A little help is appreciated

[LeadFootedRacer]

I have a Valentini Saddle Puffer. I've had him a few days now and he is in my quarantine tank. I have decided, due to the natural appetite for coral, to make this tank his permanent home.

I have placed 2 live rocks from my sump in the tank with him and he picks off them.

What exactly is he picking off? He eats thawed brine and flake and pellets, but none of those are good enough for his teeth. I'd like to replenish regularly, whatever he is pecking off of the rocks.

A Google search for "Feeding Valentini Puffer" comes up with a gigantic list of foods people have tried and a lot of misinformation.

Can any one in here shed some LEGITIMATE light on this matter?

 

[Martini5788]

A little help is appreciated

Yes I can. I feed all puffers that I have oysters and clams on the shell. It helps them wear their ever growing teeth down. Valentinis aren't particularly prone to picking on corals, but cuc, shrimp, crabs, snails especially are gonna be on the menu. They will also chew on the rocks to ground their teeth down. He is probably seeing pods and trying to pick them. He will be constantly looking for something to eat, puffers just can't help themselves. What corals are you worried about him eating?

Puffers need a wide variety of meaty foods. Mine have always preferred whole foods, oysters and clams are always a favorite but also mysis, squid soaked in selcon. He also gets raw shrimp. Spirulina brine occasionally.

 

[LeadFootedRacer]

A little help is appreciated

Right now in the 90 gallon display, I have a green birdsnest frag, a small colony of Zoas, some anthelia(sp), some cabbage leather, a sponge cap, and a tyree war coral. There is currently a 2" clown, a 3" skunk cleaner shrimp, 6-8 bristle worms, 2 astrea snails, a large turbo snail, a Mexican turbo snail, 3 cerith snails, and pods out the wahzoo (with intentions of getting some macro setup and populating more). There are 2 firefish gobies in the QT with him now.


Oh, there are also many Stomatella snails that just keep reproducing like it's going out of style.

 

[ThRoewer]

I would try to feed him crabs as often as possible, but at least once in a while. I don't know where you are located, but the Asian supermarkets around here all have live or frozen crabs. Regular supermarkets should have at leas frozen ones.
If you have a LFS nearby who imports maricultured corals you can ask them to safe the gorilla crabs that often come in as very unwanted hitchhikers.

Snails will also be a good food, even the ones you may find in your backyard.

Another good puffer food are earthworms.

A good and cheap staple food could be mussels. Most seafood departments of supermarkets have them. Though it's best to stock up and freeze them as they are not available year round.

 

[Martini5788]

I would try to feed him crabs as often as possible, but at least once in a while. I don't know where you are located, but the Asian supermarkets around here all have live or frozen crabs. Regular supermarkets should have at leas frozen ones.

If you have a LFS nearby who imports maricultured corals you can ask them to safe the gorilla crabs that often come in as very unwanted hitchhikers.



Snails will also be a good food, even the ones you may find in your backyard.



Another good puffer food are earthworms.



A good and cheap staple food could be mussels. Most seafood departments of supermarkets have them. Though it's best to stock up and freeze them as they are not available year round.

Not sure why you are recommending live crabs for a Valentini puffer. They are tiny and not efficient hunters, especially not for a hard crab shell. They would end up getting injured. If you were to
Kill the crab first then whatever but
Not live crabs. Or snails from your backyard. If the op wanted to start a freshwater snail breeding tank with pond and rams horn snails then that's a good idea, but I personally wouldn't do that often if you can find other food. I wouldn't encourage a puffer to crave
Members of the clean up crew.