Oyster shells and feeding

[drakebuffie]

I bought some fresh oysters to feed my puffer. Do I need to take the shells out of the tank after puffer has finished his meal?

 

[Timfish]

I'd say it's mostly a question of aesthetics. If you leave them in endoliths and biofilms will colonize the shells pretty quickly doing their stuff to maintain a reef system.

 

[AlexG]

I feed lots of clams to my puffer and I have been lazy about taking the shells out. The shells can potentially contain some phosphates and other trace elements from where they were sourced which can be a good or bad thing. I would say other than shells being a detritus trap there is minimal concern with leaving a few in the aquarium.

 

[\m/reefsnmetal\m/]

I have 2 years of shell accumulation in my tank. No issues so far. I just assumed it would be considered additional substrate.

 

[Bucs20fan]

I feed my puffer clams on the half shell and I clean them out once a week. No issues with water quality just aesthetics.