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Thread: Dwarf puffer diet

  1. #1
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    Dwarf puffer diet

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    Bought a dwarf puffer a few months back ago to help out with my snail infested tank, and when all the snails were gone. I fed it live brine shrimps and live blood worms, and occasionally snails if i passed by a LFS and got some.

    I tried feeding it frozen blood worms but it wouldn't take them at all. Even if i dropped the worms right in front of it, it would just swim up to it .. take a long curious look at them and swim away!

    And the other fishes ate them all up instead.

    Is there anything else to feed it? I tried rearing snails but it didn't excatly work out. And the live blood worms could only last a few days plus LFS doesn't always have it.
    Live to Dive, Dive to live. Dive Junkie.
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    Hi nataku,

    By right, they do eat small live food such as tubifex worms, brine shrimps etc. Perhaps your blood worm and brine shrimp is too large for them. You can try tubifex worm and see the results. It works excellent for my dwarf puffer and other small fish.

    However, they still need to have some crunchies(live snails work best) in their diet to prevent their beaks from growing shut, or else they will lose their appetite and refused feeding. C328 lfs can bring in snails feeders, you can pre-order from them occasionally to feed your dwarf puffer.

    They can tolerate a wide variety of water parameters, but I suggest go for neutral pH should do fine and make sure your tap water is treated from chlorine and chloramine.

    Here's some information for you to read up on:

    A dwarf puffer website: http://www.dwarfpuffers.com

    10 Things to Know About Puffers: Dwarf Puffers(Carinotetraodon travancoricus) by Peter McKane.

    Badman's Tropical Fish.

    How to Care for Your New Dwarf Indian Puffers - Aqualand Info on Carinotetraodon travancoricus



    Regards,
    ZhaN
    Last edited by Quixotic; 11th Apr 2008 at 20:27. Reason: Formatting

  3. #3
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    The funny thing is that the live blood worms and the frozen blood worms are like of the same length and same size. But yet my puffer only gobbles up the live worms and totally ignores the frozen ones.

    I drop snails every 2 weeks, so it's an occasional treat. I'm wondering if it has something against frozen food.
    Live to Dive, Dive to live. Dive Junkie.
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  4. #4
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    Yes, most pufferfish will only accept live food strictly. But my friend has success in "training" his dwarf puffer to accept frozen blood worm.

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    watch out for other fishes in the tank if you are keeping the puffer... puffer like to bite other fishes tail... even bigger than him one... its not advisable to keep puffer unless you have enough "suitable" food for them..

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    Quote Originally Posted by jackwolf View Post
    watch out for other fishes in the tank if you are keeping the puffer... puffer like to bite other fishes tail... even bigger than him one... its not advisable to keep puffer unless you have enough "suitable" food for them..
    hmm, ya i'm aware of that
    But it has been a few months already and he hasn't nipped at anyone's tails yet.

    But still checking now and then, if any signs of tail nipping. It would off to a smaller solo tank.
    Live to Dive, Dive to live. Dive Junkie.
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    I have a similiar problem except that mine only feeds only live tubi and totally ignores snails.
    I placed some pouch snails in his tank and purposely stop feeding him with tubi. 3 days later the snails are starting to lay eggs and actually growing in size. Not one snail casualty.

    Friendly puffer eh?
    Yours Truly, Avan

    I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life... to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

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    If your puffers are accustomed to getting a diet of live worms, they will eventually start to forget the snails as food items. It's so easy to breed snails it's crazy. Pouch snails do great in the "culturing" bit. They breed like rabbits.

    On the crunchy part, puffers can get "exercise" from adult brine shrimp, small glass shrimp, baby cherry shrimp etc. Anything with a hard exoskeleton does fine for keeping the puffer's teeth in shape.

    If you do decide to keep a diet of live tubifex, please wash them several times to get rid of dead worms and gunk. Make sure you remove any odd bits and pieces. These worms usually are collected from a ditch or drain close to any farm if I remember correctly, in particular, chicken farms. They live in these ditches and thrive on the organic waste from these farms.
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    I would recommend to keep them in a species only tank if you could. In my humble opinion, they do a lot better in such a setup. Also, as they grow older, they have a tendency to get more territorial as well.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ah_ZhaN View Post
    However, they still need to have some crunchies(live snails work best) in their diet to prevent their beaks from growing shut, or else they will lose their appetite and refused feeding.
    Surprisingly, based on two years of observation, feeding them exclusively on frozen blood worm, if is of my belief that snails aren't actually necessary. I have never had any problems on overgrown beaks (all six of them), which actually concurs with the general consensus of the website, http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/care1.htm.

    Quote Originally Posted by www.dwarfpuffers.com
    As far as Dwarf Puffers needing snails in their diet to "wear down" their teeth, it has been agreed upon by most in the forum that they are not necessary for this. Dwarf Puffers seem to have no problems at all with overgrown teeth (unlike almost all other puffer species).

  10. #10
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    Currently my dwarf and figure eights have been wolfing down frozen bloodworms the minute it hits the water.

    Guess I started off with the frozen bloodworms with live brine shrimps or snails as an occasional treat. In a way they've been 'trained' I guess:P

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    anyone have had success in feeding non-live food to puffer?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Quixotic View Post
    Surprisingly, based on two years of observation, feeding them exclusively on frozen blood worm, if is of my belief that snails aren't actually necessary. I have never had any problems on overgrown beaks (all six of them), which actually concurs with the general consensus of the website, http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/care1.htm.
    Yup, surprisingly they need not indulge in snails diet. For dwarf puffer, they usually do not developed overgrown beaks easily, but it is still safer to give them something to chew on from time to time. Like what stormhawk has mentioned, other alternatives such as shrimps will work fine, even pouch snails, they tend to "suck" out the flesh without breaking the shell.

  13. #13
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    mine feed on frozen blood worm...

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    i want to feed it dried food! worms STINKS my fridge and my mum will kill me =( help

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    Dried foods? I don't think they adapt easily to dried food. The easiest type of food you can cultivate just to feed them is the pouch snail. Alternatively, just keep breeding cherry shrimp and feed a shrimplet or two every 1-2 days. Should be sufficient to keep your dwarf puffer happy.
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  16. #16
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    Darn...now I have a tank full of pouch snails and my puffer just won't eat them..Think I need to get a few more "non-trained" puffer to devour the snails..
    Yours Truly, Avan

    I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life... to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

    ~ Henry David Thoreau

  17. #17
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    i once had a dwarf puffer that ate freeze-dried bloodworms

  18. #18
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    Malayan shrimps are good puffer food.

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