The Puffer Forum

I have a 10" Fahaka Puffer....I been feeding him frozen unpeeled shrimp, frozen blood worm cubes..earthworm and live claims...The claims are the only thing i can find in my area for his teeth...When feeding claims do you just throw the live claim in??? I have been taping the shell with a hammer to break it open a bit...How hard does food have to be to do his teeth any good??? I assume the shrimp doesn't help much...

thoughts

Dan

Hi and welcome to the forum. Clams are a good hard food, breaking them a bit is fine as the puffer will scrape his beak on the shell to remove meat. Snails are a great choice for crunchy food, simply set up a small snail breeding tank and voila

bertie 83 wrote:Hi and welcome to the forum. Clams are a good hard food, breaking them a bit is fine as the puffer will scrape his beak on the shell to remove meat. Snails are a great choice for crunchy food, simply set up a small snail breeding tank and voila

the local LFS only has Apple snails @ 5.00 a pop...Suggestion on where to get breeding stock...??? Can I breed them in my 45 gallon Angel tank (artificial plants only) ..Would the Rhapeal Cat or the Panque Pleco eat them???...

Dan

Mussel, claims, cockles works great. No offense Bertie, I think snails doesn't work anymore for a 10" monster..

Claims from Albertsons are the only thing I can find in my area....No Mussels or cockies to be found....Ideas???

Dan

Seafood availability depends on the local grocery stores. Back in the T. mbu and fahaka days, one of the local grocery stores with a fish department had a photo of the T. mbu posted on the back of one of their displays coolers. I'd pick up frozen broken-off lobster legs, etc. from their "waste" which they would freeze for me rather than throwing away, and I'd pick up whatever shellfish was fresh and bring it home to separate and freeze individually. It was all people food, freesher than the frozen stuff from the LFS. They always asked about the fish and told other customers about their fishy customers...They thought about getting big fish until they learned what size tanks I used. It was less expensive than LFS food and much fresher.

If you're going to feed any live clams, you must either QT for a month or freeze 1st. Also, NEVER feed any foods frozen, it's not good for their digestive system. Best to thaw in warm vitamin water.

Pufferpunk wrote:If you're going to feed any live clams, you must either QT for a month or freeze 1st. Also, NEVER feed any foods frozen, it's not good for their digestive system. Best to thaw in warm vitamin water.

so then I can buy a bunch for claims from the store ans just freeze them???? Should Crab legs be frozen too....I keep seeing vitamin water, what is that????

thanks

Dan

Are there any Asian food stores near you. I buy live snails from a Chinese grocery I get a bag of about 100 (3lbs) 3/4 inch snails for 8 bucks. Even if you have to drive a couple of hours to a bigger city every couple of months. It will make life easier.

Sorry I then freeze them on a tray first so they don't stick together then store them in the freezer in a container.

My family eats shrimp quite frequently, I cut the tails off at the last segment and feed those as they are crunchier and more work than the whole shrimp is.

Maybe order online from a place like this. http://www.farm-2-market.com/

There are probably others I just googled it.

Defrost water should have added fish vitamen in it, like Zoe or Vita-Chem brand.

I breed apple snails in my wifes 55 gal angel tank, I lose some to the angels when babies but get enough to toss them in the mix for my 11"+ fahaka every so often.

Albertsons had frozen crawfish last time I was in....Bought a bunch, he loves them...I got some vita-chem for defrost water....I think I am set...Thanks for the input guys and gals

Dan

I feed my Fahaka both Appelsnails, Ramshornsnails and I also feed him landliving snails that I breed. I dont know if they are available in your country, but its worth to investigate. The snail I´m breeding is named Achantina fulica and is a very large snail, the second biggest in the world. They live in damp soil in big plastic containers and I feed them fresh veggies and greens, dusted with calcium for their shells. They lay a whole lot of eggs and the eggs hatch quickly and the young grow even quicker. This way I always have fresh snails in the right size for my fish, very practical and easy! Appelsnails are banned in my country and Ramshorn is not always cheap, but the Fulica-snails are cheap and extremely easy to keep and breed.

Andrea85 makes some good points. There is no magic in Ramshorn and common pond snails, they are just readily available to USA hobbyists. Hobbyistd in other parts of the world have to find food items that are available to them and preferably are easily and cheaply cultured, and are legal where you live. Just remember that you are what your prey eats, so cultured foods need to be as nutritious as possible, and hopefully their diet is still varied by other foods.

Biff Malawi wrote:Are there any Asian food stores near you. I buy live snails from a Chinese grocery I get a bag of about 100 (3lbs) 3/4 inch snails for 8 bucks. Even if you have to drive a couple of hours to a bigger city every couple of months. It will make life easier.

Sorry I then freeze them on a tray first so they don't stick together then store them in the freezer in a container.

My family eats shrimp quite frequently, I cut the tails off at the last segment and feed those as they are crunchier and more work than the whole shrimp is.

ITA but I've also found restaurant supply merchants have lots of live/fresh sea food and mollusks.My local supermarkets allow me to buy discarded lobster legs for pennies. I drive down to Montreal on a regular basis and shop RS and Asian stores for a variety of food stuffs for the Puffer Crew.