The Puffer Forum

if he eats something, you should see him get a bulge , although if you go long enough without seeing him, he may have completely digested it by that time.

Not much of a meal though, if the shrimp aren't fed 1st.

Pufferpunk wrote:Not much of a meal though, if the shrimp aren't fed 1st.

Well, they kinda were fed, in a way: The shrimp ate all the frozen brine shrimp that my puffer didn't eat, so in a way, he did ate them too.

But frozen brine are very poor nutritionally too.

ChesapeakeSwellfish wrote:My F8, Elvis, is a snail eating machine. That 10 gal tank would make a fine snail rearing tank. That's how I'd use it. Then get a 20 gal long for the F8 - with a lid or hood - you now know they are jumpers. A 20 gal long glass tank is one of the best small tank bargains out there - IMO.

I'm hoping to get a brackish tank set up soon and get a fig8. I was just wondering about snails and brackish puffers. Do you still just feed your guy pond and ramshorns? If he doesn't eat them right away, do they die due to the salt?

Yes, pond and ramshorns. And yes, they will die from the salt. Make sure you remove any uneaten food.

I can't remember seeing a snail hit the tank bottom, so snail survival in brackish water is a moot point. In a freshwater tank, it would seem more natural to encourage snail hunting by placing snails in the tank when the puffers are asleep, but in a brackish tank, I drop them in front of him one at a time and they're eaten within a few seconds - sometimes spit out and re-positioned but pretty quick work.

Mine misses some on occasion, or if I drop more than one at a time. He usually finds them pretty quickly during his hourly rounds of the tank though.