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Ok so this is my 2nd time having dwarf puffers and i have dropped live snails in and they look at them stay around for a lil bit then swim away... I got the fish yesterday are they still getting used to their new home or should i be worried that they arnt showing intrest in the snails? I have done the same thing with frozen bloodworms...

Sometimes the sheer size of a snail can be offputting to a tiny dwarf puffer, but after they reach maximum size and have settled in they will tackle bigger foods. My dp's always had a fondness for small snails (about 3-5mm across)
and then got to the big ones much later.

If your puffers wont take large snails just yet try live bloodworm as oppose to frozen, which sometimes get a bit of getting used to. Offer the frozen bloodworm frozen, or a few at a time. Dp's are much less likely to attack a clump of dead bloodworm at the aquarium floor than they are a free floating live or dead one, they are stimulated by movement. Even a few small tiny earthworms will do, and live bloodshrimp, although not perfect for nutrition in puffers can be stimulating.Most come round to the idea of dead food in the end, to make them comfortable try offering them whatever they may have been eating at the shop, even if its not nutritionally adequate it will keep them ticking over for a while. A dp will often die in less than 2 weeks without food,becuase of its small size and high metabolic rate, so it has to have eaten something fairly recently.

Be aware that because dp's live such visually oriented lives that your presence tankside may be disturbing to them while they are acclimating, and that although they will get used you in time , you watching them watching their food might be making them more timid than they might otherwise be. Put the food in and leave, you dont have to witness the feeding to know they have fed, their little bellies are most prominant when they have fed, and their stomachs will bulge for hours after a feeding.


Other primary causes of non feeding include tanks that are too bright, insufficient cover , incorrect temperatures and water quality ,and disturbance and vibration near the tank. Obviously if you are trying to cycle a tank with them they wont feed, and will probably die anyway. They are not a suitable fish for cycling.

If your puffers are otherwise feeding and still wont take snails, it may just be the size of the snails, in which case keep the snails , feed them and youll have baby snails in a few weeks.Sometimes its worth checking the filter for baby snails, they often get caught in them. Its possible that they may not eat certain species of snail, but theyre usually not fussy this way.It might just be food recognition issues, they may nver have been offered snails before - in which case injure a snail- (harsh I know) and theyll figure it out.

Hope this helps