pinkie
Aquarium Advice Activist
I've been a firm believer that most puffers get a pretty bad wrap. Every species has it's bad apples but most puffers I've experienced are actually quite passive, and today I witnessed some proof!
I have a 6" Spiny Box Puffer and 6" Dogface Puffer. I have a 24" Snowflake Eel. Typically when I feed, my eel will grab pieces of food then bring them back into a cave and eat them. Today while I was pouring in a homemade mix of fresh seafood, my eel got really excited and grabbed the tail of my spiny box (thinking it was food) and pulled him around the tank by it, shaking him violently. The poor guy didn't even puff up, just let the eel do it. Once the eel realized it wasn't food, he let go and the puffer just swam off without even turning around to nip! He just swam up to the top to eat, didn't even seem to care what just happened to him. Thankfully he was not injured but I'm always amazed by how aggressive puffers are usually considered but I've never seen fish that take more than a puffer does.
I have a 6" Spiny Box Puffer and 6" Dogface Puffer. I have a 24" Snowflake Eel. Typically when I feed, my eel will grab pieces of food then bring them back into a cave and eat them. Today while I was pouring in a homemade mix of fresh seafood, my eel got really excited and grabbed the tail of my spiny box (thinking it was food) and pulled him around the tank by it, shaking him violently. The poor guy didn't even puff up, just let the eel do it. Once the eel realized it wasn't food, he let go and the puffer just swam off without even turning around to nip! He just swam up to the top to eat, didn't even seem to care what just happened to him. Thankfully he was not injured but I'm always amazed by how aggressive puffers are usually considered but I've never seen fish that take more than a puffer does.