This tank had no snails and suddenly one day after at least a YEAR without adding plants to the tank, I start to see these huge pond snails everywhere, about 1/2-3/4 of an inch. I think they are just regular pond snails though, just very large.
Anyway my tank looks good except it's just BRIMMING with snails. I don't hate them really, but it got me to thinking this might be an opportunity to try out a new critter.
First off I saw this info on some site and it seems odd to me, can anyone confirm?
I did not think puffers were schooling fish for starters. I also don't know if it's wishful thinking to believe that you can have a puffer in a tank without actually feeding it anything! But I guess that's possible, if the tank is big enough and has enough snails.Dwarf Pea Puffer For Sale
Carinotetraodon travancoricus
The Dwarf Pea Puffer is the smallest puffer fish growing only to 3/4 of an inch. This fish is not aggressive at all and is a beneficial member to any aquarium as they will feed on small snails, mosquitos, dragonfly larvae and other aquatic bugs.
The Dwarf Pea Puffer is a schooling fish, so it needs to be in a habitat with a large quantity of the same species. Diet can be supplemented with blood worms or live black worms, but typically this fish will do fine feeding on micro organisms found naturally in the tank.
So the real question is, if I want to feed them just snails...what's it going to take?
Will the puffers go hog wild and kill all the snails in one day?
If so, how big of an additional tank would I need to breed enough snails? I have another ten gallon for shrimp I could put snails in, or I could easily set up another 10g for snails alone though it seems like a waste.
How many snails per day does a dwarf puffer need, and what size?
Is there a maximum size after which they won't be able to eat the snails?
How much snail breeding territory would I need for each one of these guys?
If they eat only snails will I still have to clip their choppers?