The Puffer Forum

I feed Shrimp pellets And Sushi Nori Sheets. Sushi Nori Sheets( used for sushi rolling) Is Roasted Seaweed High in protein and other good nutrients. You can crumble it or attach it to the tank glass with a cleaner magnet. Its not messy and they love it. Ocassionally though I have to vacuum the uneaten shrimp pellets. PPl use it to feed fish too the same way. Its cheap and available in the grocery store usually in the asian foods isle. Cool Beans

I've heard some people use nori sheets for fish, but never for snails. I"m gonna give this a try!

Thanks SammyDee!

All these tips are great. Thanks so much.

anyone got any pics of their snail breeding tanks?

You bet, I'll try and find some. Looking at that I think my moss has been growing. YAY.

Love your tank Flutter! Especially the sunken plane!

Gah, everyone but me likes that. LOL. It's a bit cloudy, that's the first day it was set up.

d0hb0y wrote:One thing i'd like to mention and suggest is to be aware of where your snails come from and what was in the tank the snails were in. I've read on some forums that snails from your big chain pet stores can carry diseases. This may cause some of the problems you are having with maintaining and raising a snail tank. If you are also feeding these snails to your puffers, I would definitely make sure these snails are clean and healthy.

How do I make sure my snails are clean and healthy?? From what i've found, the big pet stores are my only source for snails.

I have live plants in my tank and the snails seems to eat them more than the veggies I put in. I'll have to try carrots though. They would be much less messy than the cucs I've been using.

I'm also wondering if feeding my puffer snails everyday is too often. Is it possible to grind his beak down too much? That question might belong in another forum but I thought i'd ask while it popped in my head : )

I can't see that feeding snails on a daily basis would be a bad thing. I think it would probably be good for the puffer all around, not just for the teeth.

Try aquabid.com for snails. I buy snails from the same person and I know his snails are tank bred....I know paying for snails sucks compared to getting them for free at big chain stores...but..In my opinion, I reduce my risk of getting unhealthy snails..I mean we all hear the horror stories of how bad these big chain pet store are..

Hopefully, I won't have to buy anymore cause I am startin my own snail tank for breeding.

How do I make sure my snails are clean and healthy?? From what i've found, the big pet stores are my only source for snails.

I can't remember where I read it, I think it was on aquariacentral.com or monsterfishkeepers.com, but my wife and I both read this topic and that was the first thing we both remembered was the "diseased snails wiping out a tank post". Somebody had got some free snails from their LFS and brought them home and put them into their tank without qt'ing them first and after a few weeks their fish were dying from unknown diseases. To make a long story short, the owner and various posters thru trial and error found out it was the snails carrying some disease.

It may be difficult, but try to get your snails from a trusted source. See if there's a local fish club in your area and i'm sure the members there will give you some clean, fresh and healthy snails to start off with. If you can't find anything and are stuck with your LFS, just pay attention to what's in the tank with the snails and treat it like you are buying a fish. I never buy fish from a tank that has dead fish in it or dead fish in tanks around it (they may share the same filter system).

I treat snails like any fish I add to my aquariums, I QT them for 2-4 weeks and slowly acclimate them with my tank water. It sounds crazy, but i prefer "safe than sorry" when it comes to anything relating to fish. I hate seeing animals suffer in any way.

+1 to d0hb0y's comments.

Big thanks to RTR..

I used spinach...within a couple of hours all the spinach was gathered up in piles covered with snails..

just bought a few snails at my local pet store actually they were free, put them in a small plastic container with some plants from the pet store. i want to know if a filter is to be used and i have a heater in this little container, i hope my sentence structure meets with approval puffergirl.

"i hope my sentence structure meets with approval puffergirl."

Was that intended for me? If so, I don't believe I've ever commented on your sentence structure. In fact, I can't recall that I've commented directly to much, if anything, that you've said.

Anyway, I will comment about the filter. I do use a filter in my snail tank because it's keep the water clear and clean, without one, the water gets nasty and very cloudy and it's hard to see what's happening in there.