puffer - the tail nipper

[chia2k]

hi guys , recently bought 3 mini puffer to curb the snail problem in my tank . next thing i knew , i didn't see a single snail ! all was fine till i spotted a few of my tetras have their tails nipped ! then today , i finally saw the culprit . one of the puffer slowly hover around my cory that was perched on top of a big leaf. then wham ! he bit of a chunk of the dorsal fins. man the instant i saw that , i took the net and grab that little bugger out.

is there a reason for this ? how do i curb this problem ?

[joe]

puffers are known to do that once the snails are gone and they have nothing else to eat ... many people juz use 1 or 2 to control the snails and after that take out the puffer and put in a small tank ... maybe u can consider that

[pipsqueak]

You can curb the problem by keeping it well fed. You can ask LFS for more hitchhikers, or feed them with live blood worms. Thats what i've read online. Hope it helps..

[Allen_1971]

chia,

how big is your tank? I use a single puffer to handle my 5ft tank... so for one, you probably have to many puffers. Also, like what someone else said... try feeding it bloodworms... at least it will keep it happier and less likely to nip fins.

[chia2k]

ar finally my keyboard is working. thx for the advice guys . i removed the tail nipper , but left the other 2 alone as they seemed to be well behaved...ok i can't find them in that jungle. but they dun seem to be nipping anyone.can i feed pellets to the puffer?

[Allen_1971]

Puffers are th fussiest fish I know... they won't take flake, granule, pellet... the only thing my puffer will take is bloodworm (and snails of course).