The Puffer Forum

Just wondering what is considered "too big" for a fully grown pea puffer? I have ramshorns in a seperate tank, along with some other things, and some are teeny, while others are half the size of my puffer! I hear about giving them one the size of their eye (like most fish), but this didn't seem like much for her. I also hear about people crushing the shells for larger snails so they can eat the whole thing, instead of leaving leftovers in the tank. I did try a medium sized one, probably 2-3x the size of her eye and it didn't make her stomach change at all (NOT my goal btw). She also sucked the whole thing out of the shell. I was kind of impressed. What is too much food btw? I have only seen her stomach blow up a bit after my first feeding of live black worms.

Just feed until a slightly rounded stomach is achieved, the size of snails for a dp is not too important as long as you promptly remove leftovers

DPs are given home-reared snails primarily for their nutritional value, not so much if at all for incisor plate grinding down as is the case for the rest of the puffers where incisor plate wear and nutrition are equally important. DPs incisor plates are so soft as to never or only very rarely ever to have overgrowth problems. DPs do not have the incisor strength to crush any but the smallest snails. They are (like loaches), "biters and slurpers" rather than "crushers" as are the rest of the family. Just feed to a lightly rounded belly as bertie suggested above.

Crushing snails prior to feeding does allow very small puffers such as DPs or other tiny puffers to get to all of the snail, but does make cleaning the shell pieces a bit of a chore. After about five to ten years of occupancy by puffer(s), my tanks do show a non-trivial layer of tiny shell fragments at the top of the substrate pulled up into up into the Python vacuum tube. Those fragments are less dense than the rest of the substrate, so appear at top. If the tank is reset, they are removed by hand-washing in buckets, but do not affect the water chemistry enough to be an issue, so I do not worry about them. Unbroken shells or large fragments could harbor enough fine debrs to be a pollution issue, so should be removed routinely.

HTH

thanks. lol, I have noticed what appears to be a mini snail graveyard sometimes when I am vacuuming. Makes me wonder how long some of these snails managed to survive before she got to them. Like yourself, I remove the bigger stuff and the small leftover buried pieces don't affect the water parameters at all.

I crush my rams with forcepts in the ram tank to shake off the shell. Then I cup and wiggle the meat in the DP tank to get their attention and drop it for eager consumption.

I keep black khuhlis in the same tank and they looove what isn't eaten by the DPs.

I have a handful of pygmy cories in with mine. They do the same thing. Very fun to watch too. It's an entertaining tank.

In general, Cory cats and most puffers do not share tank space well - the Cory's fin get eaten. But I have never co-housed any Cory with DPs, so have no experience there.

I just got 4 Vampire otos, from the fish swap. I was informed otos do well with DPs. Not sure why they do better than cories. I hope so...

I have also Heard that otos do well with DPs. At least you know they won't have to compete for food. Need to check out the vampire versions. What's the deal with those?! Must be a nickname that stuck. They kind of look like zebra otos. Keep us updated.

As far as the cories. The other forum I'm on has had a few people have success with this combo. I'm not sure I would attempt it with other cories. Pygmies are so tiny so don't have much finage out there for the picking, and also swim fairly well. Not the penguin type of wobbling that most cories do, which is fun to watch though. I wasn't going to try it till I went to get another DP and they were out, so figured I'd get a few and see if it'd be successful like the others.
Like any fish, every one has their own personality. Mine is a gentle fatty. Maybe cause she's a female. Maybe cause the tank is heavily planted. Don't know. I'll have to post a picture of the tank. I also keep her well fed. Long story short, I had to get rid of some other tank inhabitants awhile ago and thought as a glorious feast I'd throw a leftover amano shrimp in with the puffer. Well, maybe it's because the shrimp is almost twice the size of my DP, they leave each other alone. I've even caught them eating next to each other. Crazy right?! I also tried to put little RCS in the tank for food. Now they are fully grown, bright red (really blend in), and occasionally breeding. It's NOT a Usual tank situation. But I'm loving it.

I also purchased 4 gold otos at the swap, along with several plecos I don't have, to add to my large collection.

Ottos would be far less "bothersome" than even small cories. Cories are always on the move otos are also active but spend alot of time attached to leaves and glass almost invisible to dps I think.

It really depends on the individual dp, some are just murderers. Others will accept almost any tank mate. However even the calmest puffer could turn at any moment, don't put anything in you don't want to lose

My little eel loaches have now lived with various dps over about 4-5 years now and they're fine.

DPs are are the smallest known puffer, so offer much less mass and incisor strength for nibbling. But they are and remain carnivores. Never trust a carnivore with only periodically active vegetarians. Sometimes folk get away with it, but sooner or later there can be issues. Predators are predators, lions and tigers are not pussycats.

Small cory cats species do spend a lot more time in the water column than their larger kin. Most DPs prefer to attack non-moving prey. But that is just a reference, not a rule. I have kept DPs with ottos, but only after the heavily planted DP tank was "mature" - at least 3 month and more likely six or more months old. If the DPs are potential or active breeders, don't try the ottos - DP males get quite territorial. Otocinclus cats should never be housed in immature tanks anyway, and do best in water with sufficient ditom populations to provide them their favorite grazing material, diatom algae.

HTH