The Puffer Forum

South American Puffer Owners:

Where do you buy your supply of feeder snails?

What type of snails does your puffer prefer?


- pdm ~

I breed my own (there should be an article in the library here on it). I have many other tanks, and every tank in my house has live plants. That automatically means I'll have some snails around, but I do keep a tank going specifically for snails to make sure I have plenty.

What kind of snails? Pond and Ramshorn. Ramshorns breed faster IME but get a lot larger, while pond snails seem to stay a more "bite sized" size. I tend to feed both, but if I'm in a hurry its a heck of a lot easier to feed one larger partially crushed ramshorn than 10 itty bitty pond snails, though feeding the 10 pond snails probably will do a better job of wearing down the teeth.

Ditto Myaj comments (except that not quite all of my tanks have plants - if algae does not count).

Snail articles:

http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/ ... eding.html

and:

http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/ ... snail.html

I do not have the resources to breed enough snails to feed my SAP. I feed mainly thawed and rehydrated freeze dried krill. I end up doing the dentistry bit every 4 months +/-. Also, whenever I buy ANYTHING at a fish store, be it food or a filter pad or whatever, I ask for a healthy bag of their snails. I have never had a store decline, although I have had some weak portions.

I have read that you should avoid feeding MTS, but my tank is ripe with them. The SAP doesn't even pay them any attention.

Quaid,

How do you perfom "dentistry" on a fish



~ pdm ~

With the use of an anesthetic and cuticle clippers. Please read the article found on this site:

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8

I think you can use CO2 instead of clove oil, for some people this may be easier. Anyone want to confirm? Clove oil also used for euthanizing? I suppose this takes a large dose?

I'm jealous of you SAP owners, I'd love to have them in my area. Living in Canada has some crappy parts lol. No mail order fish (even though I prefer to choose my own).

But dear sir, I live in Canada. Your LFS can get puffers. They are seasonal and a bit hit and miss, but if you have enough patience you'll find what you're looking for.

I am highly skeptical about the CO2. CO2 levels have to reach very high levels to become dangerous to fish, and what happens then is that they swim near the surface gulping at the air. (Yeah, I had a CO2 mishap once) I can vouch for the clove oil, although the dosages vary. I require two to three times the dosage mentioned in that article for it to happen in the same time span, or I can simply wait longer. Clove oil is easily available and cheap in every pharmacy I have checked. The only problems are with communication and some sales people not knowing what it is. Clove oil is indeed a humane methode of euthanasia, but from experience the situation is stressful enough that you don't forget about your fish in the clove oil container...it would be easier to over dose. Even then though, if you are paying attention to your fish then you will key in on the speed at which it becomes tranquelized.

A dose of clove oil that can tranquilize can also kill if the fish is exposed for enough time. This time will also vary with the health of the fish. Unhealthy or sick fish will be more susceptible.

another way of getting snails if you dont have spare tanks is just to go to a bunch of LFSs and ask for their "junk snails", basically the snails that breed in their tanks and they flush. most everywhere i have gone to and asked are glad to get rid of them.

What are lfs's?

Local Fish Stores

Carbon dioxide can work as a sedative for fish, but it is IMHO & IME, much harder to control safely. I world never elect that option again myself.