Young Green Spotted Puffers won't eat snails! Help!

[green_spotted_girl]

My two young GSP won't eat snails. I have had them for about a week and when I was finally able to get out to buy some (yesterday), I tossed them in and one puffers followed the snail (about the size of heir eye) to the bottom but then just ignored it. The other puffer didn't even look twice at it. They are only young, roughly an inch and a half to two inches long. They are housed with some mollies and they all get along fantastically, I have never had to worry about fin nipping. I am currently in the process of turning the water brackish (as the pet store had them in freshwater) at th moment the water is SG 1.002 and I will be raising it to 1.004 today or tomorrow. I am gradually raising the salinity so I don't sock the fish. All they will actually eat are frozen blood worms! I don't want their teeth (beak) to over grow, what can I do? Can I put something in there that they will chew on hemselves? Like, muscle shells or something? I even tried a small young crab but again they didn't even care. And so far all they have done since I got them is pace along the glass! And I set up their tank as best I can. At the moment they are in a 33gal but I have a 70gal at the ready once they start growing more. I have sand as substrate and I have lots of, a 40-60gal filter, a small powerhead on the dead side of the tank, a heater set at 75F and a bubbler. I have lots of plants along the back and sides of the tank and I have a rock formation in he middle to break line of sight. I also have shells in the tank to raise the hardness. I think I have set the tank properly as I have done a lot of research on these guys before getting them, but still, they just pace the glass. They have great color and a nice cream colored belly. In the morning one of the puffers will actually greet me for food, but the other one doesn't. Once they eat, then it's right back to pacing. The one that will greet me doesn't pace half as much as the other though. Anyway, I am a first time puffer owner and I am new to brackish water aswell, so any insight will be greatly appreciated, thanks a lot. Let me know if I am doing anything wrong.

[greenspottedlover]

From your description they sound healthy. A pic may help though. It could be stress from tank mates, maybe. Have you tried feeding them with feeding tongs? If there is a plant with flat leaves(a fake plant is great for this purpose) close to the surface you could place the snail gently there so that it stays there. I have had success doing so, though I do not usually ever have to convince my puffer to eat snails, which is what's strange about this. What are the water conditions? The water conditions being bad may cause this due to stress.

[Pufferpunk]

I have never had to worry about fin nipping

LOL, you've only had them for a week, give them time! Also, they will get a lot more aggressive as they mature.

Try crushing the snails. They will be able to smell them better & get at the meat, while still biting the shall pieces.
Lots more info on feeding:
library/category/feeding/

GSPs: library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

Mixing BW: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19348

[puffermichigan]

I got my two lil ones when they were about an inch long too. The first time I tried to feed them snails, they looked up at me like "what the heck, ma, you trying to hit us with rocks now?" Lol. (Pardon the anthropomorphism, but I SWEAR that was their expression). I crushed the snails up and it seemed they were able to "smell" the flesh better and associated it with food. Crushing kind of sucks (I'm a vegetarian, it was a hurdle for me, I'd never "prepared" meat before!), but I just did it with a pliers and it worked well (they were very small snails to begin with). I still use the crushing method with bigger snails that my puffs can't get hold of--it still seems beneficial for their "teeth" because they crunch on all the pieces for a while. I now crush with impunity.

Many also suggest soaking the food in fresh garlic "juice" to entice them to eat. (See link below)

library/feeding/problems-feeding-your-puffer/

I think that if they are not used to being given snails, it might take them a moment to "learn" what we just assume would be natural for them.

[puffermichigan]

Oops! I didn't realize PP had just linked the same article It's a good one.

[green_spotted_girl]

I will try the crushing technique before assuming the worst! Someone actually told me to not feed them for a week and then try giving snails but a week seems way too long to go for a young SGP.

[greenspottedlover]

GSP of that size should be fed at least every 6 out 7 days. I would say that a week would probably kill them or just make them very thin and ill.

[zookey]

I learned that with my GSP that snails need to be crushed for him to care about them, ghost shrimp are fun and yummy tank-mates, angle worms is what got my puffer to eat when I first got him. He would eat blood worms but they need more than that. I got the worms from the bait shop section of walmart and would cut off about 14-12 an inch and fed it to the puffer with a forceps.

I also learned that I cannot fast him completely one day a week or he sulks in the back corner of his tank for up to 2 days. So I feed him like normal 6 days and on day 7 I give him just a bit of bloodworms.... hardly enough to start to round his belly. Keeps him interacting with me, and all food going into his tank is done with forceps.... I never just drop the food in. Once it hits bottom he won't eat it. (Apparently he has not learned the 5 second rule)

Best of luck with your puffers!

[sevenyearnight]

puffermichigan, I <3 you for using the words, "anthropomorphism" and "flesh", and because you are also a vegetarian.

I too had the idea of housing my 2 puffers in a 65 or 75 gallon, and temporarily I had them housed in a 37 gallon, but it turned out that they just really hated living together. 1 of them constantly paced only stopping to eat or swim away from the other 1 that started attacking him. Now that they are both in their separate tanks, alone, they are much happier and much more interactive with me.

I second the shell crushing and the garlic soaking ideas