Dwarf Puffer Feeding

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Hodgie
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Dwarf Puffer Feeding

Post by Hodgie »

Hi, I would like to know if I could feed ghost shrimp, feeder guppies, and snails to my dwarf puffer otherwise known as a pea puffer. If so how small or big do they have to be? Thanks
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pufferjw
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Re: Dwarf Puffer Feeding

Post by pufferjw »

Guppies would probably have fins bitten but would not be eaten, since dwarf puffers are too small and do not eat fish anyway. Ghost shrimp are large and hard to catch as well, but if you could get a smaller variety such as cherries then that should work. For snails, I'd just go with the smallest ramshorns that you can find.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Dwarf Puffer Feeding

Post by Pufferpunk »

Frozen (thawed) blackworms are best.
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JayEmpty
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Re: Dwarf Puffer Feeding

Post by JayEmpty »

I have 4 pea puffers in a 20 gallon long tank. They don't care about ghost shrimps, even the small ones. They don't eat any kind of frozen whatever. Believe me, I've tried a lot. The snails, well, they just eat the meat and not the shell, even the crushed ones.

So I guess, every puffer tank is different. Just try what works for yours, coupled with the wisdom and knowledge of the advice given by those who have been here long before us.

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BENNEA32670
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Re: Dwarf Puffer Feeding

Post by BENNEA32670 »

Hi, I'm new to puffers. I just got 2 pea puffers. I have them in my hospital tank medicating at the moment, but am having a hard time feeding them. I made sure there were lots of bladder/pond snails in there of various sizes. There are a couple of ramshorn as well. They seem interested, but I have yet to see them munch. As much work as they are doing to get the snail out I am concerned what else I can feed them. They rejected my thawed frozen blood worms. I don't see them caring about the fresh hatched brine either. I ordered other starter cultures for vinegar eels, white worm, and daphnia. Does anyone know if they will eat these?
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Pufferpunk
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Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
Gender: Female
My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
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Re: Dwarf Puffer Feeding

Post by Pufferpunk »

Other than snails, the ONLY thing my DPs ever touched were live blackworms. Unfortunately the only 2 blackworm farms were destroyed in the CA fires. You can try live brine shrimp but they aren't very nutritious. Try crushing the larger snails before feeding them out.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
Feral
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Re: Dwarf Puffer Feeding

Post by Feral »

In my experience, my DP happily eats blackworms, physa snails, newly hatched ghost and Neocaridina shrimplets, mosquito larvae, and young Armadillidium isopods. Her main staple switches between blackworms and isopods, with the others rotated in as available. She only eats live food (never frozen nor freeze dried nor processed pellets/flakes/etc.). I try to give my feeders the best nutrition I'm able.

I don't like culturing snails in the same tank as the puffer. I like to keep water quality as high as possible so, for me, culturing snails in situ increases pollution because a) living snails add to the bioload and b) the rotting remnants of killed snails adds to the bioload. This is compounded by DP's habit of hunting and killing snails for sport/even when they're not hungry. So for me, I prefer to culture snails separately and add in a few at a time into the plants for hunting and eating and then remove the shells (with any leftover rotting remnants inside) before I feed any more. This way makes a noticeable difference in water quality for me.

I chose physa snails because they're an appropriate size for DPs, they're not nocturnal or burrowing, they have a lot of their bodies outside of the shell, they don't have an operculum to hide behind, they have a thinner shell so DPs can crush the shells of baby physa snails if they want, they're fairly fast-moving which triggers prey drive, they breed pretty quickly, they have a high-ish meat:shell ratio, and they're also interesting and cute and pretty in their own right. So that's my reasoning, though I know other species also get the job done.

I think the Hyalella azteca species of scuds would be an excellent feeder, and I've been meaning to try them myself.

My DP doesn't really bother with critters she deems too small, like ostracods, copepods, and daphnia. But if it's big enough for me to hold it in forceps, then she definitely recognizes it as food and will try a taste because I've already trained her to be fed from forceps, so she has a preconceived rock solid association of forceps with noms. If I wanted, and with proper technique and consistent application, I could probably train her onto some frozen thawed foods (or possibly even re-hydrated freeze dried foods) by exploiting her association with the forceps. And maybe exploiting some mild hunger, like after a single day fast (but with caution!). And also possibly using the water current to simulate the movement of live prey.

If you're persistent and methodical, use the proper technique and apply it consistently I believe most DPs can be trained onto at least a couple of types of frozen thawed foods. But they do have their own tastes, too, definitely, and even if I trained correctly they may just not like a particular food. So it may take trying a selection to find what they think is yummy. I personally haven't tried too hard to train onto frozen thawed with my own DP because live works just fine for us.

So that's my two pennies, if it helps anyone, in having her for almost two years. But I'm no expert.
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