Green Spotted Puffers

[rb6161]

i went out yesterday and got 2 Green Spotted Puffers.there in there own 10 gallon tank.i didnt read up on them before i got them. now i read thay need hard shell snails and crabs to live? is this true? i have been feeding the frozen blood worms.

 

[madhippoz]

They mostly need them to wear down their teeth. Puffers crunch the shells to get at the snails, this grinds their teeth down like it normally would in the wild. IF you don't have snails or some other crustacean for them to feed on, their teeth will continue to grow until they will no longer be able to eat or close their mouth properly. From all I know, that's why its important to feed your puffers snails or ghost shrimp or whatever.

 

[420Loach]

i pop a snail or two in my puffers tank every week or so, and feed him ghost shrimp when i can get em(im hoping for some to breed like my brothers did so i dont need to worry when i cant get em at the lfs)

apple snails are too big and to $$$ here, so i use the snails my friend gave me. i think theyre the same ones everyone complains about covering their plants

 

[beaver8888]

ur probably ganna need like a 20G for um i breed snails for my puffers

 

[Brockway]

I have a little snail colony going in my 10 for my clown loaches! I had dropped some snails from the lfs (the kind that usually comes hiding in plants) in before, and I guess some of the babies got in the ugf tube, so I got a steady supply of snails!

 

[madhippoz]

I've got snails in both my 10gal and 33gal planted tanks, a hitchhiker from the LFS as well. I have a Bumblebee Catfish in the 33gal that keeps a good balance of snails in the tank, keeps his belly nice and full too...To bad he didn't discover snails until after he ate 6 of my 7 Neons . Their good though because they reproduce pretty quickly, if you can keep a few alive in a puffer tank they should be a nice supply of dinner treats for him.

 

[jimbo]

what kind of snails do you have....whenever i put mine in the puffer tank they die right away....its a brackish tank...also i think my puffers are to small to eat them...only about an inch long

 

[Brockway]

Snails and salt don't mix... you'd have to breed them in a seperate tank. I believe the ones people don't like are rams or something like that. You can get them for free from your local pet store, and they breed quickly (they reproduce asexually, so one could potentially cause a swarm in your tank). Or you could just go for the pet store free snail handouts and skip breeding them.