puffer fish and snails

Question
We recently bought a fahaka puffer.  we read online that its good to feed them snails and clams for their teeth.  Would i need to quarantine them like any other type of feeder fish?  Also, I understand that if you put a fresh water feeder fish in salt water, any parasites will die because they cant live in salt water.  Does it work the reverse way too?  if i put salt water fish in fresh water, would the lack of salt kill any parasites ect?

If i were to breed snails, what type do i buy to breed/feed my puffer?  how quickly would they breed and how many should i start with?  i have a 5 gallon tank i thought of using to breed food for my puffer.  in pet stores i've seen little tiny snails and i've seen bigger ones, maybe the size of my thumb or more.  are they the same ones, just older?  or completely different type?  

we had a hard time finding out how much to feed our puffer...any ideas how much and how often?  right now he is about 2 to 2 1/2 inches or so including his tail.  the store we got him from gave us some feeder guppies.  but from what i've read online, this should not be their primary food scource.... is that right?  i think he's had about 5-8 little fishies to eat the first week, week and half.  he went a couple days without eating any more fish (about 2-3 left) and so we put in a frozen clam cube we had also bought the day we got him.  he ate it right up.  but i'm worried we will not feed him enough or too much.  any info you have is great, thanks!!

Answer
Dear Michelle,
There shouldn't be any need to quarantine snails or any other live food except for feeder fish themselves. And I'm quite certain that if you put a freshwater fish in salt water for several hours then parasites or diseases -may- die-off from it but there is no guarantee that this would eliminate everything. The same goes fro the other way around, saltwater fish in freshwater, many diseases and such will be killed off but we're not sure to what level.

Breeding snails is very easy. Just try asking your local petstore for ramshorn snails. Or maybe when your puffer gets bigger, maybe mystery snails. You'll just need several to get started. Feed the snails well and they usually reproduce fine on their own.  The smaller snails you see in petstores are probably just the ramshorn snails and the larger ones likely just mystery snails. Try to not feed too much feeder fish to your fahaka puffer. If you can, it would be much better if you could breed your own feeder guppies so you'd know if they had diseases or not. You can also just eliminate feeder fish entirely and just feed your Pufferfish a diet of snails, krill and commercial frozen foods, there are many, many special frozen foods available now that feeder fish should not be needed at all. Anything from Krill to Mysis shrimp ect... I bet your puffer will take anything as long as it's a meaty-type food. When your puffer is larger you could try giving him people shrimp and even things such as broken crab or lobster legs. Clams also. Ghost shrimp are also a good feeding option as is crawfish and crabs. You can also try freeze-dried foods like jumbo Krill. Just be sure to pre-soak all dry food like freeze dried food before giving it to your puffer.
It is recommended that this puffer should be fed once a day while small, decreasing this to just two or three times per week as he grows to his full size. As for the quantity of food, you generally want to feed them just enough so their belly is rounded out but not till it looks like its going to burst! It's pretty hard to starve fish so don't worry. Just use your best judgement.


Here's a great link to an article about snails-

http://www.pufferresources.net/forum/articles_nicks_guide_breeding_snails.php

Well, I really hope this helps!
Best of luck with your new Puffer!
Karen~