Where Do You Get The Snails For Your Puffers?

[ferco]

Hi all; where do you guys get the snails for your puffers? Especially the dwarf puffers; apparently the snails have to be the size of the puffer's eye? I have checked ebay but can't find them...
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks

 

[Fella]

Hi all; where do you guys get the snails for your puffers? Especially the dwarf puffers; apparently the snails have to be the size of the puffer's eye? I have checked ebay but can't find them...
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks

In my experience the only puffers that really "need" snails in their diet are auroglobius and colomesus fish. Dwarf puffers don't need snails as such, but I'd encourage that you'd feed puffers as many different kinds of foods as possible, and watching a group of dwarf puffers "hunt" a moderate pond snail is quite cool to watch.

And i got my pond snails from a friend's pond.

 

[ferco]

so how big where they roughly? the size of "it's eye?"

 

[DarkEntity]

Ive got an 8gall tank with Red Ramshorns, i bought about 20 and left them for about 4 weeks...voila 60 snails!

I bought the snails from a friend off another forum, cost me postage that was it. Nothing cooler than watching your Puffer notice a snail and start the hunt

 

[MoMa]

Check the planted tank at your lfs. There are usually a ton of "pest snails" in there. Ask if you can have some.
Many stores will just let you take them, some will charge you, but not much.
To keep the pest snails breeding, you're going to need a separate tank, as most pest snails can't handle brackish water.
If you don't have a freshwater tank that you can use, a snail only tank can be as small as 2 gallons, with minimal filtration, and routine feeding. Keep the snail tank fairly bare (makes it easier to catch the li'l buggers).
Make sure you put some fine mesh over the filter intake so you don't suck up the babies.
You should have snails out the wazoo and one happy puffer in no time.

 

[ferco]

cool thanks guys

 

[mlawson]

I have loads of snails present on my plants, my DP seems to eat the baby snails and the larger ones live and breed and there is a constant source. I also have malaysian mudsnails, my DP leaves them alone, IME they have a very strong shell, but they are great algae eaters and IMO the most attractive 'pest' snail, people have actually bought them from E-bay.

Mike