What do you feed your lurkers? And little more advice

[lilacamy931]

I know the food lists for puffers by now and have a good variety for the non picky puffs but could do with tips on the hairies/lurkers. How often do yours feed? Have you trained them to a particular time like other puffs? I get the general consensus that these two are hungrier in the morning and generally havent been hungry each day (though a one week observation is a small learning curve ). The river shrimp I presumed they ate (gut loaded) as none left now. Had suprising delight that they have eaten defrosted mussel though this mornings feed was pretty raw. What I like to think of as the female was pretty agressive with the fish tongs holding the mussel and just couldnt wait for more..latching on lol. The male was pretty hungry too though "female" being fed first and she seems much more boisterous than the other.

So so far:
Mussel
Worms
River shtimp

Will be adding:
Homebred feeder fish on occasion

To try...?
Snails - I dumped a load in there and cant see any have been eaten though perhaps matter of time
cockles - I didnt think lurkers would go for the shelled variety? I have some chopped to try though generally my puffs dont like this stuff
Bloodworm - my otthers wont even look look at this stuff anymore

I suppose there is prawn but like to try to eep this thiaminase level down that hgets mentioned around the forum, though I do dose with vitamins on most foods.

[Pufferpunk]

My Congo never touched snails. Had a giant apple living with her for over a year.

[RTR]

My Palembang was known to eat the odd smallish red ramshorn snail, but not often. His tank was planted and they were there as workers, not food. He loved (and his staples were) Ghost Shrimp (live, QT'd and gut-loaded), smallish eathworms (home cuiltured), and thawed frozen silversides jiggled on a thread (fun for me ). That fish never took a live fish so far as i know - there was a breeding group (one male and three females) of Cherry barbs in his tank, and neither they nor the visible fry ever disappeared. I suspect that the Ghosts ate some of their barb eggs, unsure if they got any fry. The fish were present to reassure the lurker - he was rather bashful before I added the barbs, much more out-going afterward.

[lilacamy931]

Thanks for that Puffpunk and RTR. Hopefully then some of the snails will breed which would be good. Thanks for the list of foods RTR, they are pretty much the same with mussel though think they are not overally keen. Unsure if I have got myself into a knot, as they both have quickly picked up on the grey tongs I have as for food but attack it! I think it
is the only safe way to feed them both as one is aggressive over food, she was launching around the tank this morning full blown (I just wasnt quick enough with the camera). Thats
interesting with the barb idea...unsure whether good to try with two puffs going against them, then again I have some nice healthy pre-quaranteened barbs that I could just see what happens..Thanks again both makes me feel better about what to and not to feed!

[lilacamy931]

Ok some aggression is developing over the last two days, what I like to think of as the female blows up, charges the other and beats up a bit (no biting just a bit of pushing etc) but obviously not pleasant to poor Fitzgig. This tends to be timed when feeding or thinking they are going to be fed, Ive had to resort to net to gently push Gizmo away and once she is the right distance away retreats to her favourite spot (they have taken up residence at opp ends of tank). I have put ads up to put feelers out to see if anyone interested.
So to ask?

1. Is it good Im acting now rather than later?
2. Are these early signals or would you guess generally one is stronger more dominant?
3. Have put asking price £30 is this reasonable? Im not housing free as last time I tried this on a speciality fish had many who hadnt kept past a goldfish and wanted to add to communities etc.

I would dearly love a fourth tank to keep Gizmo but my partner has limited me to 3 which is fair enough. Only choice would be to divide triangle tank but unsure if this would be a really good idea?

Edit: I can get a video of next type on next feed tomorrow if would help decipher?