feeding snails to my puffers

[PufferNewbie]

i recent got some free pond snails at my LFS and my Green spotted puffer REALLY likes it ( have figure8 didnt show as much interest... or just wasnt moving as fast as my GSP)

but anyway.. i read everywhere that it is a good idea to feed them occasionaly to trim down their beaks.. but is it a good idea to feed them a couple everyday ( along w/ other food)
cuz right now i have a little snail farm going and they reproduces extremely fast... so yeh.. sorry if this sounds like a stupid and obvious question..

[rjl420]

if you have the snails to feed your puffer snails everyday, by all means, go for it. just like everything else, over feeding isn't good, so just don't over do it. some puffers seem to kill/eat snails just for the sake of doing so.

[TKOS]

At least with a living food sourxe like snails you don't have to really worry about overfeeding. Whatever they don't eat and escapes there grasp will likely become food later on down the road and in the meantime might eat any algea or left over food in the tank. Plus in a perfect world they will breed and become even more food.

[OrionGirl]

If you keep 'extra' snails in there, make sure they are not being killed and abandoned. I've seen my dwarf puffers kill a snail, and then just leave it. If you don't have something in there to clean it up, it can cause problems with water quality.

[PufferNewbie]

thanks all. my GSP really suck the snails dry really fast!! its like sucking jello out of a cup haha. I wish he woudn't get too excited about it though. i want my figure 8 puffer to have a taste of fresh food too haha.

I have the snails in a separate container w/ a dead coral FULL of algae that i yanked out of my main tank and they seem to enjoy it alot.

here's my question.. Wat do baby snails look like.. like before they even have a shell? Cuz last nite i saw alot of tiny tiny thing moving on the surface ofthe water reflecting my flash light ( about 1/10 of the size of a rice.. or smaller)


but i just checked maybe 20 hours later and they are gone.. i have yet to see any clear.. jello-nish eggs eh.. were those guy i saw little baby snails or something else

[cdawson]

those are baby snails alright, you'll only see them at night because they hide in the substrate. I just found a lone snail that had been hiding in the substrate in my planted tank. My GSP loved eating him too =) It worries me though I don't know if that was the only snail or not, I think he may have hitched a ride in with one of my new plants.

[elmj]

puffernewbie: how long did your snails take to start reproducing? putting them in a container with plants without a pump is that alright?

[PufferNewbie]

i dont know. i dont have a pump.. i had 6 snails in my little container with a dead coral full of algae.. about a week later i have ALOT of eggs on the container near the surface.. like ~ 80 eggs. they reproduce FAST! but i've only seen one mini snails though.. i don tknow how long it takes for a snail to grow to full feeding size.