Size doesn't matter for a DP

[TheStig]

A snail is a snail is a snail... to a DP.

Noticed a little algae on my driftwood, did a little reading on non-Puffer sites. Figured what harm could there be throwing my second largest Ramshorn from my breeding tank into the main one to get started on it before it became a real issue. Now, this snail is big. He grew to be bigger than my thumbnail and is built like a tank. I figured the DPs wouldn't be able to do any significant damage.

Monitored the DPs, made sure my snail didn't need rescuing. They pecked on its shell a couple of times, then got bored. After an hour, I left to run errands. I wasn't gone for more than an hour and when I came back, I couldn't find my snail. Looked around, and to my dismay, saw the poor thing shriveled up in the gravel, under a knob of spiderwood where the DPs can't reach him! I killed him, I thought, and felt horrible. I gently removed him, and put him in a container that had some tank water.

This is what broke my heart. I saw him blow bubbles, and a little movement. I was so relieved, put him back in his tank. His friends immediately swarmed him, caressing him and soothing him... that's what it looked like. So touching! But the poor snail was so traumatized that he sucked back into his shell, so I removed him and put him back in that container, and gave him some peas, so he could recover. He is now back with his buddies.

I initially thought the DPs fooled me good, but I think with me coming and going, and occasionally looking, they figured if they begged enough, I would feed them. So why bother with a prey that needed effort, right? But once I was gone, along with their soup kitchen, they went to work. Poor snail. I threw him into a shark tank! Glad he survived.

I thought they didn't care for snails bigger than their eyeballs, but guess I was dead wrong.

[Pufferpunk]

I bet he's got PTSD now.

[moh]

Your signature says you have otos, they dont help.keep the algea at bay?

[TheStig]

I got the otos after the snail was unsuccessful. They made short work on the algae n cleaned my tank out, so I need to supplement them. Great little fish.

[Welch4]

I put up a recent post about moving an emaciated dp into my breeding tank. Before I did I put all of the smaller snails out as food. Withing a week I only have two snails left. I keep a hard rule an thing in my puffers tank is food regardless of what it is. Any loss due to puffering in acceptable.

[Hillehaus]

Pretty much. Size doesn't matter. They either slurp them out of their shells, or eat what bites they can harassing them until they eventually die.