Shell training ?

[impalass]

Two weeks in with my 6" Fahaka, and I'm still pretty excited about him !

Brought him home June 21, the 23th he ate half a shelled raw shrimp, spiting the shell out.
On the 25th he comsumed two pieces of Seafood Melodies, 27th I threw in 40 small ghost shrimp that kept him busy for 24 hrs.
The 29th I introduced a shelled mussel, he was curious but did not bite or go for it in any way, removed it after aproximately 30 minutes.
July 1st mussel number 2, again curious and nothing happen, I took it out and cracked it open, he ate all the meat, but did not scrape the shell.

July 3, I figured he knows it's food now, just cracked the mussel open a little bit, and broke the top shell in half, he just did the curious exploring bit and left it, once again I opened it up, and he snacked on a small portion of the meat, leaving the rest.

Do I continue with this routine in the hope he'll start breaking the shells sooner rather than later, or switch to snails ? (I have a source of home bred Ram Horn Snails) He looks healthy, stomach is not shrinking.

Thanks in advance, Mark.

[Pufferpunk]

His teeth ARE scraping against the shell, to get all the meat out.

[purplecandle]

Opening them a bit is fine. They do most of the teeth trimming getting the meat out like PP said.

[impalass]

I should of been more clear, he always leaves a layer of meat next to the shell, and does not come close to the shell with his teeth.

I guess my concern over his teeth is a little premature.

Thanks for your replys.

[scpion]

Try removing most of the meatier chunk and toss in the shell first and see if it scrapes the bits off.

[bertie 83]

Also add the snails to his diet, variety is key. If you have access to them then its a win win situation

[impalass]

bertie and scpion, I'll try both your suggestions and share the results next week if not sooner. Thanks, Mark.

[impalass]

Update;

I've switched to smaller clams, bought fresh then frozen for 48 hrs, thawed in tank water+Vita-Chem. When cut in half one piece has a minimal amount of meat, I throw that in first and he goes to town scrapping away. Later I add the meatier half which he just eats the chunkier parts of. No more OCD tooth concerns.

Other than that I'm still waiting to meet up with the in home snail breeder, and feeding Seafood Melodies inbetween clams.

Yesterday was the Fahakas third water change in as many weeks, (have only had him for three weeks) and for the first time he totally freaked out all over the 144g. There where no sudden moves or anything out of the ordinary on my part, and he settled down half way through the 30 min. vaccum. Is this normal ?

On the bright side for the first time 33 yrs. of marrage and fish keeping "she who must be obeyed" has taken a genuine interest in the Fahaka, a feat numerous other fish, big and small have failed to do.

Have a good weekend everybody, Mark

[bertie 83]

Puffers where what got my wife to appreciate the tanks too

[RTR]

LOL! Ditto for my wife. She put up with my tanks, but really preferred confetti set-ups (Gag!) until I kept F-8s and the T. mbu. Those she loved. She even thought that the Palembang's was cool, as it looked dead as often as not.