Keeping That Beak Trim

[*Diego*]

Hi all,

I have 2 juvenile GSPs. I've had them for just over 2 months, and both are impeccably healthy and full of personality.
I've been feeding them small snails 2 times a week to keep their beaks trim. I work at a small, family owned pet store, and one of our empty tanks lately had a snail explosion, which is where I've been taking them from.

However, the snail population is WAY down lately, and I'm getting quite paranoid that we're going to run out of snails.

I've been reading about feeding puffs fiddler crabs, prawns, other hard-shelled critters, etc...but the thing I'm wondering - does one simply go to the grocery store and ask for hard shelled shrimp? A lot of the the food items appear to be things you can get from the grocery store.

Is this what most people do?

Thanks, all!

 

[BiffMalawi]

Any food quality stuff from store should be OK. Just make sure it hasn't been treated or seasoned in any way. I use freeze dried krill. Krill dried or frozen comes with shell on. I feed blood worms as well and I don't defrost, so they have to chew on the hard cubes. Some people are wary about using the worms without rinsing(not sure why, contamination?), so you'll have to decide about that.

 

[AMS]

Hi all,

I have 2 juvenile GSPs. I've had them for just over 2 months, and both are impeccably healthy and full of personality.
I've been feeding them small snails 2 times a week to keep their beaks trim. I work at a small, family owned pet store, and one of our empty tanks lately had a snail explosion, which is where I've been taking them from.

However, the snail population is WAY down lately, and I'm getting quite paranoid that we're going to run out of snails.

I've been reading about feeding puffs fiddler crabs, prawns, other hard-shelled critters, etc...but the thing I'm wondering - does one simply go to the grocery store and ask for hard shelled shrimp? A lot of the the food items appear to be things you can get from the grocery store.

Is this what most people do?

Thanks, all!

Yes, you can go the grocery store and get shell-on shrimp, frozen is the cheapest. But the biggest problem with this is the adverse effects they may cause. Check the ingredients label before you buy, if there is anything listed besides the shrimp (such as salt, preservatives, anything you can't pronounce) do not buy it. All natural or even better, organic, foods from your grocery store is your safest bet. Personally I prefer to use frozen fish foods to help grind down puffer teeth.

Frozen fish foods such as krill, mysis shrimp, whole prawns (fish king and pro-salt are the only ones who make whole frozen prawns if I remember correctly) cockle in shell, etc. Mysis shrimp is hard, but is probably best for juveniles as it may not be hard enough for adults. Cockle is shell has been the best food for grinding down puffer teeth in my experience. Also, live foods such as fiddler crabs, shrimp, snails, and crayfish grind down teeth readily. As for foods in your grocery store seafoods such as mussels and crabs legs also grind down puffer teeth, just be sure to check the ingredients label.

 

[MoMa]

I use a small 5 gallon tank, slightly overfed, for breeding snails.
Throw in a live plant or two. Place a fine mesh over the filter intake as to not suck up all the smaller snails.
Small heater.

Two weeks to a month and WHAMMO - snail explosion!

cheers.
MoMa