puffer food
- Thread starter ram man
- Start date
well malaysian trumpets snails have some of the hardest shells out there, i doubt a puffer could break it. if they suck the snail out like some loaches do, you could still feed it to them though. but this kind of defies the point of feeding them the snails to where down there beak. however if you plan on dwarf puffers i heard that they dont seem to have a problem with overgrown beaks and snails are fed just for treats and such.
yeah, dwarf puffers arent the same in regards to their beaks with over growing. if you want to feed them snails that they will actually break the shell of then you need to get those little pond snails you see in every tank at like a petsmart or petco or wherever, and if the snail is bigger than like the puffers eye then it cant really eat it by breaking the shell
the adult snails will probably be too big for the puffers to chow on (hopefully) but the babies could present a problem.
Yikes, you could have a problem here. Everyone is right the puffers could chip & break their teeth trying to get to the snail. And if they have laid eggs then you are going to have a constant problem with them. The puffers have only been in there for a little whil and may not be hungry right now, but I bet they will notice those snails in short order.
Not sure what to tell you, too bad you hadn't waited to get the puffers until after the snail situation was under control. No going back now
Yikes, you could have a problem here. Everyone is right the puffers could chip & break their teeth trying to get to the snail. And if they have laid eggs then you are going to have a constant problem with them. The puffers have only been in there for a little whil and may not be hungry right now, but I bet they will notice those snails in short order.
Not sure what to tell you, too bad you hadn't waited to get the puffers until after the snail situation was under control. No going back now
I've also heard that puffers need to chew or their teeth will grow long like rodents. But I'm not convinced that is really true in the case of dp's. First of all, has anyone witnessed an actual case of dp with overgrown teeth? I've never heard of it happening. Second, anyone who has ever kept rodents knows that they chew anything and everything that is chewable, and they chew all the time. If dp's needed to chew, why wouldn't they chew your plants, driftwood, and equipment as well? A gerbil would. I think dp's eat snails only because they are molluscivores(sp?) and have a jones for escargot, not because they need to file down their teeth. I may be wrong, but I vaccum up tons of empty, intact (unchewed) snail shells every week. They go for the meat and care less about the shells. I doubt if your puffers will chew on the MTS's until their teeth break, but they may not be able to eat them if they have a trap door. Rams horn or pond snails are definitely better. It helps to keep a population of feeders snails in a separate tank, that way you have a constant supply.
Great, a snails only tank will be the way to go! *thumbsup2 Hopefully you will be able to get all of the snails out of there...good luck trying.
However, I can't say I understand or agree with the comparing a fish with beaks/teeth to a rodent in their chewing activities, but yeah, they can chip and break their teeth on trumpet snails. Their teeth aren't the same as our teeth or other animals teeth, they are more the consistancy of our fingernails - easy to break.
However, I can't say I understand or agree with the comparing a fish with beaks/teeth to a rodent in their chewing activities, but yeah, they can chip and break their teeth on trumpet snails. Their teeth aren't the same as our teeth or other animals teeth, they are more the consistancy of our fingernails - easy to break.
I used to have a snail "problem" in my other tank- there is such a thick carpet of java moss I could never get rid of them all. Now that I have puffers in another tank, I am glad I have my own supply of free snails! Once a week I use a turkey baster to suck out whatever snails I see- usually about 20 or so. I no longer have snails crawling everywhere in that tank, and my puffs get a treat once a week in the other tank. It's a win-win situation. You probably don't even need a real tank to grow snails. You could probably use a large jar with a lid. Just add some pond snails (the lfs might even give them to you), and add some food and they will reproduce. They'll eat plant clippings, algae wafers, veggies, etc.