Confusing suggestion from lfs

[carolynn]

Hello need some help please. Went to my lfs to buy tiny feeder snails but was told by a vetren staff member my Saps didn't need the live food( the snails I ve been culturing and buying) only the mysis. Told the snails or live food is more of a treat. Am confused as eveything I've read, posts here and other Sap owners have all said Saps need snails as their main diet- the tricky part for now is cause they're so young they only eat the very tiny ones still and Im hoping itll help with the dentistry in the future. plus I have two "picky eaters" -refuse mysis wil only eat snails. Would not even post except this came from like I said a veteren fish keeper older gentlemen in the trade for decades, experience and such.What does anyone think? Also with no one in their tank other than them - when do you think would be an apropriate time to introduce my clean up crew- Adult Bristlenoes? any thoughts thanks in advance.

[Pufferpunk]

As soon as I read the title of this, I thought, "Uh-oh..."! NEVER listen to ANY LFS about pufferkeeping! Ask him how many SAP's teeth he's trimmed.

[bertie 83]

Lol. You can certainly tell he doesn't know about the extremely rapid rate at which saps teeth grow. Good on you for checking here, 95% of saps diet should be snails. No other fish belong in a sap tank, full stop. Clean up crew comprises of a handful of snails tossed in after lights out.

[RTR]

Huge +1 to Pufferpunk and bertie's comments! The LFS comment on care would be funny if it were not totally and completely contrary to fact. So far as I know, there is not other fish with as high a requirement for live crunchy food as are SAPs. I would wonder if that employee had ever kept any puffer for more than a few weeks. And if they have kept any SAP, I would bet it starved to death from incisor overgrowth.

Do be aware that if you purchased LFS snails for feeding to puffers, you must quarantine them (I use 3 or more weeks in a fresh vertebrate-free (i.e., no fish) tank. That will ensure there are no parasites alive to affect the fish. It also allows to be be sure thay are well-fed and nutritious for the fish.

HTH

[carolynn]

Thanks so much...I thought it was contrary to anything/everything I had ever read and to be honest I trusted my gut- they are so happy eating snails and yes quarentined- snails I breed, the ones I bought for them just two weeks ago for them are still in quarentine. I have noticed that the more snails I give them the less stressed they are, so their Ick has as they told me at the Lfs come and gone-every water change they really stress out- the next day will have afew spots and then it clears within a day I just put some more big snails in to distract them a bit after. But since I put in a heavy colony of snails 2 and ahlf weeks ago(I had been growing) they are happier-less stressed, I think in my limited experience it helps them to "crunch" and hunt and look for snails, I find now that the colony is established in their tank- thay appear more preocuppied with searching and no longer pace at all-they ritualistically go to one side of the tank now hiding under plants for water change but after the commotion come out and begin hunting searching not pacing up and down. I know I'm not good at expressing myself conciseily but they just seem more content.

Am looking into some more plants for them as the salt and heat treatment helped them with the Ick but did a number on my plants. Any suggestions on a plant that in your experiences Saps just love or need or would make them content, thanks again.

[RTR]

IME, SAPs are not picky about particular plants. A mix of largish (such as sword plants) and stem plant clumps with some foreground smallish crypts is my usual SAP tank list. The variations in growth form gives them varied search formats and seems to help their security feelings as well.

Folks who opt for artificial plants should also select a variety of forms to provide similar varied search patterns.

[bertie 83]

Yes they are not really fussy, however mine is a keep gardener of plants with stems. He bites through the stems, just big leafy plants are left now lol

[RTR]

I will admit that puffers who spot a snail on a young or not hardened plant stem do tend to have a pruning scissors effect. And if a leaf is "soft" (as are many Crypts) and young stems has a snail in the center, you will soon learn to see the difference between Clown Loach bites and puffer bites of such leaves.

[RTR]

My first puffers (in the 1960s) were kept in freshwater (they were really brackish to marine GSPs) and were grossly under-housed and lived on the excess snails from my Cichlid fry grow-out tanks. They were strictly utility fish, and severely stunted. But I did learn better, eventually. We have come a long way with this family. Back then, few FW hobbyists had any real knowledge of these fish - a few marine folks did though. My next GSPs were brackish and marine. Some LFS still handle fish with the techniques used way back then. The Web has enabled more of us to learn how to really keep fish.