Transitioning S.A.Puffer to live snails

[DNDFish]

About 6 weeks ago I purchased a South American puffer from my LFS. After letting her spend three weeks in quarantine, and treating with the med trio I transferred her to a 20 gallon long with a small school of Venezuelan corydoras. At the same time I tried to migrate her diet from frozen bloodworms to pond snails that grow in abundance in another tank in my fish room while feeding the corydoras bottom sinking tablets.

Over time I've seen her belly go from full and round to sunken in and her overall demeanor is listless. I would once or twice a week add a cube of frozen bloodworms to the tank for both her and the corys delight and she eagerly eats those but I can't recall seeing her actually eat any of the snails. The corydoras remain active, and ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in that tank are 0/0/20 according to the Co-op test strips I've used.

I suspect that she hasn't made the transition to eating snails as I can discern no signs of illness, water quality issues, and she's been through a full med trio quarantine with additional dosing to ensure she didn't have worms. Has anyone had success in transitioning a South American puffer from frozen foods to a live snail diet?

[Patrick_G]

I have a Green spotted puffer, not a SA but I have some ideas. First I’d try crushing the snails. That might be more attractive and it’ll still give the puffer something crunchy for teeth trimming. I’d also just continue fasting the little puff, eventually it’ll get hungry enough and eat the snails. 

Edited December 25, 2022 by Patrick_G

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Could soak the snails in blood worm juice, I had a red eye/red-tail that liked his snails crushed so I think @Patrick_Ghas a point. I know Dans Fish has a video about making food for puffers - he puts buts of shells in the Repashy type mix to help their teeth.