The Puffer Forum

Hello all
Hoping to get a fahaka soon and was thinking about the food I need to get stocked. Of course one of the foods I want to feed are crabs and thought well when I was younger I went crabbing fairly locally and it could be a good source of food? It would also mean that i would be able to catch lots and select only the right sized ones etc..The only thing is, are there any precautions I should take or really should I be buying fresh from the grocers or live from LFS? There are two places to go crabbing locally, one would be not the best water conditions for them to come from and the other to me seems ideal and is in a prided place of no pollution. Any tips would be great (also the likelihood of how to kill them if freezing and feeding chunks..I know about hot water but...)

I do this with my Celon's. I go to the beach about once a month and collect shore crabs for them - I keep the crabs in a tank in the garage so it's sort of quarantine and I haven't really noticed any disease problems so far in the puffs. The crabs eat each other if you don't feed them enough... I feed bits of seafood from the cheap supermarket bags of mixed mussel, squid rings and prawns etc. The puffs get some of this too.

The other things mine like are live mussels in the shell either from the beach or a supermarket and finally the next fave to live crab are edible crab legs from the local family fishmonger in the market - very cheap.

All of the above would be good for a larger puff like a Fahaka, I suspect. Apart from too many prawns and mussels because they contain thiaminase which breaks down thiamin (vitamin B1) in the fish causing big problems over time. I try to soak anything frozen in vitamins before feeding.

Maybe periwinkles would be enjoyed? I suspect they'd like occasional shrimps from the beach too when in season (summer).

Think it'd like earthworms, too.

Hope this helps

That is a fantastic help! Thank you What part of the UK are you in out of interest? Im in Dorset and plan perhaps to go to Lyme Regis.

I come from the south near Oxford and I do know the south coast. Anywhere with rocks at each end and sand in the middle is best - rockpools. Just get a net and a plastic box and go rummage

I'm now in Durham, so there are a variety of beaches to get at a half hour drive away. If you'd like a try at native marines,try a little tank the garage with some beadlet nems in? Not for food, they are just very pretty. Mine are in a 20l hex with a tiny trickle filter and they've done ok for several years - just feed them defrosted mysis once a week and they'll be fine.

Undergravel filters are no good with crabs because they dig. An internal power filter does mine...

I think the QT time is 2 weeks for any parasites that might be carried by inverts and passed to fish. I would go with 3 just to be safe.

If you really want to be certain, then you can always freeze them prior to feeding. They need to be thoroughly frozen for at least 24 hours in order to kill bacteria, etc.

I'm not sure if clove oil will kill inverts safely and quickly like it does with fish. I know anabantoids like bettas don't go as quietly with clove oil as non-air-breathing fish, I assume it has to do with the way they use their gills and labyrinth organs to get their oxygen, so I'm not sure if clove works on inverts or not.