The Puffer Forum

I've had my puffer set up for a year now, a 12gal fluval with two Otos, and two female DPs. The Otos do a great job at keeping the live plants free of the light brown algae, but I always end up with some on the ground (which they ignore entirely). I don't want to spend $5 of amano shrimp snacks, as my puffers have an extensive history of snacking on ghost shrimp.

Would a vampire shrimp be an awful idea? I know their filaments are dangerous, but maybe because they are nocturnal they won't be harassed? I'm thinking hard shell = safety
I've tried a large nerite snail, but I think they harassed and nipped it - I ended up moving it out of the tank.

Is it possible you are just overfeeding?

I would try to find a few mature amanos or large cherry shrimp. I have both in my DP tank and they do fine. The puffers harrassed them for a while and eventually gave up. Its also depends on how planted your tank is and how much cover they have. And I'm sure some dp's are more agressive than others. I feed mine black worms, tiny cherry shrimp, and snails and that seems to keep them happy. Mine are almost always full so they have no reason to mess with the larger shrimp as it would be too much effort compared to the other options.

PufferPunk, that is very possible. I do my best, but any bloodworm that has hit the floor of the tank has always been deemed 'no longer a food source' so I end up overfeeding by a couple worms to make sure those bellies are rounded!

I'm never able to find large amanos, but I could try them. I just worry that they will absolutely become a snack; my older female is definitely pretty aggressive.

I feed live blackworms in a feeder cone. Not nearly as messy as tossing worms into a tank.

Good call. I forgot feeder cones existed.

I would just get more otos. They will clean the rocks and gravel too but they like to work on plants and glass first.

My otos did the same until I got more of them. They prefer to clean plants and glass but will do the gravel if there are enough of them.