What to feed puffer fish?

[Ryan Peh]

I thought there are dwarf versions of those kind of puffers? Will they still grow a lot?

[Ingen]

This is the dwarf puffer (http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species...travancoricus/), they are really tiny when you find them at LFS, like tetra size or smaller. Those with glowing like head you see in LFS are the normal size ones which can grow quite large and as mentioned need brackish as they grow older. It was one of the first few fishes I got when I started out thinking they were small and how great it was to keep puffer in freshwater...

[Griffith DreamWalker]

This is the dwarf puffer (http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species...travancoricus/), they are really tiny when you find them at LFS, like tetra size or smaller. Those with glowing like head you see in LFS are the normal size ones which can grow quite large and as mentioned need brackish as they grow older. It was one of the first few fishes I got when I started out thinking they were small and how great it was to keep puffer in freshwater...

True. Majority of puffer fish species are either brackish or saltwater, but the Indian Dwarf Puffer(can also be known as pea puffer, dwarf puffer etc.) are true freshwater species unlike the typical green spotted or figure eight puffers which are all brackish water. Pea puffers grow to around 1 inch and what you see for the dwarf puffer sold in many LFS are their adult sizes. Read up on what you want instead of posting stuff that can be better explained in many other specialized sites for puffer care.

[Ryan Peh]

Yup I was talking about dwarf puffers! So small snails once or twice a week should be fine right?

[Ingen]

Yup I was talking about dwarf puffers! So small snails once or twice a week should be fine right?

Feed whenever possible, just got to make sure they are eaten if not you may have an infestation of pond snails, then again it may not be a bad thing for a pea puffer tank.

[Ryan Peh]

It's sort of a community tank. I'm hoping the fishes will hide before the puffer can nip their fins

[Griffith DreamWalker]

It's sort of a community tank. I'm hoping the fishes will hide before the puffer can nip their fins

I hope you're prepared on how to dispose of your other fishes' remains. :/ All puffers should only be kept in single specimens and species only tanks as they will nip all tank mates, no matter the size. There is no way for your fish to hide as this is a glass cage, not a free part of the ocean/stream/lake where the fish have a chance to hide.

[Ryan Peh]

Wait I thought fin nipping won't kill the fish...?

[TheAquarist]

Fin nipping causes fishes to become more vunerable to infections, oftenly death. However so, my puffers were kind 😂😆

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[Griffith DreamWalker]

Fin nipping causes fishes to become more vunerable to infections, oftenly death. However so, my puffers were kind 😂😆

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Your puffers may be an exception, however other puffers are not and will nip the fish to death. Even a dwarf puffer can kill a goldfish triple its size with continuous nipping. Unless you don't really care about compatibility or the fish's wellfare first, then no one can help your fish.

[Ryan Peh]

Hmmmm alright I guess I won't be getting any puffers...

[jkcs]

I'm desperate for snails for my DP too. any kind soul has them for sale? we can discuss the price n meetup location, preferably east or north east or amk area.

sorry for hijacking this thread.

[Griffith DreamWalker]

I'm desperate for snails for my DP too. any kind soul has them for sale? we can discuss the price n meetup location, preferably east or north east or amk area.

sorry for hijacking this thread.

Bro, like I said- just go to c328. They offer pond, apple and much more. If you want ramshorns just go get some from c328 and breed them. It saves your time & money in the long run.

[zeus888]

I'm desperate for snails for my DP too. any kind soul has them for sale? we can discuss the price n meetup location, preferably east or north east or amk area.

sorry for hijacking this thread.

Hi jkcs, I have MTS, and be pleased to sell them to up keep my aquatic hobby.

Collection at Bishan.

[Ryan Peh]

Hey guys! So I bought 2 Pea Puffers recently and I'm wondering if pea puffers also need to eat snails and if anyone has any snails to give away?

I decided to get pea puffers cuz I read that if the tank is big enough for the pea puffer to set up its territory, it'll be less aggressive towards other fishes and cut down on fin nipping.
I haven't seen my pea puffer dare to even try nipping any of the fishes cuz my fishes are much bigger compared to the pea puffer.

[Urban Aquaria]

You can sometimes buy feeder snails from C328, they sell them in bags which contain an assortment of different snails species... pond snails, ramshorn snails, mts etc. That's a good "starter" pack to start your own snail grow-out tank and generate a steady supply of snails.

Dwarf pea puffers don't necessarily need to eat snails to survive (though it's a good part of their diet)... they can also eat other live foods like tubifex, microfex, daphnia moina etc. Some people manage to train them to eat commercial pellet food (not all will succeed though), but even so they do tend to get out-competed by other fishes in a community tank, so it can be abit of a challenge.

If you do decide to supplement their diet with regular additions of snails into your community tank, do consider that those snails could also establish and start breeding in the tank. Dwarf pea puffers are easy to net out and remove from a tank... on the other-hand, pest snails can be a nightmare to remove once they establish and multiply like crazy.

[Ryan Peh]

Hmmm now I'm thinking about whether I should actually get snails...
I have 1 rainbow shark, 8 angelfish, 2 pea puffer, 5 Neon dwarf Rainbowfish, 6 corydoras and 15 ghost shrimps. Does any of them help if I have a snail infestation?

[Urban Aquaria]

Actually the angelfish and ghost shrimps (those variants that have long pincers) might snack on snails too, so they could also help keep snail populations under control... though that also means additional competition for the dwarf pea puffers.

I guess you can just try and see, if you are okay with keeping snail populations in the tank, they do also contribute by acting as scavengers and algae eaters in the tank eco-system too.

[marcusdeming]

Actually the angelfish and ghost shrimps (those variants that have long pincers) might snack on snails too, so they could also help keep snail populations under control... though that also means additional competition for the dwarf pea puffers.

I guess you can just try and see, if you are okay with keeping snail populations in the tank, they do also contribute by acting as scavengers and algae eaters in the tank eco-system too.

Just curious would the ghost shrimp really feed on snails? Any idea how this looks like and where we will be able to see some

[Urban Aquaria]

Just curious would the ghost shrimp really feed on snails? Any idea how this looks like and where we will be able to see some

Well, ghost shrimps are usually referred to locally as those sold in packets at LFS as feeder shrimps (just check at their live feed section). Those types of shrimps tend to have long pincer arms (macrobrachium species) which can catch smaller prey, even small fishes.

While they can't break adult snail shells which are harder, the baby snails with shells that are still soft/brittle can be crushed by their pincers (if they happen to find them), so those baby snails could be part of their diet. Those shrimps wouldn't just prey exclusively on baby snails though, so you can't really rely on them to eradicate a snail population, as they will scavenge for commercial food pellets and algae too.