Juvie Valentini and snails

The forum for those beautiful marine puffers!
Post Reply
User avatar
Shayla
Puffer Fry
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue May 08, 2007 11:55 am
Location: Massachusetts
Contact:

Juvie Valentini and snails

Post by Shayla »

I have a juvenile just-home Valentini that is slowly working her (I don't know gender for sure, just seems like a her...) way through the snail population in my isolation tank, or at least I think she is. Thing is, there seems to be more *empty* shells than I recall, but she doesn't seem to be doing anything with the shells, even the small ones that we got specifically for her. If she's managing to empty the shells, that won't help grind her teeth, will it? Or am I totally confused and she's just rearranging empty shells I don't recall having?

Oh, and, btw, I'm new here, I'm Christene, and I'm very glad to be here -- you can see the questions bubbling forth already!
Swim happy,
Christene
Nick
Former Staff Member
Posts: 3231
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:47 pm
My Puffers: Mine:
GSPs - Shakespeare and Jillybean
F8 - Velvet
My fiance:
DP - Emma Goldman
Narrow Lined Puffer - Ulrike
Location (country): Northeastern USA
Location: Middletown, CT
Contact:

Post by Nick »

:) What kind of snails are they? If they are alive living with the puffer they must be marine snails of some sort, which by and large have MUCH thicker, stronger shells than FW snails. Most here feed FW snails to salt and brackish puffers, because they are so much easier to breed in quantity, so the rule that a puffer can crush a snail the size of it's eye doesn't really apply to SW snails, which may need to be quite a bit smaller to be crushable. If your puffer can't crush them, it will certainly suck them out of the shell. Perhaps try some FW snails with softer shell, though they won't attract attention if she's with a bunch of snails now, and will die and rot in there. If you just got her home, it may take a while for her to eat with the gusto puffers are known for, in any case.
No matter how magnificent your successes or devastating your failures, the worlds' approximately 5 billion impoverished people could not possibly care less.
User avatar
Boxermom
Former Staff Member
Posts: 2182
Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 8:34 pm
Location: Wisconsin
Contact:

Post by Boxermom »

Moved to Marine forum. :)
Tina

Puffers: Auriglobus silus x1, Tetraodon travancoricus x1, Tetraodon turgidus x1, Tetraodon miurus x1, Tetraodon nigroviridis x2, Tetraodon baileyi x2, Tetraodon lineatus x1, Tetraodon palembangensis x1
User avatar
bonnie3188
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 127
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 7:48 am
Location: Australia

Post by bonnie3188 »

Hi Christene,

I also keep Valentini puffers and have never seen them eat the actual shell of a marine snail. On rare occaisons I see them try to eat the snail out of the shell, but never empty shells. That being said, I have heaps of snails in my tank and I rarely see baby snails... perhaps they can eat the baby snails because they are really small and probably more tender.

What have you been feeding her besides snails? My puffers seem to wear their teeth down naturally on live rock, so I wouldn't worry too much about her teeth until they become noticeable. Ive had one of my Valentinis for over a year and he is only just developing teeth.

Hope this helps,
Bonnie
-Bonnie
User avatar
Shayla
Puffer Fry
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue May 08, 2007 11:55 am
Location: Massachusetts
Contact:

Post by Shayla »

Thanks for all the replies, and thanks for helping me get my post into the right place! :redface:

I'm not totally sure what has thus far been eaten -- there is one Astria snail in the tank that she's left alone, and there's one empty shell of a snail I'll need to learn more about (hubby had pre-arranged the tank before she came home, when I was still convinced I'd not give in to the urge to get involved in fish again myself ;*) I know there was a tiny hermit crab, but it shows itself every so often, so I guess it's accomplished at hiding, and there was a very miniature Nacarrius<sp> that hubby brought home, that appears to be an empty shell now. Guess maybe it's time to pull them out and take a closer look.

We will try some pond snails -- we'd talked about them and weren't sure whether they were appropriate for marine puffers. She has been a "diligent" eater from the get-go; she's dined upon a frozen brine shrimp/mysis shrimp combo (though she tends to just spit the mysis back out), live brine shrimp, ignored an algae block that was offered to the tank in general for a bit, has (I think) eaten a wee tiny ghost shrimp (it was there, she lunged at it, and it was never seen again, though I'd be surprised that she'd "make it disappear" that quickly!) and frequently pecks at the live rock in the tank. We've been offering food 3x per day, but in small amounts, plus, of course, whatever she's been scoring on her own.

Thanks again for having me here -- you're quite an appreciated resource!
Post Reply