Dwarf puffer will only eat snails... Is this OK?

Question

I have a dwarf puffer, and have had him for the past three weeks or so. The only thing he will eat are snails -- he snubs all the frozen and flake foods that I've offered. Now, supplying the snails isn't a problem, as my other tank is overrun with hundreds of them. But my question is: is a diet of only snails healthy for him? Or does he need other foods as well?

Answer 1

Snails are perfect food for Puffers. In fact, they require a diet including snails because the hard shells will wear down their beak so it doesn't grow too large, preventing them from eating... If all it will eat is snails, and you can provide the snails, don't worry at all, that is mainly what they eat in the wild as well as the occasional shrimp. Puffers also love live worms like Black Worms and other similar things, they may even eat SMALL crickets. Email me if you have any questions.

Soop Nazi

Answer 2

Try offering him frozen blood worms as well. There are also freeze dried ones available, but puffers usually prefer fresh, live food.
If you have tried this and it didn't work, you may also try to introduce live plants to your tank . Brine shrimp (often called sea monkeys) can also easily be bred in your tank as well and he may like these.
We had a brackish water tank with a puffer and he enjoyed that.