Feeding Puffers?

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StevieM

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Nov 29, 2002
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I recently bought two south american puffers for one a species tank. For feedings so far I have frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, wasn't sure if they liked beefheart or if it was suitable for them at all? and I am in the process of trying to find small snails to inhabit the tank. My question is more about what they eat and how many snails I should bother putting in there. My puffers are only about 1 1/2" so far and the two snails I recently got seem to be a little too large for them to tackle. All they can seem to do is nip at the membrane a little. I can't seem to find really small ones around here though. How fast do the snails reproduce and should I bother getting more than 2? Will they just go to town and my tank will have plenty or what?? Just wondering....thanks for your input!

steve
 
You'll want to get pond snails (the round shelled ones). The mystery snails, MTS, ect tend to be either to hard shelled or the wrong shape, or poor reproducers for most puffers.

I can only speak for dwarves, but I would put 20+ snails (from 1/4 inch on up) in on Fridays and there were all gone by Monday.

You could also feed them cocktail shrimps, mussels, ect. Some foods might be too big for them currently, but they will love them when they mature.
 
the local fish stores in my area seem to only carry mystery snails and a few other larger types, which i don't think will work with my smaller puffers. Any idea where I might be able to order some snails on line and have them sent to me? I've checked out some gardening sites and they don't seem to tell you exactly what kind they will send you. Any help is of course appreciated, thanks!

steve
 
Try looking for some planted tanks that have snails. These are the right kind, and you might be able to get some for free. I have a good relationship with my LFS, and they let me go through the tanks and pull out as many snails as I can. They're considered a pest in planted tanks.

If you can't find any, PM me with your address and I will pull some from my tanks and mail you. Can't gaurantee they'll make the trip, but it's worth a shot.
 
http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquasource/snailsforpuffers.shtml

That's an article on raising snails for puffers. I think the site is run by a member here at AC, but i'm currently at a loss for the name.

I doubt you'll be able to have a self sustaining snail population inside a puffer tank. Puffers are pigs and they do love snails. You're better off setting up a tank just for snails. Well, tank could be an overstatment. You just need something that holds water that has enough room to breed snails.

I use a 1 gallon "critter cage" for snails for dwarf puffers. You'll need something larger.
 
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as stated above, just put some plants in one of your tanks, with a few (5 or so) small snails borrowed from your LFS. they'll breed like mad, and after a month or so, you'll have 100+

we have a fry grow out tank that has about 100 snails in it, we pull them out for our clown loaches all the time.
 
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