A begginer puffer for a begginer keeper?

[doraemon]

Breed your own snails,very easy to do, frozen bloodworms.

Theres a few articles here about feeding too library/category/feeding/

[FrogkiPuffer]

I found some really cool looking snails in my pet store that could be good cause they are small, they have yellow shells and I don't know about their breeding habits, but would most snails breed in a tank with four mollies and some tiger barbs along with a cory catfish...

[doraemon]

Snails can breed anywhere,sometimes people with other fish cant even get rid of them in their tank, i would suggest pond snails as their shells are softer, the yellows ones if you are refering to apple snails arnt reccomended for dwarf puffers. If you breed your own pond snails feed them the size of the puffers eyes is best. You shouldnt need to pay for the snails as whenever you buy a live plant many have snails in them anyway. But just in case ask the lfs if you can have some of their snails, you will see in the live plant section there are lots of pond snails in there.

I breed my snails in a 5 litre container,with conditoned water,one live plant,feed them a piece of lettuce and within a day or 2 they have spawned..if you want to speed up the process increase the temperature,they also thrive in clean water.

If you are going to put them in the tank with your other fish im sure the snails will thrive, snails poop alot though thats why i have them in a separate container.

[FrogkiPuffer]

So how big a tank for them to breed? Do you recommend keeping two not for feeding at a time? And what do you recommend other then snails, I know that they need a varied diet so?...

[doraemon]

Please take a look at this informative article on feeding library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
it lists all the known foods you can feed puffers.

Most popular is bloodworms and snails for dwarfs.

Are you planning to put them in a tank with your other fish or are you planning to get another tank just for breeding snails?

Like i said before i breed my snails in a 5litre container,however snails can breed in your tank with your other fish.

If you are breeding snails then yes you are going to have to keep some, you must quarantine them before you feed them to your puffers too because you have no idea what diseases they are carrying from your lfs.

[FrogkiPuffer]

Okay, I plan on having a seperate 5 gallon tank, I just need to find a free one... Anyway, I also need to know where I might find dwarf puffers, I don't really like going online for fish as journeys can cause stress for the fish and I don't know what stores might sell them...

[doraemon]

Where are you from?

[pufferpuggirl]

Okay, and about food, I need to provide them a couple of varied foods don't I? I don't know how to breed snails but I believe I can help control an algea population and breed them in my mollie/tigerbarb/cori catfish tank... I like these small yellow snails, but they looked way to big for my puffer, what do you suggest?
And I know, I'm just asking for suggestions... Along with that, do you believe I could find a tank for $50-$60 dollars? That's about how much I expect to get for my birthday... If not, what is the cheapest price you would expect to find?

Frogki you don't have to worry about "knowing" how to breed snails, the snails pretty much do it all for you, at least the ramshorn will. They will breed as long as you feed them generously, you will get eggs and then will come little ones. They will be small enough for your puffers too, and your puffers will bite at them, at least some of my puffers will tackle snails larger than you'd think they would eat.

I'm sure you will find a suitable tank for the amount of money you are getting. I live in the UK, so we don't have Craigslist, but I hear people go on about how you can find bargains on there, so I would suggest trying that.

As to food for your Dwarf puffers, mine mostly eat bloodworms (the frozen kind), but a few of my DP's will eat some pieces of shrimp that fall away from the other puffers who are eating it, and one of my DP's will actually try to pull pieces of shrimp from my MBU's mouth! Bold little puffer that one is! So I would say that mostly your DP's will be eating bloodworm, occasionally shrimp (very small pieces) and of course snails for their teeth.

[FrogkiPuffer]

Allright, I believe I can do it, but now I'm going to basically need to wait and try to raise some extra money just in case... Okay, so, I'm going to look out for a tank on the side of the road, garage sales etc...
To answer your question, I can only say the state I live in which is FL, okay, thanks! Any more advice is appreciated..

[Pufferpunk]

Tanks are pretty cheaply purchased on Craigslist. Please fill out your location in your profile.

[FrogkiPuffer]

Well can I just put my state? My parents would get mad if I put my town in....

[Pufferpunk]

Of course--we aren't gonna come looking for you though... How old are you BTW?

[FrogkiPuffer]

Well, I'm 13 at the moment... Why?
Anyway, I can't wait, it'll be cool to have a bunch a little puffers lol...

[pufferpuggirl]

it's all sounding very mysterious!

[FrogkiPuffer]

LOL, okay, so anyone know a chain store where I could buy dwarf puffers? Or any place online that you trust with your life lol? I just really don't trust shipping live animals lol... Anyway, I gotta wait till my birthday, either they'll all pool the money for a tank, or they'll give me money lol...