The Puffer Forum

I've got some cherry shrimp arriving soon (which I expect will be decimated by Mitch - I ordered them before I decided on an abei ) do I need to quarantine them before they go into the tank? They're not wild caught or anything like that

What are the chances of them surviving? There are a fair number of hiding places in the tank that Mitch can't get into

Just throw them in there. If you have a bunch of hiding spots and keep the puffer well fed it should be fine.

better yet do you have the room for a 10 gal.? if so, put them in there and start raising them. nothing like having your own live food on hand. this way you know that they are not carrying anything harmful and it is way cheeper. Just use a sponge filter, do water changes (watch out for the small shrimp) and feed them flake food and algea wafers (don't need much). mine are prolific breeders and I feed up to 20 small shrimp per week to my puffers.

I'd agree, if you can, breed them yourself. The red cherries are the easiest shrimp to breed. That said, each shrimp wouldn't even be barely a mouthful for a full grown abei.. a bunch loose in the tank could provide some good hunting exercise though!

Myaj wrote:I'd agree, if you can, breed them yourself. The red cherries are the easiest shrimp to breed. That said, each shrimp wouldn't even be barely a mouthful for a full grown abei.. a bunch loose in the tank could provide some good hunting exercise though!

That was what I was hoping to achieve by having them in the main tank - they're too small for a proper meal but he could hunt them for a bit more of an interesting snack now and then. Hopefully they'll breed quick enough!