The Puffer Forum

I was aware that SAP's teeth grow faster.

But do different Fig 8's teeth grow faster than others? Maybe down to the water quality? Im not sure.

Figure Eights do not need very frequent feedings of snails. You will find that if you only feed very soft foods like bloodworms and those other frozen mushy foods you will need to feed snails more frequently, but if the diet is supplemented by the occasional cockle, prawns, shrimp etc you will not need to feed snails too often. I still recommend it, but it took about a year after eating shrimp, bloodworms, Marine Cuisine, Squid, mussles, etc and not snails for my puffer to get some overgrowth. They certainly do not have fast growing teeth, so daily snails is a bit overkill. Try to feed bi-weekly and you should be alright, and be sure to offer a wide variety of other foods as this is key for good health.

When you feed cockles do you break the shell up slighty before feeding it to your puffer??

Yes, at least wide enough for them to get their head in. Their teeth will scrape against the shell to get the meat out, fileing them down.

I whack my shellfish with a hammer or my fist, depending on how sturdy they are, so the puffers have to chew at the bits of shell to get meat out, same premise as PP's technique, less work initially, but more cleanup if you actually remove the shells from the tank.(which I don't)

If you can't crack them I can lend you Clooney

Yeah, like he'd leave anything for anyone else!

very true, though saying that, the largest of my loaches has learnt to wait nearby for scraps. He sometimes pushes his luck and takes food from Clooneys mouth!!!!