I Picked the Picky Puffers! (DPs)

[Krysta]

Hello! My name is Krysta and although I've referenced this site for every Puffer question, I have finally got my Puffers and have finally officially joined! I have had a 10g cycling for an eternity now, because I've had some bad luck finding the right Puffer. I truly had my heart set on a Ceylon (yes, I was going to get a larger tank!), however, I called every where even within a 4 hour radius and could not find a store carrying them. Then, I finally settled for a F8. I ordered one from LiveAquaria (could not find one locally either!), demanding my boyfriend to order a $40 just so we could reach the minimum limit, for me to get my F8. I was thrilled I was finally getting him. He came, dead, and my boyfriend's Chinese Hi-Fin Shark was still alive. I was so bummed! So, my aquarium was brackish for a day and then I had to return it back to FW when I decided finally to simply go with DPs, which I knew a LPS had.

I got 2, on Friday, and I absolutely love them. I got two females in an attempt to cut down the battling. They are always by eachother's side (yeah, yeah, we'll see how long that lasts!) They have a heavily planted tank with drift wood and many hide outs. I have even have a 2g as a breeding tank for snails. I had bought for them frozen krill, freeze dried spirulina brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, and of course the snails. The only thing they have touched are the blood worms, and even those certainly aren't perking their interest. My adult snails are bigger then them, and the babies are microscopic. So I threw some of the larger babies in there...if they don't get eaten, they'll get larger and hopefully THEN will be. But, I never saw them to begin with so I cannot tell if they have been eaten (gosh, I sure hope so.) I have tried soaking the krill as well as the brine shrimp in garlic and that made no difference.

They nibbled some of the bloodworms, still look plump enough and act like perfectly happy and healthy Puffers, but I'd really like there to be some other option for feeding them. Would live worms be suggested? And with those, what happens with any that get loose in the tank, will the burrow under the substrate and create any problems?

Also, what are people's first hand experience with shrimp and Oto's as tankmates? With my luck the only thing they will actually eat are their shrimpy room-mates :/ I have a bamboo shrimp shelter coming in the mail, and then I intend on getting 2 Cherry Shrimp. As for Oto's, I hear their happier in groups? I don't want to get one if it will be miserable on it's own.

Whew, long intro! But thanks so much for listening.

[Woodbutcher]

Good to see you start posting. I can't answer your questions I have only ever had marine tanks, but there are alooot of freshwater experts on this forum that will help you out.

[Krysta]

Thanks! You've got a lovely Dog Face. They have one at our local Petco in a 10g, which ALWAYS seems to have the "Fish Under Observation - Currently Not For Sale" sign up D: I just want to save that beautiful little fellow but I wouldn't know the first thing to it...nor do I have the 100 gallons they require

[Homer]

First off welcome to the forum, and to answer your question, my personal experience from before with CRS (cherry Red Shrimp) as tankmates never seemed to end well, since the DP's always managed to pick them all off after a given amount of time, although with all that being said, i didn't have a very heavily planted tank either...

but since i got your attention, can i just say one thing about their diet, if possible you really should try and avoid feeding them freeze dried krill, since according to some of the more senior members here it can cause lockjaw in larger species of puffer / predatory fish, so i presume it could effect DP's as well?

Just my 0.2cents...

[Irisis]

Welcome!

I have 2 Armano shrimp in with my DPs and 2 Ottos.

The Armanos are quite a lot bigger than the Cherries and they are surviving well (at the moment anyway! )

Maybe worth getting the bigger shrimp as they are less likely to become a tasty snack?

[lilgirlkat]

welcome to the site!

My DPs LOVE LOVE LOVE live blackworms. They will eat frozen bloodworms, but only if they current takes them and they look alive. Otherwise, those frozen bloodworms just sit there until I scoop them out.. or until something else eats them. That being said, I have found that they will not touch Brine Shrimp.. or any shrimp for that matter. I have ghost shrimp in their tank that have been breeding.. although, now that I think about it, I've seen plenty of preggo ghosties and no babies.. maybe they eat the babies... idk.

As for the snails.. they'll eat snails that are bigger than them.. just not completely. They'll stick their little heads as far as they can in the shells and eat that much. Just make sure to take out the uneaten snails, or you'll have an ammonia spike..

[Myaj]

Welcome!

I've kept dwarf puffers with a breeding colony of red cherry shrimp before, but it was a very well established colony and a VERY heavily planted tank.

They loved live blackworms too...

[Krysta]

Ahh...that's too bad. CRS and Cherries are just so neat I might have to try the Amanos...that seems to be the most reccomended of DP tank mates. I suppose the worst that can happen is they eat them and actually get a good meal for once...

I had never heard that about the freeze dried krill! How bizarre. Does anyone know WHY that actually happens...? And in how many instances it actually does? And JUST with Puffers? That's rather unusual.

welcome to the site!

My DPs LOVE LOVE LOVE live blackworms. They will eat frozen bloodworms, but only if they current takes them and they look alive. Otherwise, those frozen bloodworms just sit there until I scoop them out.. or until something else eats them. That being said, I have found that they will not touch Brine Shrimp.. or any shrimp for that matter. I have ghost shrimp in their tank that have been breeding.. although, now that I think about it, I've seen plenty of preggo ghosties and no babies.. maybe they eat the babies... idk.

As for the snails.. they'll eat snails that are bigger than them.. just not completely. They'll stick their little heads as far as they can in the shells and eat that much. Just make sure to take out the uneaten snails, or you'll have an ammonia spike..

That's actually what I'm going through too! Unfortunately, as soon as those frozen bloodworms land they're suddenly no good anymore. I'll have to try live. What's the best method for feeding live worms? And what happens to any uneaten escapees?

Ehhh I've grown far too attached to my feeder snails x) Aren't the smaller snails better, if they can eat the whole thing then they get that crunch for their teethies?

Also, how often is reccomened for feeding DPs?

Thanks!

[Myaj]

Don't worry about escapee live worms, if there are any, they'll be found eventually. What I always did was use a toothpick to "scoop" a few out of the container and drop them in the tank, just a couple at a time so I could monitor how many the puffers were getting. If you put in too many, they WILL gorge themselves and that's no good.

Dwarf puffers don't seem to have too horribly bad of teeth problems, but smaller snails are certianly a good thing.. or if you feed a larger one, partially crush it in your fingers before dropping it in, so they can get at all the meat.

[LilGreenPuffer]

First off welcome to the forum, and to answer your question, my personal experience from before with CRS (cherry Red Shrimp) as tankmates never seemed to end well, since the DP's always managed to pick them all off after a given amount of time, although with all that being said, i didn't have a very heavily planted tank either...

but since i got your attention, can i just say one thing about their diet, if possible you really should try and avoid feeding them freeze dried krill, since according to some of the more senior members here it can cause lockjaw in larger species of puffer / predatory fish, so i presume it could effect DP's as well?

Just my 0.2cents...

I think krill is actually on the reccomended feeding list for many species - just not all of them.

[lilgirlkat]

my little guys don't leave any wormies behind.. I do the same thing as Myaj... scoop a few out at a time.. I use a chopstick, tho.

Blackworms are fairly easy to keep, too.. Throw em in a container with a little tap water in the fridge and you're good to go. Just change the water every few days.

[Krysta]

Alright, great! I'll certainly try the live bloodworms then. I'm picking some up on Thursday, and the guy I talked to on the phone said he thought that bloodworms and blackworms are the same thing...though I am darn near certain he is mistaken! Would live bloodworms and live snails be enough nutrition for their diet? I just wish they'd let me dish out some variety! And has anyone tried these cones that I have seen around, for the live worms? If so, how well (or not-so-well...) do these work? Annd, about how long will live bloodworms or blackworms keep in the fridge?

Lastly, when I bought a couple of plants last week I stupidly just plopped them right into the aquarium without rinsing them or anything. I was just far too excited. I later notice worms dangling from the leaves of the plant and when I wanted to get them out later they were nowhere to be seen (and this was pre-Puffer days, as well...so they weren't anyone's meal). I am assuming they burrowed into the substrate...whish just disgusts me They can't create too much of a problem, can they? I'm assuming that they were feeder worms from the fish the plants were with...

Thanks again, you guys are a great help.

[LilGreenPuffer]

He is mistaken. Two different things, but either is fine for your fish. Yep, snails and worms will be a great diet. The cones are supposed to be great, but be sure that the holes aren't too big for your worms. I think that the worms keep for a couple of weeks, with frequent water changes.

[Myaj]

Yes, the worms will keep for a few weeks, if you are good about taking care of them. I would keep them in the fridge in a covered container (with airholes, so be careful not to dump them all over!), with just enough water to cover them. Every day I'd dump the container into a fine fish net (like a brine shrimp net), rinse them under cold, filtered water (just used the Brita pitcher in the fridge) to wash away any that died, and put them back in the dish with enough water to cover them again.

If you don't change the water and rinse them, some will die and pollute it and kill the rest.. but when you see how your fish go crazy for them it makes the few seconds of rinsing a day worth it!

[Krysta]

Doesn't sound like too much work! My only issue is that I am not home for 2 1/2 days a week when I leave for school and my parents take care of them during this time...and I don't know how passionate they are about rinising live worms for me :p I may have to just buy few and ofen. I'm pretty sure the feed store down the street carries them.

One LAST question, I promise! The frozen bloodworms that I had bought were the Hikari brand, with the 3x sterilization process and added vitamins. I've read some places that since live worms do not go through this process there is a somewhat high risk of them carrying parasites or other nasty things. What's the valadity in this? Also...are they missing out on much by not getting those added vitamins?