Feeding dwarf puffers in my community tank
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 5:27 am
Hi,
I recently acquired five dwarf puffers for my community tank. They tend to hide a lot and are well-camouflaged, but when I do see them I love them! They do not seem to squabble among eachother, maybe because they are still young and it is a 400L intense planted aquarium. I have some concerns with the feeding, though. I will quote and article from your site which describes my problem:
Thank you!
Oliver
I recently acquired five dwarf puffers for my community tank. They tend to hide a lot and are well-camouflaged, but when I do see them I love them! They do not seem to squabble among eachother, maybe because they are still young and it is a 400L intense planted aquarium. I have some concerns with the feeding, though. I will quote and article from your site which describes my problem:
What is the solution? How can I provide food to my pufferfish that is not eaten by my other (fast) aquarium inhabitants before it reaches the cute mouth of my pufferfish?Anyone who has kept a Puffer knows that they are not the fastest swimmers in the world. They float around more like a blimp than a torpedo. What does this have to do with keeping them with tankmates? It presents a problem during feeding time. Fish that move much faster than Puffers are often able to consume the majority of the food before Puffers are able to get their share. This is especially true for some of the smaller Puffers, such as C. travancoricus (Dwarf Puffers). To compensate for this inequality in feeding, owners will often overfeed the fish in order to allow the Puffers to get enough to eat. The result is an excessive nutrient load in the aquarium from leftover food rotting in the tank. This situation can lead to algae problems, or even a crash of the tank, and could kill the inhabitants
Thank you!
Oliver