The Puffer Forum

Admittedly when I get home from work I'm lazy.

In my snail breeding tank I let the cuttle bone float freely. A couple dozen snails are on it at any one time. Instead of hunting snails and being unable to get the right sized ones easily with my large fingers, I just pull the cuttle bone out and dip it in my Fig8's tank until he eats a few.

I was wondering if I should worry about the roughness of the cuttle bone injuring my puffer's mouth. I assumed it wasn't much different than his shelled food, but wanted to double check.

Thanks.

Should be fine.

actually that is a great idea!

That is a really good idea actually, something SAP owners might want to consider

What was that quote? Laziness is the mother of invention?

I thought it was a time saver. I've done it probably 10-15 times. My puffer's mouth looks fine.

edit

I probably should come up with a way to secure it while still being easy to remove. The cuttle bone bouncing around when it goes in the filter output and when I fill the tank with water has crushed a few snails.

I am sorry if this is a stupid question but, what exactly is cuttle bone and what does it do. From what I have heard it is good for calcium for the snails, but why do they actually try and eat it. Is it worth getting? Will it make my snail population explode ? I had heard someone say that it tends to be messy and dirty up the water pretty quickly, is this true?

I have one in my snail tank and it has neither disolved nor does it float and the snails pay absolutely no attention to it.

Its basically a hard brick of calcium, mostly used for birds to keep their beaks worn down.

If you mean these:

http://www.finefeatheredfriends.net/ima ... ebone1.jpg

They are internal skeletons of these:

http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/photos/se ... inalis.jpg

They consist (I believe) of aragonite (and not calcite).

What a great idea

Wish I would have thought of it while I was trying to pick snails off the glass.

Good going!

Mary Anne