The Puffer Forum

Howdy..
..Probably a much-gone-over topic here, but I just want to properly confirm...
Would the shell of a prawn suffice to keep the teeth down on puffers?
Since the Ceylon arrived on the scene, I have run out of snails, and also I cannot get him to eat them... So I put in enough snails for the both of them and ended up with one fat bloater of a Mickey and a bemused-looking Ceylon! He was, however, VERY keen of the shell-on king prawn I fed them yesterday, but I just want to confirm whether this will do enough to keep his teeth down?
Will post more pics of the two of them soon... He does still have a constantly grey belly, though...should I worry yet? All other colours/patterns are stunning on him, water params are great and Mickey has the whitest belly/neonest head I've ever seen!

I haven't feed any snails to my puffers in >1 year.

Some puffers are eternally grey. If he's aswimming & eating, not to worry for now.

Thanks PP... so do you just feed them shell-on prawn etc.?
yeah he's swimming and eating(although a limited selection at the moment) and playing in the bubbles/filter streams... an otherwise very healthy looking puff.

Crickets, crab legs, muscles, cockle..check out PP's article in the Library on GSP's for more.

I don't consider shell-on prawns alone as adequate crunch for most puffers.

I offer shell ons to my ceylons and since they are human food with out heads the little stinkers pull off the legs and go for the soft spots and leave me with a hollow shirimp shell in the tank.

I havent tried the other things listed...crickets eh...i always hove those around for my reptiles.

Jason

I leave the shell on for my Fahaka...... but then again I've never heard of them ever having teeth trouble.

MP

Well Mickey LOVES snails(and even turns into a bit of a snob toward other foods if he gets too many snails a week!!!!) but the Ceylon just won't touch... Will pick up some more mussels this weekend. Cockles/crabs legs will be a bit of a task here. Hard enough trying to find Uncooked, shell-ON prawns for sale(the LOOKS people give when you try and explain why you need them!!!!! ).
Crickets are a thinker, too. Fed Mickey a dragon-fly larvae the other week... he swam right around it and hunted it down before biting its whole head off... the hunting skills are incredible!
...Anyway, it's just a case of trying to get Ceylon to eat anything! ..and preferrably something good for his teeth regularly!

There are many many foods that are available in the UK to try.Cockles can be bought at nearly all LFS in the UK.

raw uncooked prawn is a doddle to obtain. JUst go to Sainsbury's and look in the freezer!

Nice in theory, but have spent the past 2 weeks looking and you can buy raw,shelled or cooked shell-on. I'm not just sitting here asking you know, I have been out(and driven around to every supermarket &LFS in the area searching).
I feed them cockles from the LFS as part of a staple, but only ONE of the local LFS sell frozen/fresh food and they do not sell any in the shell.
It was on the third visit to sainsbury's for this purpose that we finally found raw shell-on king prawns on the fish counter!

Cockles - nearly all LFS have them
Mussel and krill - good LFS have

prawns - any supermarket in the UK

Uncooked shell on king prawns - Any Sainsbury in the UK - They are frozen so will not be at the fresh food counter. They are in the freezers.

Meal worms and crickets - any reptile/petshop

Crabs and crab legs - fishmonger or if you have a Costco.

Freeze dried krill any LFS

Snails - Breed them!! or any pond

Go to sainsbury's at least once a week, and I am aware of the frozen section, thanks!
Don't have a costo and can't get to a fishmonger.
Explained about the LFS not selling shell-on food of any variety.
Doing my best with the snails, but as explained, the Ceylon won't touch anyway.
I do feed them a good varied diet of blood worms, tubifex worms,(other worms!), krill,shrimps,larvae,cockles,mussels,insects and now shell-on king prawn. It's not FOOD in general or a variety I'm looking for, just trying to be proactive and avoid teeth-trimming here.
Thanks though. I think!

I find out of all the foods cockles in the shell are the best for tooth wear. These are easy to obtain.Does your LFS have these?

Not in the shell, no. Out of the 6 LFS I know of in a decent area(within 20miles), only one sells frozen/live food at all! maidenhead aquatics in Wimborne and they only sell them nicely packed!
Have bought fresh cockles in the shell recently just from Morrisons.. Might see if Morrisons could order in cockles for me..I know that they will order in Languestines (sp?!) for me.