Spotted Congo Puffer (Tetraodon Schoutedeni) Journal

[Chris]

What kind of snails are you feeding?

I like feeding my Green Spotted Puffer a mixture of bite-sized snails and adult bladder/pond/ramshorn/MTS snails. The bite-sized ones are small and brittle, but will get completely crushed and chewed. The larger ones will get the meat scraped out, but my puffers have never really trimmed their beak on larger snails. Occasionally they'll break through the back of the snail, but that's rare IME.

[Landon]

 

@Chris I'm feeding a mixture of ramshorn/bladder/pond snails. He does well with the small ones, but I'm not sure he's really scraping all the meat out of the big ones... And any chewing on the shell is pretty minimal around the outer edge. Maybe he'll get better at it when he's bigger? He's still about 2.5" from nose to tail.

[Chris]

I think he'll probably get better at it. 

If you think it's causing your cyano, start feeding only small snails (the ones that he can crush) to keep his beak trimmed, and then supplement that with frozen foods to make sure he gets his nutrition. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

Maybe also pick up all the unfinished snails which he has no intention of eating.

On 10/26/2022 at 3:28 AM, Landon said:

 

@Chris I'm feeding a mixture of ramshorn/bladder/pond snails. He does well with the small ones, but I'm not sure he's really scraping all the meat out of the big ones... And any chewing on the shell is pretty minimal around the outer edge. Maybe he'll get better at it when he's bigger? He's still about 2.5" from nose to tail.

Forum Photobomb reflecting off the glass!

[Snjchris]

The most recent picture of your puffer really looks like a girl with how the belly is shaped. If it keeps growing and the hips keep on getting wider, you might really have yourself a gal. 

I would pick up dead but uneaten/unfinished snails. Those will rot in your water (they stink a bunch when you pick them out). I remove them on a weekly basis.

With sand, it might be easy to use a modified sieve like this one to get out the dead snails?  https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkDvCVajufS/?igshid=MDE2OWE1N2Q=

I never tried sand with my puffs and plan on doing for my new tank. Just thought his trick is really cool! 

[Landon]

On 10/26/2022 at 8:56 AM, Snjchris said:

The most recent picture of your puffer really looks like a girl with how the belly is shaped. If it keeps growing and the hips keep on getting wider, you might really have yourself a gal. 

This is great news! Hopefully she will keep the peace a little better than a male might hahah. I do agree she is suddenly looking wider. 

On 10/26/2022 at 8:56 AM, Snjchris said:

With sand, it might be easy to use a modified sieve like this one to get out the dead snails?  https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkDvCVajufS/?igshid=MDE2OWE1N2Q=

I love this idea. I do worry about getting nibbled on with my hand that deep in the tank though, so maybe something like this with a longer handle... 

[Snjchris]

On 10/26/2022 at 10:07 AM, Landon said:

This is great news! Hopefully she will keep the peace a little better than a male might hahah. I do agree she is suddenly looking wider. 

I love this idea. I do worry about getting nibbled on with my hand that deep in the tank though, so maybe something like this with a longer handle... 

I got my fingers chomped on once or twice by my gal when I was holding a live shrimp to feed her. Felt like human teeth tbh. Didn't break my skin. Now I use tweezers to feed those live shrimps 

I haven't had any accidents yet during my snail-clearing sessions. My puffs like to swim around my arm when I am cleaning, for potential treats xD

[Chris]

On 10/26/2022 at 1:07 PM, Landon said:

This is great news! Hopefully she will keep the peace a little better than a male might hahah. I do agree she is suddenly looking wider. 

I love this idea. I do worry about getting nibbled on with my hand that deep in the tank though, so maybe something like this with a longer handle... 

I've gotten nommed on a few times by my puffers! My GSPs have always been the worst for it... I once had a group of SAPs that would swarm my hand and eat the air bubbles off my arm hair 🤣

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/27/2022 at 4:26 PM, Chris said:

I've gotten nommed on a few times by my puffers! My GSPs have always been the worst for it... I once had a group of SAPs that would swarm my hand and eat the air bubbles off my arm hair 🤣

I do kind of want to get an aggressive fish, who’s aggressive towards me. It would just be a kind of fun thing, like a dog play-fighting but knowing that you’re the boss 😏.

[Chris]

On 10/27/2022 at 11:10 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

I do kind of want to get an aggressive fish, who’s aggressive towards me. It would just be a kind of fun thing, like a dog play-fighting but knowing that you’re the boss 😏.

Get a flowerhorn... Mine tries to kill me through the glass!

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/27/2022 at 5:33 PM, Chris said:

Mine tries to kill me through the glass!

I can see my angelfish holding a sign: “plz no flower horn boss, or me is toast”!