Dwarf Puffers definitely can't be trusted

[Snuffleupagus]

I've had my dp (Mahar Shalal Hashbaz) for a few weeks now, and from the beginning he'd had a ghost shrimp and two red cherry shrimp in the tank with him. I'd picked up the red cherries for a ridiculously high price at a lfs, so I was initially very hesitant about putting them in their with the puffer, since I knew puffers are famous for chomping on their tankmates. I'd read that shrimp are often tolerated, though, and I knew the red cherries wouldn't have a prayer in my main community tank with all the loaches, so I left them in there.

Then I acquired 10 more juvenile cherry red shrimp at a much more reasonable price, and also a 5-gallon tank to house them in, a few days ago. I left the other two in with the dp just in case the new tank didn't work out, to hedge my bets, as it were. Then today I started worrying about the two in with the puffer, so I went to move them, and I couldn't find them anywhere until I looked in the filter. I was initially glad to see them there, because I figured they'd found sanctuary, but then I realized they'd just been swept in there after the puffer slaughtered them. He didn't even eat any of one of them, just killed it for the heck of it. Naturally he left the 10 cent ghost shrimp completely alone, even though it's always harrassing him and fighting over food with him, and focused on the $8 cherry reds. They were really nice adult specimens, too. They kind of remind me of shrimp you get at a restaurant, now that they're lying there dead. Anyway, I just hoped to warn others to be careful with these little beasties. Though so far the enormous ghost shrimp is somehow holding his own in there.

 

[TCTFish]

First and foremost...shrimp are a tasty delicacy for puffers. Dwarfs are fairly small and may not be able to handle a shrimp larger than them. The original three he perhaps left alone because he may have considered it going into their territory. Stranger things have happened. Shrimp stuck in your filter I would safely assume they got suched up in there. One of the shrimps in the photo doesn't look like any teeth had touched it. I don't think it was the puffer that killed them, but the one does look like half his body is missing, so the chance there is slim, but it's there. Any new shrimp being introduced to the puffer have a mediocre chance of surviving especially if they are the right size for the little guy to mack on.

When it comes to puffers of any species and any size should always be considered predatory in a community tank. Usually it doesn't work and they are best kept in a species tank with nothing but their own kind.

 

[Snuffleupagus]

Yeah, like I said, I knew going in that there was a good chance the puffer would chomp the shrimpsters. I was willing to give it a try only because dwarfpuffers.net listed shrimp as something dp's will sometimes tolerate -- kind of hit and miss.

I agree that the one shrimp was definitely chewed on, and the other might not have been. It just seems a little suspicious that it did fine for weeks, and then all of a sudden it dies the same day the dp acquires an intimate knowledge of the pleasures of killing red cherries. I also have seen red cherry shrimp live for days in a filter and seem to like it just fine.

Dwarfs are fairly small and may not be able to handle a shrimp larger than them

Now that is wishful thinking -- from what I gather, dp's can lay the smack down on critters 10 times their size when the mood so strikes them. Maybe this particular ghost shrimp is a mean customer, though. Who knows.

 

[TCTFish]

Dwarfs are fairly small and may not be able to handle a shrimp larger than them

Now that is wishful thinking -- [/quote]

Considering the sizes of shrimp range from less than an inch to 36" (3 feet) that's not all wishful thinking...LOL.

Shrimp are well armed with horny like appendages sticking out from their head and make it difficult for small predators to grab ahold. From experience, it's a lot easier to grab a cherry shrimp by hand than it is a ghost shrimp. I've felt those horny appendages. Also, ghost shrimp are harder for predators to see than the cherry shrimp, which stand out. Regardless of a predators color sight is, red will show up very black if the predator is color blind and can be seen up against constrasting whites and light greys.