Is A Trumpet Snails Shell Too Hard For Gsp To Eat?

[phlawed]

I just put some in my planted tank and was wondering if once they start going nuts if it ould make a good food for the puffer. i usually assist puffer with an initial crack in the shells before feeding them, but eventually want him to do it all on his own.

 

[andywg]

I have read on this forum a couple of times that the shell is a bit hard for a puffers beak, but have never come across anyone with first, or second, hand, experience of a puffer actually being damaged by trumpet snails.

On the contrary, I have come across many people (myself included) who have had trumpet snails in with puffers and the puffers have happily kept the population in check.

 

[nmonks]

Likewise. My South American puffer only eats teeny tiny trumpet snails and simply ignores the others, except if its really hungry, it turns them over and bites at the foot, killing the snail and leaving its corpse behind of me to clean up. This puffer at least makes no attempt whatsover to break open the shell.

It's a question of common sense. An adult GSP (at 15 cm) is going to be troubled not at all by an adult trumpet snail (barely 1 cm long). I'm sure they eat much harder prey than that in the wild. I understand the logic to the argument about not feeding trumpet snails to puffers, and perhaps it isn't a good idea to feed a big snail to a small puffer, but beyond that, I'm skeptical.

Cheers,

Neale

I have read on this forum a couple of times that the shell is a bit hard for a puffers beak, but have never come across anyone with first, or second, hand, experience of a puffer actually being damaged by trumpet snails.

On the contrary, I have come across many people (myself included) who have had trumpet snails in with puffers and the puffers have happily kept the population in check.

 

[Fella]

I've also questioned this before, and have found only 1 person with experience of it ever harming their puffer.

I feed my puffers MTS snails and none have come to any harm. I like to think that these fish aren't stupid, and they know not to bite on rocks, so hard snail shells might not be any different...

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

I've had the same experience as nmonks, my gsp would eat larger ones but only after flipping them over and biting off the foot. So if you do this, make sure to clean them up!

Good Luck

SLC