The Puffer Forum

Having purchased my puffers only recently I have noticed something very clearly . There is definitely an alpha (aggressive, dominating) puffer amongst them.
He gets all the food first, its much faster even when full and more aggressive.

Any tips to deal with this?

I have found this to work pretty well.

I feed him first (small meal worms/blood worms)
and then once he has had almost his fill (i dont fill him since he may still steal a bit from the others) I drop brown gravel right by him. He attacks it as if it is a snail for a moment and in that time I can feed the other fish while he is distracted .

Wow, you are smarter than the average puffer! There is always an alpha animal in every "pack".

I do something like that. I feed my DPs with a toothpick. Thumbelina's the dominant one, and if she steals too much of James Bond's food, I drop in a worm on James Bond's side, then put the empty toothpick right in front of Thumbelina. She lunges for it so hard I can feel her hit the toothpick!

James Bond has also figured out that Thumbelina will get so involved in gaurding her food that she won't notice when there are worms drifting in other directions, so he goes for those.

LilGreenPuffer wrote:I do something like that. I feed my DPs with a toothpick. Thumbelina's the dominant one, and if she steals too much of James Bond's food, I drop in a worm on James Bond's side, then put the empty toothpick right in front of Thumbelina. She lunges for it so hard I can feel her hit the toothpick!

James Bond has also figured out that Thumbelina will get so involved in gaurding her food that she won't notice when there are worms drifting in other directions, so he goes for those.

My female's kinda the dominant one too. They don't fight, ever (I love that ) but Bug always gets more food then him.

Lil' Swimz$ wrote:

LilGreenPuffer wrote:I do something like that. I feed my DPs with a toothpick. Thumbelina's the dominant one, and if she steals too much of James Bond's food, I drop in a worm on James Bond's side, then put the empty toothpick right in front of Thumbelina. She lunges for it so hard I can feel her hit the toothpick!

James Bond has also figured out that Thumbelina will get so involved in gaurding her food that she won't notice when there are worms drifting in other directions, so he goes for those.

My female's kinda the dominant one too. They don't fight, ever (I love that ) but Bug always gets more food then him.

yeah i've noticed juliet seems alot more dominant than romeo in my tank. he won't eat until she's started and if they ever both go for the same worm or the same snail he lets her have it and goes to find a different one.

I have the same problem. So i put at least 2 clumps in it. Though This still isnt usually enough. I need to put a few of them in since just one each is never enough

Yeah, I was just worried about overfeeding as the alpha always begs for food and it seems like it would just eat till it was sick.

I think every group of puffers, even just two together, there's going to be one who's more dominant and "in charge" than the other, or others. In my GSP tank, I've got one normal size GSP and that one definitely is the alpha, even though there's 2 MUCH larger puffers in there, they are submissive to that one. I don't think there's much you can do .... but some of you have gotten pretty good with ways of providing food for the other puffers it seems.

schismy007 wrote:I think every group of puffers, even just two together, there's going to be one who's more dominant and "in charge" than the other, or others. In my GSP tank, I've got one normal size GSP and that one definitely is the alpha, even though there's 2 MUCH larger puffers in there, they are submissive to that one. I don't think there's much you can do .... but some of you have gotten pretty good with ways of providing food for the other puffers it seems.

Very similar situation here. the smaller one is the alpha. I just fed them and he got FIVE small mealworms while the others got one and two.
I think one or two would be plenty for once a day considering the size compared to the puffers.
How hard/common is it to overfeed these guys. The alpha looks so chubby!

I am going to stick with bloodworms once the mealworms run out because they are tiny and easy to put dozens in at a time so everyone gets a chance.
If it keeps it up its gonna get its own tank once my 75gal is setup.

I feed all my puffers just once a day, but you'd think more if you could see my GSP's and my F8's, they are all small dirgibles! Before I knew better, I used to feed them all twice a day and they loved it. They'd happily eat the food I offered them in the morning and then again in the evening, maybe that's how they all got their start at being chubby, but even today, with a once a day feeding, they are still very plump (even my corydoras' are plump!).

I love corydoras. Are they particularly long lived fish? My mother had some when I was born and they didnt die till I was 11! They were the small albino type.

I'm not certain what their lifespan is actually, but I kept them when I was a child too. They always remind me of happy fish, always busy and always happy.

I've got two that have been with me since my first tank. (this is about 5 years) I still have them. I got 3 more for them but they won't school. I'm going to keep them even through the switchover into a puffer tank. I love them! They always stay together.

You shouldn't keep them with puffers.

You have several different kinds, right? That's why they won't school. But then, you say that they're always together - that's schooling...

There not with my puffers and the spotted, the original, 5 year old ones (2) school together, the rest which are all albino swim randomly.