How can I keep my DP from overeating?

[Snytbaggen]

Since a week ago I have three dwarf puffers in my tank. When it's feeding time one of them always overeats, one eats normally and the third one is more interested in chasing away the others from the food rather than eating, so he doesn't eat much at all. It's not that he doesn't eat, but he doesn't share food at all and when he chases one puffer away the other swims in and starts eating. I'm a bit worried, both about the non-eating puffer and the overeater. Is there anything I can do to make the food distribution more even short of separating the puffers? Oh, and I've only seen some aggression at feeding time, otherwise they get along really well.

[bertie 83]

All you can do is spread out the food and hope, aggro at feeding time is common with dps.

[puffykid]

Ya, trying to equally feed dps is a task within itself. You can try to not feed for a few days, to get the one that isn't eating as much hungrier so he/she will compete for the food more, it maybe that the one that isn't eating as is getting picked on by the others or you haven't found their favorite food yet do you got some snails you can drop in for them to hunt? That can spread out the food more evenly. Another thing that may help is to throw in a bit of whatever your feeding first to distract the aggressive ones then try and get the third ones attention and draw him to a different corner before dropping in more food.

[Snytbaggen]

All you can do is spread out the food and hope, aggro at feeding time is common with dps.

Thanks, I tried that today and it seemed to work pretty well.

Ya, trying to equally feed dps is a task within itself. You can try to not feed for a few days, to get the one that isn't eating as much hungrier so he/she will compete for the food more, it maybe that the one that isn't eating as is getting picked on by the others or you haven't found their favorite food yet do you got some snails you can drop in for them to hunt? That can spread out the food more evenly. Another thing that may help is to throw in a bit of whatever your feeding first to distract the aggressive ones then try and get the third ones attention and draw him to a different corner before dropping in more food.

The thing is, it's the aggressive, competitive one that doesn't eat. It goes like this: Puffer A (the aggressive one) sees puffer B and C eating. He goes in and chases puffer B away. He then returns to see puffer C eating and chases him away. In the meantime, puffer B returns and continues eating. When puffer A returns he sees puffer B, chases him away, puffer C returns, A chases him away, and so on. It's actually kind of amusing to see, but I'm a bit worried he might not get enough food. It also doesn't help that puffer A pays the least attention of what happens outside the tank of the three, and the food-happy puffer is very attentive of what happens outside.

[RTR]

You can also increase the density of the plantings(real or artificial), including being sure that a feeding spot near the right front corner is not in view from a feeding site at the front left corner. Out of sight is out of mind for most puffers, including dps.