Snail Treats for Dwrf. Puffer?

[Velvet AciD]

I'm thinking about getting a few (2) Dwarf Puffers. I read that they tend to be fin nippers unless fed often and well.

If I started a small infestation of snails in my tank, would they be sufficent food for the Puffers?

I thought it might be a good idea to have a ready-to-eat food supply for those little buggers. Good idea or no?

 

[depthC]

Ive read about them but dont have experience with them. And ive read they eat snails, so starting your own little colony for them would be smart. Im not sure how long it will last them but you should feed a variety still. So if you fed them some frozen bloodworms once or twice a week to keep a variety that would also be a plus.

- depthC

 

[1979camaro]

the problem with creating a large colony of snails is that the puffers will eat everything they can at one sitting...you would need to have the snails in a different tank and then put them in periodically for the puffers...aside from that, the one i had would eat brine shrimp and some flake too, though not much

Kevin

 

[Antwan]

I have an experience with puffers everyday. They will not nip fins unless the fish is slow, stupid, can't fight back or is dead. In those cases the puffer will simply eat the fish starting with the eyes. Mean little boogers they are. And that is from experience.

 

[420Loach]

my puffer would eat until he exploded if i put that much in his tank! mine is also starting to jump out at food.

 

[Velvet AciD]

Man, I spose they *are* little porkers.

So does anyone know how Dwarf Puffers and Sparkling Gouramis get along?

I was hoping the snails and other small creatures would keep the puffers busy and happy... and slow. Haha.

 

[colesea]

Puffers will eat your gouramis in a heartbeat. And if not eat them, be annoyingly hostile and territorial to the point of chasing the poor things to a stressful death.


As a staple diet, bloodworm and frozen minnow is pretty good, and some will also eat cichlid pellet or flake. But snails seem to be their entire favorite, so as DepthC said, start a colony in a second tank where there are non-snail eatting fish, and then just occassionally pick snails out and give them to the puffers.
~~Colesea

 

[Velvet AciD]

*gasp* Hmm, seems like this puffer idea isn't going too well after all.

See, I think the little buggers are comical. At the moment I have a 55 gallon setup with tons of places to hide, run, quiver in terror, etc.

Would *one* be too much of a buzz-kill to the rest of my fishies? I figure if it thinks it's out classed, it might behave. Or are they more tenatious than that?

 

[Velvet AciD]

Oh.. and do they have a favorite snail-species?

 

[PufferCollector]

Ramshorns Are Probably Favorites Along with Mystery Snails