New Dwarf Puffer

[poppab02]

Ok, so I already owned a leopard puffer but today I went out and impulse bought a dwarf puffer. I know, I know, shame on me. Anyways, who out there owns one? The little guy is maybe 1/8 to 1/4 inch right now and I have no idea exactly what to feed him. Can he eat Bloodworms yet, what about snails? I don't trust the employees at the lfs, they always seem to be clueless, I've met only one in my life who had any idea what they were doing. They even told me that it would be ok to put him in with any other semi agressive fish, I said including a 2 1/2 inch loach, 2 inch tiger barb, 4 inch blue channel catfish, a regular puffer, and a 5 inch silver fin shark? The employee said, "sure, they are all semi agressive" that told me enough about her. So therefore I am turning to the knowledgable members of this board for help.
When do they start nipping fins? Can larger community fish survive with him/her? Is it really a good idea to ever put them in with the larger semi-agressives, I mean the little guy only grows to about 1 inch right? What's an approximate gallon/inch ratio they need? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[flipz]

I'm sure you know this already, but your silver fin would snatch that right up. and it will inevitably kill him/her since puffers are poisonous. i can't offer much help since ive only bought GSP's, and both the ones i have owned were purchased at around 1.5 to 2 inches.

but if your silver fin is anything like mine, if it fits in her mouth, it's eaten! lol. hopefully someone can give you more advice than i have!

-brent

 

[savga]

I have a few dwarf puffers in a 10 gal and they eat frozen bloodworms mostly. They also enjoy freeze-dried bloodworms and the occasional small snail from my large tank. I have tried other frozen foods but they don't seem interested. I have fed them a few live mosquito larvae which they loved. I'm sure they would enjoy more live food but I don't have a good supply of it. They don't seem to bother the otocinclus sharing their tank. They are really cute. They sit at the glass and watch me more than I watch them.

 

[krap101]

i feed mine brine shrimp. not a good diet but they barely eat any bloodworms. they can also eat those pond pest snails. thats why im breeding them in my tank. i already have like 20

 

[poppab02]

yeah, I knew not to put him in with the siver fin, or any of my other semi agressives. The statement by the lfs employee that you could actually do that just blew me away. I've been feeding him some bloodworms but brine shrimp is too big for him.
Any ideas on tank mates?

 

[madasafish]

I feed live brineshrimp and live bloodworms. They love both.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Anything fast-moving is good. Danios, etc. Mine live with much larger cichlids.

 

[poppab02]

what about Gourami's, I've never raised them but was thinking about getting a couple. Will they make it with the dwarf puffer? Is that a bad idea?
I don't know much about them, I know much more about puffers and cichlids.
Thanks so much everyone for the feedback

 

[Guest]

My dwarf puffers live exclusively on snails. I don't have a good supplier of bloodworms, and all my tanks are planted, so I've got more snails than they could possibly ever eat! Lately I've taken to gut-loading my snails with flake food before feeding them to the puffers. I take a small plastic cup of tank water, put 3-4 snails in there with a decent pinch of flake. leave snails in there to eat flake for about an hour or so, then put snails in puffer tank. I figure this has got to deliver somewhat more nutrients to my puffers than snails straight from anothr tank.

 

[krap101]

ic good idea. urs dont even have frozen bloodworms. but im sure snails are healthier and more fun for them to eat.

otos can live with them usually. i wouldnt suggest corys. i have a weather loach with mine. and its doing fine. 1/2 time its hiding under the sand

 

[RandomGuy]

snails are essentials, because they help the puffer wear down their endless growing beak.