Brandy Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 So Hypothetically, if a person had seven tanks with a healthy pest snail population in each, and a dangerous blood worm allergy, could you feed a pea puffer exclusively on snails? How many would they need each day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcalberto Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 58 minutes ago, Brandy said: So Hypothetically, if a person had seven tanks with a healthy pest snail population in each, and a dangerous blood worm allergy, could you feed a pea puffer exclusively on snails? How many would they need each day? I think snails can very well make up for the majority of the food pea puffers eat, without any issues at all. There's also the possible issue of an ammonia spike, since pea puffers don't't eat the whole body of the snails, which could cause an ammonia spike. I wouldn't feed exclusively snails though, since they might be poor in some micronutrients like vitamins or minarals. I would buy something like frozen daphnia, bbs or cyclops and feed that a couple of times a week. As far as the amount of snails per puffer, I'd try 1 per day, but increase the amount if the puffers want to eat more and there aren't any ammonia spike issues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 well, I also have unlimited red cherry shrimp so I suppose that might also be an option...With heavy cover they might even be self sustaining in the tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcalberto Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 1 minute ago, Brandy said: well, I also have unlimited red cherry shrimp so I suppose that might also be an option...With heavy cover they might even be self sustaining in the tank. How is your line? Do you need to cull a lot? Either way, a mixed snail/shrimp diet is probably about as good of a diet for pea puffers as you can possible get 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 I have a pretty mixed line, sold as skaura, some fire grade, but I have been letting them just multiply out of control for a couple of generations to stock the multiple tanks. Now I have about 5 tanks with stable colonies, and some selective culling is probably a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishkeeper125 Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 I think vibra bites are also a good alternative. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 also, happy to hatch bbs, I have them on board for fry anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcalberto Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Brandy said: also, happy to hatch bbs, I have them on board for fry anyway. Looks like you got the perfect diet for pea puffers then. Neocaridina shrimp, snails and bbs. It doesn't get any better than that 😂😂 In case you don't have the pea puffers yet, you could set up the tank and let a shrimp shrimp colony develop there. Then you could possibly have them happy and eating most of the shrimplets without killing all the shrimp 😂 Edited October 26, 2020 by gcalberto 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted October 26, 2020 Author Share Posted October 26, 2020 6 minutes ago, gcalberto said: In case you don't have the pea puffers yet, you could set up the tank and let a shrimp shrimp colony develop there. Then you could possibly have them happy and eating most of the shrimplets without killing all the shrimp 😂 I don't have them. I do have a couple of tanks that are mostly just shrimp that I was looking at stocking with fish. So yeah, that is very much a possibility. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 They are he-eere! So far, however, there has not been as much carnage as expected...I have yet to see them really contemplate any juvenile shrimp, and though they have given a snail or two a close eye, they haven't gone after them. One pecked a vibra bite and immediately spat it out, they have ignored the frozen brine shrimp and only eyed the snail egg cluster I offered with forceps until my arm wanted to fall off...Here's hoping that either they are finding seed shrimp and detritus worms or they figure out their neighbors are food soon. I will hatch some baby brine tonight. These came from ACO, so if anyone has any tips on how to make them recognize food without going the blood worm route...clearly that is what they have been fed in the past. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dyer Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 Mine also enjoy snacking down normal brine shrimp and mysis shrimp. When they were smaller they loved BBS, but now don't seem to care quite as much about them but will still eat them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 2 minutes ago, Ken Dyer said: Mine also enjoy snacking down normal brine shrimp and mysis shrimp. When they were smaller they loved BBS, but now don't seem to care quite as much about them but will still eat them. These guys are about a half inch or so. I think they are pretty young. Were your brine shrimp frozen? They just let the ones I dropped in last night fall, and then the RCS ate them. At least I don't have to worry about fouling the tank! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Dyer Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 I tend to thaw frozen foods in some water and then pour or pipette into tanks to spread the frozen food amongst the various tanks. So that may be the difference (that and mine now see me as "the bringer of food" and come to the glass like puppies when I come near the tank). Except for the rainbow tank, those pigs would take my arm off if I didn't give them full cubes 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted November 23, 2020 Author Share Posted November 23, 2020 Yeah, they were thawed, but not live. Hopefully they will figure it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now