lolagurl

what would be the easiest thing to buy/feed my puffer...is there anything...to use as his usual diet...i can add some snails later..and some special stuff but what would be the easiest?

griffin

stuff like bloodworms, blackworms, snails, etc is usually what puffers eat. an occasional part of a pea is what some people feed, but i've never used that. i've fed the worms and snails. they usually prefer live, but it's a good idea to train them to eat frozen as well though. hope that helps

lolagurl

yes thankyou

COBettaCouple

You could check the pet stores and see if they have plants with snails or snail eggs and if you're willing to chance it, bring one home to give your puffer a food supply. They could be more than his appetite could take though and you might put the plant in a container and feed the snails veggies, then pull some of them out of their water when you want some for your puffer to eat.

bbfeckawitts

If you ask your petstore they will probably give you "pest" snails free. Some puffers eat only bloodworms, some only snails, but most eat both.

lolagurl

alright and they dont eat dried bloodworms right?
he's so small like 1/2 inch so i just hope the bloodworms live or freezed wont be too big for him

bbfeckawitts

Get the Hikari frozen bloodworms, they are high-quality and small enough for him.
Brianna

lolagurl

ok and what would be the best snails...when are you getting your puffer brianna?
ive been sick the last few days so i have a lot of time to enjoy my new guy

griffin

pond snails, or ramshorns. they're usually both considered "pest" snails.

as for worms, the hikari is good. i also fed live blackworms. just make sure not to over feed! they're pigs! :P

Radcliffe

Yes, pest snails are perfect for puffers. Be careful though, I learned the hard way that they will eat every snail in sight, not just the small ones. Now I have snails growing in another tank, to be fed to them slowly, lol. Little piggies!

--R, happy keeper of green spotted puffers

griffin

hehe, not only will they eat every snail in sight, they'll beg for more! :P

lolagurl

hes tiny..are you sure he could attack and kill a sail hes 1/2 inch

Luniyn

They have their ways to get at the snail. Read this page (and this site for that matter if you haven't already). I'm jealous, I've been planning a dwarf puffer tank for a few weeks now and just need to get through a few money humps here (got a kids birthday to pay for next week) and I'll be starting it. I can't wait!

bbfeckawitts

I am getting mine late july/early august.
they suck the snails out of their shells to eat them.
Brianna

COBettaCouple

yea, those little puffers are resourceful at getting their snails. Radcliffe's suggestion of a seperate tank to grow the snails in should ensure a continuous dinner supply for a hungry puffer.

armadillo

Aren't you worried to give them parasites if you feed them live food? Live food seems a more wholesome thing to feed a fish, but I really am worried about parasites if I get a fish that requires live food.

COBettaCouple

i think if you grow the live food in a controlled, clean environment you minimize the risk of that.

armadillo

So you have a tank with artemia and the likes?

COBettaCouple

i have 2 boxes that i'm using to grow the atermia cysts in, then i harvest a portion of the BBS 2x a day.

armadillo

Small boxes, right? I mean, we're not talking sell your house and get yet another tank, are we?

I heard some toy stores sell artemia cysts as sea monkeys. Would these do? Would that be unnecessarily expensive and if so, where did you get the cysts yourself? What sort of maintenance/feeding is needed to grow them?

Is it a lot of work?

COBettaCouple

yea, just those little hatchery boxes you can buy at the store. i buy tubes of the cysts from the website we get our stuff from.. through experiments, i think i've got the proper amount to use per hatching of 1/2 tsp eggs, 1 tbsp aquarium salt, nearly 4c of treated tap water. i just put that in and stir it up, then use air stones to keep them moving around. once they start hatching, then i just will 2x a day turn off the air and wait 10 minutes for things to settle, then put the collection container over the hole in the box and their instinct to go towards light causes them to swim into the container. once i collect enough for the fry to eat, i take the collection container and pour it into their tank and start the air stones running again.

i'm currently running 2 as i want to have 'backup' in case of problems, spills, etc.. as my experiments proceed, i'll figure out how long each batch of BBS will feed the fry for and perhaps not always run 2 hatcheries - to extend the supply of artemia cysts.

armadillo

Something like this? http://www.aquariumwinkel.nl/. From the menu list on the left, click on artemia, then look at the second to last item on that page ('kweekschaal'), the blue breeding box. Would that be a rip off and a basic tupperware would do?

I am also surprised at the look of the box the eggs come in. Why are they air tight tins? Are the eggs in a liquid medium? I thought they were dry cysts kept in basically airtight packaging.

Oh, and what fish require/like artermia? Would it be good for molly adults, fry, and otos?

Do you know what? Starting a thread on this.