Don't know where to put this so it goes here:)

[xWhiteyx]

K bare with me i don't know much about these guys a friend of mine is looking at getting a couple F8 or green spotted for his 20 he was only going to put 2 of either one. But he doesn't want to feed them snails all of the time to grind down there teeth, so i thought what about cuttle fish bone, like the stuff that people give to birds to grind down there teeth. Could we throw a chunk of that stuff in the tank?

Thanks

[Dave]

Unless its food, I don't think the puffers will go for them. Two F8's in a 20 would be fine, but even a single GSP will soon outgrow the 20.

Besides snails, there is a variety of foods that you can feed puffers that will give them that extra crunch needed for proper dental health. Krill, mussels, cockles, shrimp with the shell on, etc, mostly available at the grocery store. Ghost shrmp, if the puffers are interested, also provide some entertainment for the owner as the puffers devise and execute a plan of attack

A varied diet is important for the health of any fish. I recently found this out first-hand. On top of the crunchy foods listed above, I know that blackworms and bloodworms are taken readily. If they do not have the required crunch in their diets, expect to be devling into the world of puffer dentistry... sedating the fish and manually trimming their teeth for them. I think a proper diet is a safer, healthier, and easier way to go.

Edited January 24, 2006 by Dave

[Mighty Prawn]

Feeding snails is easy business.

Buy a bucket, fill with water, drop in a few pond snails. Give it about a month and you'll have an unlimited supply of snails.

There is minimal upkeep, though. Water changes and vacuuming up the waste they leave behind.

But yeah, like Dave said, a puffer won't chew on some cuttle bone to keep its beak down.

-Hideo