Dwarf Crayfish with Dwarf Puffers?

[captotterboy]

Hey everyone.
My 10g is going to have 2-3 dwarf puffers.

Many people/websites say they will not bother adult RCS. Many people/wesbites say they will. So, I am going to try it with 1 or 2. If the RCS get eaten, oh well. Expensive snack and I will look at getting a couple Otos. If they don't get eaten, I may look into adding a few more.

Doing a little research last night I stumbled on Dwarf Crayfish. Anyone know if these are more or less compatible with Dwarf Puffers? In particular I am interested in the Orange and Cajun varieties.

Thanks

 

[Nils]

Yes, I had this combo for a while. Worked perfectly for me. Online they are really expensive, check your LFS first before you order any. The crayfish won't harm the puffers, the puffers are too quick for them. I have a lot of RCS with my 2 puffers and they all live in perfect harmony. Only thing is that the puffers eat all the baby shrimp that the adult shrimp make.

 

[captotterboy]

I am laughing at this question while I am typing it;

When you say "all" the baby shrimp... is there much hope that any will survive in a 10g planted tank? If not, it is no big deal. I will just have to replace them as the shrimp reach their life-span.

Also, is it just RCS that the puffers ignore or will they also ignore other colorful shrimp with similar care requirements?

Thanks Nils. You have helped out on a bunch of my questions.

 

[joeychizzle]

In my own experience, dwarf puffers are complete motherlovers. They attacked everything in sight and nipped everything to death. I had a giant betta, I'm talking 4 inches head to tail, and a pair of puffers annoyed him to death. I eventually threw those puffers into my hamster cage watched them turn into hamster lunch. They would also eat all my betta and shrimp fry and rip limbs off dwarf crays.

 

[captotterboy]

Last week I put the Dwarf Puffers in the tank with some ghost shrimp to test if they would get eaten.
So far so good. I have watched the puffers occasionally curious about the shrimp but most of the time they move on. Every once in a while they will nip a fin or at a leg but nothing I would call predatory. If the ghost shrimp survive another week or two, I think I will put some more expensive inverts in the tank.

 

[Nils]

Last week I put the Dwarf Puffers in the tank with some ghost shrimp to test if they would get eaten.
So far so good. I have watched the puffers occasionally curious about the shrimp but most of the time they move on. Every once in a while they will nip a fin or at a leg but nothing I would call predatory. If the ghost shrimp survive another week or two, I think I will put some more expensive inverts in the tank.

Sounds good! When I say "all baby shrimp", I mean all! They don't let a single one slip. But that's from my own experience in a smaller tank with not a lot of hiding places (except plants) for the babies.

 

[captotterboy]

Haha, aggressive little bastards.

I put some MTS in there for them which is really funny because it means in the morning I am cleaning up the snail corpses from the night's massacre