Class Pet: Pea Puffer

[PotatoFish]

It has been a while since I have posted in the forum. I just wanted to share my latest adventure and get some advice on pea puffers. This is Puffy, the class pet for my elementary school (grade 2).

She lives in a 3-gallon planted tank by herself (and shrimp). There's a small forest of susswassertang in one corner and a growing mesh of giant salvinia and water lettuce creeping up top. She also has a collection of lava rocks and a couple of old ceramic plant pots that "miraculously" change locations every 2 weeks to create new angles and passageways for her to explore.

She also has some tankmates, 5 shrimp that I cannot identify. So, please feel free to try and ID these guys. They cost about 300 won (South Korean currency, roughly 23 cents in the US) per shrimp. This leads me to believe they're a local variety or somewhere very close by. The biggest measures about an inch from the tip of its rostrum ("nose") to the tip of its tail.

I think they look pretty cool. But I really bought them to feed Puffy and clean up the extra food. Their names are Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack, and Midnight Snack.

What I am Seeking Advice On

It took some trying, but I was eventually able to feed Puffy some Vibra Bites. It took a while to figure it out. She only eats them when they are moving around the water column. Once they have landed, she loses all interest, and the shrimp have a field day.

Once or twice a week, I feed her some baby snails from my bigger community tank at home. And, of the shrimp, she has eaten the smallest shrimp (Midnight Snack) so far. 

I am worried about the long-term nutritional content of Puffy. Is feeding Vibra Bites and some snails enough in terms of nutritional value? 

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by PotatoFish
Added working picture of the shrimp

[nabokovfan87]

@PotatoFish I can't say for sure, but I think the puffer is missing it's tail?  There might be fin rot going on there.

On 12/14/2023 at 6:28 PM, PotatoFish said:

She lives in a 3-gallon planted tank by herself (and shrimp). There's a small forest of susswassertang in one corner and a growing mesh of giant salvinia and water lettuce creeping up top. She also has a collection of lava rocks and a couple of old ceramic plant pots that "miraculously" change locations every 2 weeks to create new angles and passageways for her to explore.

That's awesome. I love the attention to detail to shift things around for the fish to explore. 🙂

Edited December 15, 2023 by nabokovfan87
wrong tag (very sorry!)

[PotatoFish]

On 12/15/2023 at 12:38 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

@PotatoFish I can't say for sure, but I think the puffer is missing it's tail?  There might be fin rot going on there. 

That's awesome. I love the attention to detail to shift things around for the fish to explore. 🙂

She's fine. Thank you for the concern though. 🙂 I just got a picture of her as she was turning, her tail fin is folded in. It fans out. 😄

Because it's a smaller tank than what people usually say (5 gal), I wanted to keep things interesting for her. 🙃

Edited December 15, 2023 by PotatoFish

[Schuyler]

The shrimp picture isn't loading for me. In the US, stores often sell clear little shrimp that they call "ghost shrimp" as feeder fish for about 25-50 cents. There are a few species that get lumped together under that name. Maybe that's what these are?

It may be a good idea to mix it up a bit more. Maybe some frozen foods like blood worms or you could hatch out brine shrimp.

[PotatoFish]

On 12/15/2023 at 10:43 PM, Schuyler said:

The shrimp picture isn't loading for me. In the US, stores often sell clear little shrimp that they call "ghost shrimp" as feeder fish for about 25-50 cents. There are a few species that get lumped together under that name. Maybe that's what these are?

It may be a good idea to mix it up a bit more. Maybe some frozen foods like blood worms or you could hatch out brine shrimp.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I totally forgot about "ghost shrimp" for some reason! After looking up "Asian glass shrimp," I think I can say that these are probably what they are. If you can't see the picture, they're mostly clear with tinges of dark colors (red, brown, black) on the edges of their body/tail segments.

I will add some frozen baby brine shrimp to the mix for Puffy. I think the kids will like watching the feeding for that.

[PotatoFish]

On 12/15/2023 at 10:43 PM, Schuyler said:

The shrimp picture isn't loading for me. In the US, stores often sell clear little shrimp that they call "ghost shrimp" as feeder fish for about 25-50 cents. There are a few species that get lumped together under that name. Maybe that's what these are?

I added a new picture of the shrimp. I am pretty sure they are, as you guessed "ghost shrimp" or, another name they go by, "grass shrimp." Thanks again!!! 😄