The Puffer Forum

Oh ohhh I think I just spoiled my little puffer.. I popped a ram snail in there the other day and he had not touched it.. so i picked it out and held it at the top of the water and started nibbling on it.. let it go and he ignored it.. so I grabbed it again and he started in on it again but only as long as I held it.. he nudged and bumped at my fingers.. ok so thought he just wanted me to let go.. still would not go after it.. grabbed it again this time i held it with a pair of forceps.. he eyed them the tried going after the snail again.. I accidentally broke the snail shell by holding the handles to tight and wow.. he RIPPED in to the snail after that so i let it go and he chased it.. ate it fully out of the shell.. he was so comical after that and kept coming to the side of the tank where I was sitting watching him.. after that i dipped my finger in and he started bumping at it again..

My rams and mystery's have finally started mating.. after i tossed in the 5 rams i grabbed as feeders and two more mystery's.. for a total of 4 mystery's.. Can I slowly acclimate them to brackish water so its not seeming like a shock when i toss them in Crush's tank? They move around for a few then I just keep finding them in one small area.. and seemed crush ignored them.. well at least till he got a taste of them today.. now time will tell if he keeps ignoring them.. lol
I funny side note.. i keep finding the rams "crawling" on the bottom of the surface of water..upside down it is very weird.. I will have to try to film it and post it for you too see unless you understand what i mean.. then please explain to me if you can what this is about.. lol

Also update on the filter situation.. Found a marineland 150 bio wheel system (for $15 clearance, wish they had more then one left) and would you believe the refillable filters fit it.. just barely but they work..
Picked up my hydrometer a couple days ago also and his tank is at 1.006.. should up that or leave it there for a while??

Watch your fingers, even small puffers can rearrange the appearance of your hands

+1 to bertie's comment. I'll restate it more strongly: Never feed a puffer with you fingers. Always use forceps, tweezers, whatever, but always something not made of human flesh. Puffer can bite and can do serious damage, accidentally or intentionally. Don't train them into a situation where accidents are likely to happen.

Yes I had changed over to forceps after he kept nudging the fingers.. lol wow he latched on to those for a sec.. Even for how small he is.. That latching on the forceps really gave me a sense of how strong he can be.. there was a tiny sharp jerk and then a few sec went by and decided to only bump at them after that.
How often should I go ahead and give him a snail?? And I still feel like im over feeding him. I have taken it to every other day with the brine shrimp/frozen plankton/bloodworms

Make a good part of his diet snails, 50% or more crunchy foods would be minimum really. Beats doing dentistry

Ok so im still not totally sure if im feeding him too much or not enough.. I have been giving him a small brine shrimp everyday but then I discovered you all and changed that to every other day with a little bloodworms or plankton on the off days.. No i changed to a snail every three days and brine shrimp/bloodworms/plankton twice a week so hes deff getting 4 feedings.. if that enough?? i dont feel like i feed him enough.

Feed enough to slightly rounden his tummy on each feed, small immature puffers may require more regular feedings. Brine shrimp have little nutrition, if he is taking other foods stick more with those with brine shrimp as an occasional treat. It is very easy to over feed, if regular suitable food is offered it is very difficult to underfeed.

Should i up the snails to three times a week or four times a week? Do puffers eat the flakes or pellets and how nutritious are those for him?

Timber wrote:Should i up the snails to three times a week or four times a week? Do puffers eat the flakes or pellets and how nutritious are those for him?

Puffers don't eat fish flakes.

You can feed snails for every feeding if you like...Just make sure to feed the snails quality foods.

There are plenty of things a gsp can eat, so don't waste your time on flakes. Also flakes have no crunch.

How many times you feed would depend on the age/size of the puffer.

+1, use your common sense where feeding is concerned, if he looks fat and rounded all the time cut down. If he spends most of the time looking skinny treat for ips and feed a little more. It is a fine balance but you will soon know what is enough, what is too little and what is too much.

He is pretty rotund after feeding.. but he never gets skinny looking.. My snails laid eggs.. so we will have some smaller ones that he can eat.. My guy is about 1 and half inches long.. What would be the best food to feed the snails so that he gets a very good diet?

Feed the snail is spinach and a high quality (Hikari is good) algae waffer and some cuttlebone.

A 1 inch is a juvi I would feed 5-6 days out of the week.

But not so much that he is ready to explode, a slightly rounded tummy is all you should see. Use the snails as an opportunity to get veggies into the diet as stated above, meaty foods are relished by puffers anyway

Nice thank you so much Bertie.. I will grab them spinach when I go in to town tonight..