I was just curious as to how to check if my SAP is eating snails properly, he is starting to eat them - i think. He is readily chasing after the snails and attacking them, but the shells don't seem to get crushed- he will attack a few times and then leave them (and then cruise around to look for any more). I presume he has eaten since the shell looks empty and doesn't move (so no snail? ) but the shell looks pretty much intact.. I was under the impression that to benefit their teeth they need to crush the snail shell? I did hear a crunching/biting noise today but still, a pretty complete snail shell....
Sorry for the long winded post! Thanks if you can help.
Puffers have specially adapted teeth for the express purpose of crushing shells. 'Slurpers' are by far the minority within the Tetraodon family and are most commonly the smaller species - Carinotetraodons and some individual Colomesus asellus. These fish may not crush the entire shell, but bite out enough of the softer opening to get at the majority of the meat.
Wanna see how most puffers eat snails? Video: fahaka vs snail
With my SAPs I crush the larger snails between tweezers for them. The shell stays attached to the meat but it's a lot easier for them to chew down the snail in its entirety.
So, if I presume my SAP is just crunching a little bit of the shell at the opening to get to the snail- is this still sufficient to keep his teeth in check?
He is only a little guy at an inch and a bit long, I'm giving him the smallest snails I can get (trying to go with the whole "size of their eye" thing) although he has gone for bigger also...
One more thing, will biting the meat off snail shells (if I crush them myself) help with keeping teeth in good condition also?
EvilBoris wrote:
One more thing, will biting the meat off snail shells (if I crush them myself) help with keeping teeth in good condition also?
The idea is to basically "flatten" the snail... The puff still has to bite through and/or grind the shell, it's just easier for them to wrap their jaws around it this way.
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles
My main concern for keeping the teeth in check is that the lil fella is so small, I'd rather have to leave teeth trimming until he's a bit bigger! If I had to at his current size I'd be completely panicked about either squishing 'im in my hands or cutting his mouth off or y'know something exaggerated like that
To be able to actually get a hold and crunch shells, I have to give my SAP tiny ones, the size of his eye approximately. Since I often don't have that many that size, its a lot easier to take a bigger snail and half crush it, as was said, so he can really tear into it.
Otherwise, if I just drop them in, he takes a few bites at it then comes up looking at me like "hey, give me something I can actually bite on to!". Of course, I never do find the snails he "misses" so I think he hunts them down in his spare time and is just being a spoiled brat at meal times. Which is fine, at least I know he's eating and he can exercise some hunting ability to keep himself entertained when I'm not there hehe.
In the past I've had GSP's who would suck the snail out of the shell instead of crushing it, but their teeth don't grow nearly as fast as a SAP's, so anything you can do to encourage crunching shells is good. Mine gets snails EVERY DAY along with snacks of bloodworms, krill, other times, but still needs his teeth trimmed every 3-4 months.
I will give him a choice today, tiny snails (eye sized like yesterday) or partially crushed larger snail!
I was just wondering... if their teeth grow so fast even with a constant supply of snails... what happens in the wild? Or is it something that only happens in captivity.. maybe in the wild they are constantly hunting and eating snails and other hard shelled foods... so they are eating more but also using more energy. Whereas in an aquarium they are eating less and using less energy therefore teeth growth?
I've always been amazed at the size of snails my figure 8 will crunch right through. I'm going to have to keep him off this board, though, because he's never even thought of slurping a snail and I don't want him getting ideas from other puffers...
He's eating the partially crushed snails much more easily than the whole ones (even though they were tiny!) Maybe he was fed crushed snails at the shop... and was waiting for me to smush 'em...
) but the shell looks pretty much intact.. I was under the impression that to benefit their teeth they need to crush the snail shell? I did hear a crunching/biting noise today but still, a pretty complete snail shell.... 
If the snails I give her are too big. It annoyed me to discover this.
