# Cut puffers teeth?



## Brisch (May 13, 2010)

I have 3 amazon puffers who dont eat snails. After observing them for a while I noticed 2 of them need their teeth clipped. Does anyone know how I can go about doing this?

Brittany


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

clove oil and nail clippers


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## Ebonbolt (Aug 12, 2011)

spit.fire said:


> clove oil and nail clippers


What he said =P

Could also try feeding them something well a shell (prawns, snails, etc) If they simply refuse to eat that stuff, then use clove oil and clippers


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## Brisch (May 13, 2010)

yeah its like they have never been fed snails or prawns when i put them in they swim away scared, what do I do with the clove oil?


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

Put 2-4 drops of clove oil into 1ltr of water, put the puffer fish in the water until it is out, once it is out then you clip its teeth(while leaving it in the water), put it back into fresh water and it will return back to its normal self after a few seconds/minutes


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

also it probably wouldnt hurt to sterilize the clippers, at the fish hatchery i worked at we used iodine solution to sterilize all the equipment


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## Brisch (May 13, 2010)

ok thank you, I have all the stuff to do this.


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## Johnnyfishtanks (Apr 21, 2010)

let us know how this turns out


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

*What!!!*

Interesting, I have never heard of fish needing dental work. Is this an on going thing you have to do all the time?


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## Chewie (Jul 21, 2010)

Yeah, for puffers they have beak-like teeth. Usually feeding them food with shells on (snails, clams....) Will keep the teeth ground down, if not the teeth will grow out to much and they cannot eat.
I read an article in a magazine a few months ago about it. The lady in it used a dremel to grind the teeth down, the puffers were a good size though.



Clown Lover said:


> Interesting, I have never heard of fish needing dental work. Is this an on going thing you have to do all the time?


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## -DC- (Apr 21, 2010)

Clippings been covered, too avoid it in the future have you tried mussels ?? Mine also didnt seem too bother with snails had grown accostome too chopped shrimp, they did however but loved mussles. What are you feeding them if they wont take prawn ?

With mussels I used too buy them at the grocery, give them a whack too crack the shell a bit then drop it into the tank, the smell leaking out the crack attracted them, and they would all circle round picking at the shell too get at the meat inside.


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## Brisch (May 13, 2010)

I think I will try clams, thank you. Like I said Ive tried prawns, snails but they mostly eat blood worms and pellets


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## darb (Apr 21, 2010)

MS-222 is the preferred sedative, it is suspected that clove oil causes brain damage. But to get MS-222 you will need to mail order from the US or get a prescription from a vet here with the former being the cheaper if you get them to ship via USPS.

It is unheard of to not to have to trim SAP teeth. They grow faster than any other puffer kept in the trade and it is not understood what in their natural diet keeps them in check. Some of them seem to either grow faster or do something differently, but it is a regular occurrence with keeping SAPs.

There are a few you Tube videos on the process:

Puffer Teeth Trimming - YouTube

How to trim a Puffers teeth - YouTube

Puffer Fish - Cutting their teeth - home dentistry - YouTube

You may want to also start a colony of snails in the tank. You can get 20 ramshorns for $5 from Mykiss and sooner or later they will discover how wonderful snails are to eat which will help keep their teeth in check to some degree.


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