The Puffer Forum

Hello!
I've just got some dwarf puffers, 4 in a 60 litre tank (it was 5 but one didn't make it through the first 48 hours).
I'm needing some advice on a couple of things

1) How much do I feed my puffers? I'm worried about overfeeding them but then don't want to underfeed them either. When I first got them (3 weeks ago) they were super skinny so I fed them twice a day and now they have fairly round bellys. Should I keep feeding them twice a day or will that be too much? I try to give them as much as they will eat in 5 minutes.

2) Also there is a bit of argy bargy between them. At the moment there are a couple of otos and 4 neon tetras in the tank which the puffers ignore. The tank is heavily planted so they can get away from each other when they feel like it, Should I get some other fish in there to try and distract them from each other or does that sound like a poor strategy.

Thanks very much

Mary

To answer your questions
1. I feed daily. Once so there is enough just to round their bellies.

2. IMO you are overstocked which will account for some of the aggression so adding more fish is not such a good idea. I would keep the remaining puffers in their with the otos but remove the neons.

Thanks for the advice. I'll feed them once daily. I wasn't sure about stocking the tank as people's advice varies so much. I've been trying to work out what my male / female ratio is, as I think I might have a couple of males and that would probably explain their aggression. They tend to swim at each other and stop rather than nipping each other so maybe it's territorial.
Thanks again for your help
mary