The Puffer Forum

Shell on shrimp. I feed mine larger snails, they will still crunch on it.

Hi..welcome to the forum.
Get snails of any size...as long as they're not huge...and crush them before you offer them, that way he'll still get a workout on his teeth, and when he gets a bit bigger, he'll be able to tackle bigger ones.
There's also stuff you can get from your lfs, like shell-on cockles...thaw them, open them a bit, and he'll scrape his teeth on the inside of the shell.
See the sticky on suggested food to get ideas for food...brine shrimp aren't very nutricious, so are best reserved for a treat.
Feel free to ask more Qs as they arise.
Pami,

Thanks for the advice. What is shell-on cockles. Can i take a snail from outside and crush it a little for my gsp. Where is the suggestion on the food for the puffer i cant find it. What would be some nutrional foods for my gsp. I here some people talking about vitamin water.

stephen

Don't take a snail from outside, as it may have pesticides on from agriculture. Get some from your lfs or breed your own. If you can, though get some shell-on cockles from your lfs..this means that they are whole..in their shell still. Your puff will go mad and in his eating, he will scrape his teeth on the shell, helping to grind his teeth down. There's lots of foods you can get him that'll do that...you can get clams and mussels from a fishmonger..they must be raw and not have any additives - ie uncooked, but you must freeze them for at leat 48 hours beforehand, and they must be thawed out before you put them in the tank.
Pami.

laxratnd:

I suggest you go to "The Puffer Forum Index" here, click on "Library," and then click on "The Care and Feeding of Green Spotted Puffers," by Pufferpunk. There is a wealth of information therein. Also, if you're game to breed/grow your own snails, there is another great article in there, too, about doing that. One of the advantages of growing your own is that you can select them for the feeding of your Puffer when they are still quite small. And in my experience, snail maintenance is ever so much easier than Puffer maintenance!

another question is sand a good bottom for my puffer tank

which is better aragonite or crushed coral??

stephen

I'd go with cc. It will help buffer the water and help keep your pH up.


Kim

do you know how much crushed coral will cover the bottom of a 10 gallon tank. it comes in 15lb bags. thanks

WTF, Im not the author of this thread??!

Don't panic! It's a glitch. I split the thread, and I think the person who wrote the first message that appears on the new split-off section gets named as author automatically.
Fret not...you're not sleep-typing!
Anyway...I've got 10lb of aragonite in my 20 UK long, and waht I've done is to slope it. The dudes' feeding area has a very thin covering, which gradually gets thicker as it spreads out towards the heavily planted area.
I figured that thin substrate where most gunk and potentially hostile bacteria might gather made good sense.
Still, though, the deeper area gets the plants taken out and a good stirring once a week.
Minimum depth is around 2mm, the max is an inch.
Pami.

question should i go with the wisper power filter or the aqua clear filter??

stephen

How many gallons per hour does it filter..that's the thing to look at. I have an Eheim canister which gets through 121 UK gallons per hour, which is six times the volume of the tank, and that does just fine. It also has a venturi effect nozzle, which goes a long way to aerating the water...it creates a lot of disturbance and current, which is another consideration of you're keeping a puffer.
Pami.

I personally would go with a Marinland Bio-Wheel. I know they are the best, I have two.

A 170B for my 20L tank and a 200gph for my 25g tank

hows a marineland bio-wheel 150B for a 10 gallon tank. it filters 150 gallons an hour. Do you know if Aquarium Products Gel-Tek Ultra Cure PX-4 oz is a good parisite medication.

thanks so much

stephen