apple snails

[judge6266]

I have a pair of F8 puffers, I just noticed that there are small baby apple snails that I found in a plated tanks, must of come from some new plants that I placed in the tank. can I feed them to my puffers?

[xrayjeeper83]

I was told by RTR(iirc) that apple snails shells are really hard and could hurt your puffer. But wait for conformation before tossing them all out

[Ozkar]

Haven't heard of Apple snails being too hard, but I would think you could try a few and see how the F8s do with them. (Especially since the snails are babies)

[purplecandle]

Little baby snails should be ok, you could try crushing them first to be on the safe side..

I think it is the shell hardness AND the shape of the snail that reinforces that hardness that makes the adults a teeth risk..

[RTR]

+1 to purplecandle's comments. Along with the shell shape, it is also that Apple snails, even babies are too easy to bite and slurp without crushing the shells. That defeats the purpose of the puffer crushing the shells to get to the meat.

If they are small enough, I would likely try them myself, but with care and knowing that I might have to do a good bit of dentistry if it did not work out. As long as you know and accept the risks, it is your call.

[Nick]

I had good success with baby apple snails under 1/4" in length - Shakespeare could break through any part of the shell, but it was actual work to crush it. This is when he was about 3", nowadays I would say he can handle snails that are about dime-length overall.