Setting up a dwarf puffer tank - a few questions

[Clare]

Oh well, the RCS aren't even breeding at the moment so that point's kind of moot right now anyway.
I'm really loving these little guys. They come out of the plants to look at me when I stand by the tank now. Maybe they're a little too curious - I accidently siphoned two whilst doing a water change earlier on (they're fine, we fished them out the bucket and popped them back in the tank). They're all eating ok, although being a bit picky about frozen food. I'm all out of live now (and so is our LFS) so they'll have to get used to frozen for now. Is it normal for their bellies to get quite so large when they eat?
I take back what I said about not eating the snails - I looked at the tank this morning and realised that there were hardly any snails left in there so they've obviously been tucking in when I'm not looking. Its a good thing we pulled some of the snails out to set up a breeding tank.

[jeromecarlyoung]

Smaller snails are better for feeding as they can be eaten with less waste. A larger snail tends to get bitten and then dies and rots causing a bit of a stink. I don't think there is a beak isssue with DPs. snails are mainly sucked out of the shell.
If you have no local live food I have used Whiteworms (kept in a tub of compost) for the last 4 months with good effect. They are said to be fatty but my DP seems fine and dandy. I used a feeding cone so less is wasted.

-Jerry

[Clare]

Hi all,
So we've had out guys two weeks now and they've settled in well. My husband is completely enchanted by them and no longer begrudges them having the tank to themselves! They come over to have a look at us everytime we go near the tank and don't bother the otos in there with them at all. We have a small breeding tank set up for snails and there are already plenty of egg clusters visible - just waiting on them to hatch.
The puffers readily take frozen bloodworm off us and our LFS is waiting on some frozen blackworm to come in, so their diet will consist of blackworm, bloodworm and snails. Is there anything else that anyone would recommend to vary their diet a little or will they thrive on just these three things? I really don't want to set up anymore breeding tanks, etc to keep these guys fed. The snail tank is quite enough thankyou!

Thank-you for your help and comments so far.

[Pufferpunk]

Try freeze-dried plankton.