Getting new DP soon, question

[nurseshel]

Hi,

I will be getting one DP soon. I am rearranging tanks to make an established 5 gallon open for a DP. It currently has a betta and some nerites in it that will be moving to a different tank and some live plants (java moss and crypts). I am planning on adding more plants prior to the arrival of the DP. So, my question is, for feeding snails, how many should I offer one DP each day? Or do I just put some in that tank and let him eat what he wants when he wants?

I already have a tank with plenty of ramshorn snails that get fed very well (repashy soilent green food and snello) because I have expensive pet snails in that tank (rabbit snails).

Thank you!

Michele

[purplecandle]

Feed a dp 1 snail daily, the size of its eye. Or you could feed a couple thawed blood worms or live black worms

[Welch4]

I would highly recommend the live black worms. I was feeding frozen bloodworms and when I switched to live blackworms they look atonishing. Really clear coloration and very healthy.

[nurseshel]

Thanks everyone My puffer is ordered, now I just have to wait and see when she will be shipped

[nurseshel]

My tiny puff is here!!! I think my son is insisting on the name Puffs. I will try to get a decent picture when she gets settled in. Right now she is still in the bag acclimating with a little bit of new water and the snail the sender sent with her. I guess it was to-go food, but it's half as big as her and cruising around the bag The seller said he sent me a girl (I asked for one) ... so we will see when she gets bigger if she is a girl or not.

[Pufferpunk]

Yay!

[nurseshel]

Thank you everyone for your replies, my DP is doing great. My son is still calling her Puff or Puffie. I'm referring to him/her as Einstein in my head LOL! I asked the person I got her from how he sexed them and he told me that all of the small ones were girls and the bigger ones were boys ... so clearly he had no idea on gender. She was the smallest DP I have ever seen when I got her so I think he sent me the smallest he had. She was a bit underweight and had a shredded tail when I got her. She has gained weight and her tail is almost completely healed now and her color is great. I think she has even grown a little but it might just be that her weight is so much better now. I was a little worried that she wouldn't make it when I got her because she had a little trouble with the black worms at first because even the smallest were so big. Now she has gotten the hang of biting off what she wants and eating it and then going back for the rest of the worm. At first when the worms would struggle she would drop them most of the time. I don't think she will eat frozen yet because she is relying on the movement when she hunts. I have offered small snails but she hasn't figured out how to eat them. I can tell she wants to but she doesn't know what to do with them. She loves hunting in the hornwort in the tank and I have no idea what she finds in there to munch on but maybe some little tank critters or something. There are two endler's fry in the tank that I couldn't catch when I moved my betta, nerites, and trio of endler's out of that tank (I didn't even know there were any in there). So far they are doing fine with Puff but when they get big enough to catch I am planning on moving them. They had to be pretty predator savvy to survive the betta though because that particular betta hunts all of the time just like Puff does.

Oh, a question. I have a pretty powerful in tank filter in that tank. It's a Fluval U3 and filters 155 gph in my 5 gallon tank (it's rated for up to 40 gallons). The filter is the reason I put Puff in this tank and not the tank I moved the Betta and friends to which has a wussy built in filter but is the same size. So it has an intake that is part of the sides of the filter and is covered so it's safe for shrimp, so I don't need to worry about Puff getting sucked into the filter. Right now I have the water flow fairly high for surface agitation, the lower nozzle is turned off so there is not high flow in the middle of the tank, just circulating from the top and then through the tank. It is the only method of gas exchange /aeration for the tank at this time. Puff is dealing with it okay but there are some areas where she does have to work a little to be able to hover. My question is should I turn the flow down and add an air stone, or leave the current as it is since she is doing well? Probably 80% of the tank she has no problem at all and 20% she has to work a little to hover. The tank is tall enough that I feel it either needs the surface agitation from the filter or the air stone.