Originally posted by Firefighter
Pufferpunk. Females are more rounded right? If not, how do I tell the difference? If they are more rounded I have one male and the rest are females. But there's one that doesn't hang with the pack all the time. Could it be there's a dominate male already in the pack? I've not noticed any disputes between any of them. The one just does it's own thing and hangs with the pack when it decides. Or to feed.
The way to tell the difference between males and females with these little guys is the female will have a solid white belly, while the male will have a line going from their chin to their tail through the center of this white belly. Both of them will get pretty riounded, depending on how much they can fit in their little bellies. For that one that lingers to and fro the group at it's own will, could be that it just has a mind of it's own.
Also... There are some really small snails in my greenhouse koi pond. Like the size of a pin head. Can I feed them to the puffers? Or maybe put a few in the tank and let them grab them on thier own? There are also a bigger snails. The biggest the size of a dime. I didn't add them so they either came from the plants or some other unknown means.
If you're absolutely sure there's no kind of disease in the pond, I think it'd be alright to throw a few in the tank. You could just toss them in, let the snails do what they want and eventually your puffers will notice them and begin to keep them in check. When I first put some in my tank though, they were gone in no time. I had to offer them snails a few times before they started chilling out on them or maybe it was that finally the snails did what they needed to do to keep a colony going. Now, I still have snails constantly, but never an overwhelming overabundance....I'm giving that tribute to the puffers keeping them in check.
And last but not least. The ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers are full of freshwater shrimp. I laugh when I see them in pet stores now. A net and a bucket and you can have tons of them. Anyway... I know the puffers are only going to get an inch or so. Think they could manage to feed on a small freshwater shrimp? Around the thier same size.
I'm a little weary about taking from the wild and adding them to the home aquarium. I guess I don't trust the parameters whole heartedly. If I were you, I'd quarantine the shrimp before tossing them in your tank. I will say though, that they do rather have a fancy for them and they're good for keeping their teeth good and trimmed.
I'd like to offer them a varied diet. Black worms seem to be a must. And the crayfish. If the snails and shrimp will work I'll keep it to those 4. I'm not interested in raising bbs, and like with the frozen bloods worms they just nibble them. They'll have one, and ignore the rest. The cories love them however. Also the flounder.
sounds like you're on your way to a few happy little puffers with this variation!!
I saw a 45 gallon breeder tank at the lfs when I was getting another cory and think I'd like to get it for 15-20 of these guys. I liked the fact that it was wider instead of taller. Say like a 55. I'm a big fan of larger fish, but these guys have me in front of thier tank more than the others. My oscar is intelligent. But these puffers are in a class of thier own.
I agree, these little guys can sure measure up to some of the biggest!! Good luck Fire, I wish you and your little ones the best!
