Dwarf Puffers

thefaxmachine · Aug 3, 2009

Hi guys and gals!

Over the moon now cos I've finally got my dwarf puffer tank up and running... AND IT LOOKS AWESOME.

Quickie though, the internet is giving me totally conflicting info, so maybe those who have or who have had puffers in the past can help...

Do they require snails in their main diet?
I do plan on feeding them from time to time but some things I've read on the tinterweb say puffers must be fed snails as part of their main diet due to their teeth ever growing, others have said they have had no issues with puffer fish having teeth problems and have never given them snails.

I've got bloodworm at the ready, but snails - daily, weekly, what?

TIA

iain

Ian H · Aug 3, 2009

nah they dont need them in their diet at all. You can usually get them for free though if you ask in your LFS for pest snails or ask members on here to post them to you instead of binning them

Bebobb · Aug 3, 2009

They need them to keep their teeth down. And in groups dwarf puffers will often go on group hunts for snails. If you have 3 dwarf puffers, I would say you should put in 5 snails every 10 days. TAHey are hard to feed, they will eat live blood worms, but are hard to feed frozed, and freeze dried. How big is thet ank, and how many dwarf puffers are you looking at for it?

degsod · Aug 3, 2009

thefaxmachine said:
Hi guys and gals!

Over the moon now cos I've finally got my dwarf puffer tank up and running... AND IT LOOKS AWESOME.

Quickie though, the internet is giving me totally conflicting info, so maybe those who have or who have had puffers in the past can help...

Do they require snails in their main diet?
I do plan on feeding them from time to time but some things I've read on the tinterweb say puffers must be fed snails as part of their main diet due to their teeth ever growing, others have said they have had no issues with puffer fish having teeth problems and have never given them snails.

I've got bloodworm at the ready, but snails - daily, weekly, what?

TIA

iain

Get some piccies up !!!

england · Aug 3, 2009

I have three aquirement's of dwarf puffer's, they love the frozen blood worm, can't get enough of the stuff, as yet they just look at the babie snail's i crush and drop in, probally think "whats this lunatic up to now :crazy:

thefaxmachine · Aug 3, 2009

degsod said:
Get some piccies up !!!

I'll try and do some piccies once I've done the housework. I've made a right mess just doing a bit of aquascaping!!!

Sand and stray leaves off plants everywhere.

The tank is 15g and I have three puffers. Plenty of hiding space for them and hopefully 5g each should be suffice according to most the info I've read.
E2A: they seem to be settling in really well. I've wanted this set up for a long time. The ex always said "no".

On the snail issue though, see what I mean about conflicting info. Ian H says no, Betta Boy says yes!

Guess it won't hurt them to have 'em from time to time.

Bebobb · Aug 3, 2009

If the snails are small enough, you don't need to crush them up. But, they have small mouths, so this may need to be done to keep their teeth down, as they would just suck the snail out of its shell.

thefaxmachine said:
degsod said:

Get some piccies up !!!

Click to expand...

I'll try and do some piccies once I've done the housework. I've made a right mess just doing a bit of aquascaping!!! Sand and stray leaves off plants everywhere.

The tank is 15g and I have three puffers. Plenty of hiding space for them and hopefully 5g each should be suffice according to most the info I've read.
E2A: they seem to be settling in really well. I've wanted this set up for a long time. The ex always said "no".

On the snail issue though, see what I mean about conflicting info. Ian H says no, Betta Boy says yes!

Guess it won't hurt them to have 'em from time to time.

Betta Boy is right... I wa going to get them last year, so I reasearched them a lot. But then I couldn't find hem so my tank was empty for ever. I know that they need the snail shells to file down the teeth. All puffers have ever growing teeth, so this is needed.

karigupi · Aug 3, 2009

Mine get a couple of tiny snails thrown in once a week, its funny to watch them hunt the snails & go crossed eyed lol their main diet is defrosted blood worm, they get live bloodworm very occassionaly.