The Puffer Forum

If he can't live with other puffers, he may not tolerate any tank mates at all. My F8s ate all my BBGs & eventually all the millies I had in with them.

Pufferpunk wrote:If he can't live with other puffers, he may not tolerate any tank mates at all. My F8s ate all my BBGs & eventually all the millies I had in with them.

He might but we got through the first 24 hrs with no sign of interest in them or them him. They all have shells that they retreat to at night or whenever. Since they've been in the tank longer and have lots of hiding places I'll give em a chance at coexistence.

24 hours? They can live to their upper teens.

Pufferpunk wrote:24 hours? They can live to their upper teens.

Puffers, yes but I don't think the BBs can , more like a few years. Maybe they'll breed enough to replace themselves but I wouldn't count on fry surviving the puffer. However, they've got a shot since they are a critter with a warning pattern on their bodies (the black and yellow stripes). That often discourages predation by other animals.

LOL, "Warning, warning, don't eat me!"

The warning colours are not relevant to puffers. Everything could be food, if its brightly coloured it is visible food. Puffers are what they are. A taste test is what they use. You may be lucky, you may not

bertie 83 wrote:The warning colours are not relevant to puffers. Everything could be food, if its brightly coloured it is visible food. Puffers are what they are. A taste test is what they use. You may be lucky, you may not

yeah, I know - I was surprised that he showed zero interest in them - he sure shows interest in foods he knows or can intuit though. Zeros right in.

The reason I went with the BBs is after reading of success by others.

bertie 83 wrote:The warning colours are not relevant to puffers. Everything could be food, if its brightly coloured it is visible food. Puffers are what they are. A taste test is what they use. You may be lucky, you may not

Including fingers.

I never saw my F8s attack/eat their tank mates. Sneaky lil devils always did it in the dark!

defool89 wrote:

bertie 83 wrote:The warning colours are not relevant to puffers. Everything could be food, if its brightly coloured it is visible food. Puffers are what they are. A taste test is what they use. You may be lucky, you may not

Including fingers.

After being bitten, yes. Even fingers are food . It took lots oflarge changes to remove my blood from the water

Pufferpunk wrote:I never saw my F8s attack/eat their tank mates. Sneaky lil devils always did it in the dark!

Well if they are night hunters that's good for the BBs - they tend to retreat to their shell caves at night - way too small for the puffer.

The puffer has found his favorite rest spot already - an elevated rock ledge with a large rock overhead near the heater and a plant. He's got a good view but seems to feel protected where he is. Hew's watching me over the top of a stump.

I'll try for some pics soon.

Pufferpunk wrote:I never saw my F8s attack/eat their tank mates. Sneaky lil devils always did it in the dark!

Yep! I'd wake up to dead, shredded tankmates. Never saw any stalking behavior at all. My F8 waited almost a year before picking off her tankmates one by one...

Yael wrote: Maybe they'll breed enough to replace themselves but I wouldn't count on fry surviving the puffer. However, they've got a shot since they are a critter with a warning pattern on their bodies (the black and yellow stripes). That often discourages predation by other animals.

Not sure the pattern pertains to fish. In the fish world there are many that have black and yellow stripes. I have BBGs, panda gara, and want stripped kuhlis, for a few.

IME BBG fry require dedicated feeding and it could never be accomplished without their own tank. I've had them spawn countless times and removed the shell containing eggs 2x in to a 10g for hatching. Progress starting with "First Bites" fry food then moving to hatching brine shrimp and eventually to cutting up bloodworms and cycling the pieces in front of the babies once old enough eat them. But in a main tank way before the fry were big enough to eat, the other BBGs and/or F8 would get them...Or in a small tank, also the filter.


What size tank are we talking, here?

I don't think Nerites breed well in home aquariums, I'm sure when reading about it in the past that they go through a larval phase which needs marine SG and then return to fresh/brackish as juvenile snails. I never got to see mine breed in their skipper tank anyway.

I'd do what the others say and set up a seperate breeder for ponds or ramshorns or just buy frozen cockles and shrimp and suchlike from your LFS, as long as they have shells on they'll be fine. If your feeding lots of shrimp then be sure to give them a varied diet as shrimps - as well as mussels - contain thiaminase which can cause a vitamen B deficiency.

20 gal tank - hopefully I have smart BBs and they'll stick to their shells or outswim the puffer


nerites need brackish to breed - some people move them to full marine but it isn't for the salt, it's for the calcium - they need enough calcium to build their shells - the hardness of a brackish puffer tank should be enough