The Puffer Forum

They look like gnats.

Now you're just splitting hairs. The packages of bloodworms I buy say MOSQUITO LARVAE right on them. I'm not gonna say that wiki has the facts and is all knowing or all seeing. I was just throwing some examples out there. Check the pics on this link. It says it right on the front of the package.

http://www.sfbb.com/product_popup.asp?c ... worms&id=2

ahhh ok ... got ya.

I wasn't trying to split hairs I was just confused as to what is actually what. I never thought to actually go in depth as to what was in the food I was feeding my fish.

Regardless, it is nice to see that some ppl are concerned about what goes into their fish's bellies

Dwarf puffers are much more friendly if they know you're the source of food. If there's food in the tank all the time, they're less likely to make the connection and beg.

"red mosquito larva" are midge larva. I know what the package says, but it's a misnomer. As mentioned he won't eat frozen. Thanks for the tip on the garlic I will try that.

Dwarf puffers are a bit different than other puffer species when it comes to eating.

When I had a group of these guys in a heavily planted tank, they refused just about any food from me, other than live blackworms. They would not eat frozen/thawed or freeze dried anything, and sometimes would eat New Life Spectrum Small Fish Formula. The rest of the time they foraged their tank for any "bugs" they could find, young snails and the red cherry shrimp colony I had breeding madly. They could catch the shrimp, but it was a big effort.. I think it was a pretty good setup for them.

So what I guess I'm saying is, your puffer isn't that strange, dwarf puffers really do prefer to hunt out their own food if they are in a heavily planted tank, other than live blackworms Sounds like he's pretty normal. I would strongly consider adding a colony of red cherry shrimp though, they are small enough to be a good catch for a dwarf puffer, breed like rabbits, eat algae and are pretty to boot.

Now that the fancy guppies have bred I have about 15 in a Fluval Edge... I think I'm pushing max capacity now... what's the bio-load like on those shrimp?

They are pretty small, you could easily throw 20 or so in there.

The problem you're going to have with the guppies is they aren't going to stop breeding anytime soon. Unless you get rid of all the females you are going to have to make plans to deal with a constantly growing population!