a craps roll. Just keep him fed well.

I would luv to have one, but I am not sure it's worth the risk with my wrasse(s).

Wait risk with your wrasse?

 

[ScubaSkeets]

Mine liked half shelled clams. Occasionally nipped a snail and my green montipora (I think to grind teeth), really liked to destroy an alien maze brain coral.

I've tried feeding mine half shelled clams, but my other fish get to it before the puffer can so I'm afraid he's not able to grind his teeth, unless they still chew on the shell if there's no meat in it.
Guy at the LFS said he'll bite on the live rock if he needs to to grind his teeth. Any truth in that?

 

[S.Pepper]

Wait risk with your wrasse?

They are known nippers... as in nipping a tail fin.

 

[S2G]

I just feed at the surface with my puffers. Mainly shell on shrimp soaked in Boyd's vitachem. Your cuc is toast, but hopefully theyll dissapear at a manageable rate where you can replace them ever so often instead of you becoming the cuc.

 

[Spare time]

I've tried feeding mine half shelled clams, but my other fish get to it before the puffer can so I'm afraid he's not able to grind his teeth, unless they still chew on the shell if there's no meat in it.
Guy at the LFS said he'll bite on the live rock if he needs to to grind his teeth. Any truth in that?

You can always just toss in frozen krill. I would toss the half shell in frozen. I've heard of them chewing on the rock which is why I think they sometimes chew on hard corals.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

I just feed at the surface with my puffers. Mainly shell on shrimp soaked in Boyd's vitachem. Your cuc is toast, but hopefully theyll dissapear at a manageable rate where you can replace them ever so often instead of you becoming the cuc.

Some of my snails I know would be way to large for him.
I think I’ll order some feeder shrimp, because live food is a good choice I think. I’ll probably even go see if I can find smaller snails that he can eat. I’ll pick up shelled shrimp at my local grocery store.
I want to give him as much of a diverse diet as possible to keep him healthy

he is already getting comfy in his new home.

You can always just toss in frozen krill. I would toss the half shell in frozen. I've heard of them chewing on the rock which is why I think they sometimes chew on hard corals.

I did see him chewing on a rock not long after putting him in the tank

 

[Zionas]

Feed him something with a hard shell from time to time, they have to grind their teeth.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Feed him something with a hard shell from time to time, they have to grind their teeth.

 

[Zionas]

Awwwwww

 

[Neffly4u]

had mine for about 2 days now. So pretty fresh at this. This guy is 100% curious of ANYTHING. i had 5 margarita snails(one was DOA), 5 nassarius snails and 4 hermit crabs. This little devil would go to each crew member and see if he can get something out of them.

Next day i have 4 margarita snails, 1 nassarius snail and two hermit crabs. word of advice. if you want them to eat then get small snails or small hermits and they will get eaten. I have since added 5 more margarita snails and here's to hoping the they last more than a week!

I currently am feeding mysis shrimp in the morning and he happily eats till his belly is full and then goes back to pecking at the CUC lol

 

[rockdiver]

So how's it going with it

 

[346700984]

Some of my snails I know would be way to large for him.
I think I’ll order some feeder shrimp, because live food is a good choice I think. I’ll probably even go see if I can find smaller snails that he can eat. I’ll pick up shelled shrimp at my local grocery store.
I want to give him as much of a diverse diet as possible to keep him healthy

he is already getting comfy in his new home.

I did see him chewing on a rock not long after putting him in the tank

We put ghost shrimp into our predator tank and they live in there just fine until they’re eaten. They live in brackish water. Our blue spotted puffer hasn’t bothered our cleaner shrimp or crabs (yet) (blue porcelain, emerald and strawberry, but they all are likely too big for my puffer). It does nip at the snails. I put in clams on a half shell and it eats raw cocktail shrimp and freeze dried krill off of feeder tongs. It also scarfs down spirulina brine shrimp (frozen and live) and it appears to eat the copepods. We have all different kinds of snails and hermits in there. Keep it well fed and it should be fine.