The Puffer Forum

Nick: there is a huge structural strength difference in a tightly spiralled shell and a discoid one. Try running crushing pressure checks if you doubt this - or just use your fingers for a rough idea. Good luck with your puffers. But I will still say NIMFT, and recommend never feeding MTS to a puffer.

I know RTR has witnessed his puffer's teeth breaking from trying to crush MTS shells, which is why he is so against feeding them out to puffers.

RTR wrote:Nick: there is a huge structural strength difference in a tightly spiralled shell and a discoid one. Try running crushing pressure checks if you doubt this - or just use your fingers for a rough idea. Good luck with your puffers. But I will still say NIMFT, and recommend never feeding MTS to a puffer.

Could you tell me of any other snails besides ramshorns that are good for puffers (GSP)? Or are there other names for the ramshorn That I might not know? I am wondering so it will be easier for me to find good deals on snails on the internet.

Pond snails are very safe, if quite small and delicate for a larger GSP - but they are widely available, breed fast, and will be fine until the puffer passes 3".

It is harder to get largish common pond snails than ramshorns. They do tend to reproduce earlier and over-populate faster, so growth is curtailed.

Ramshorns real name is Planorbis.

Common pond snails are Physa.

Well, I went to Pet Smart, twice as they said for me to go back today as they are getting a shipment. Still no anacharis. Then went to Petland, none there either. I did get another load of free ramshorns and ended up getting a fake plant. I really wanted the anacharis for the benefits of the water but such is life. The snails are tiny which is perfect for his little mouth. I'll keep the large ones for breeding as he just sucks them out of the shell and don't get the crunch benefit.

Now for that snail jelly recipe......

Sorry random question but I recently went to the pet shop and asked for the pesty snails in the plant tanks and got them for free.. I don't know the names of them but they're the one with a pointy swirl on their side, are they ok to feed or should I just buy some others off ebay?

No, those are the Malaysian trumpet snails, whose shells are hard & can possible crack your puffer's teeth. Go with the round shells. They should be just as big a pest in their tanks as the cone ones.

Ok thanks i'll get rid of these and get some of the other better ones ^_^ I did think I'd have to do that but kept them till now just incase.

I have some of those as well and am getting rid of them. I'm glad you described them as I wanted confirmation that's what they are. Thanks.