Getting food to puffers

[simko]

So, my tetraodon schoutedeni pair showed up on sat! that is to say, i drove 2 hours to toronto, picked them up, drove 2 hours back and got them into their new home!!!

I had a few bladder snails to feed them and they made quick work of them, i bought frozen bloodworms, thawed them and added them to the tank, the tankmates made quick work of the worms and the puffers got NOTHING.

Is there a way to get bloodworms to the bottom so the feeders at the top of the tank dont gobble them up?

Also, are my tankmates a bad mix with puffers? they include:

8" royal pleco
6" blue phantom pleco
small 2" clown pleco
4" gold nugget pleco
2 bosemani rainbow
1 australian rainbow
1 giant danio
2 other rainbowfish
5 gold wonder killifish
smattering of guppies

good mix? bad mix?

 

[simko]

Just wanted to add that after a lot of thought I will likely remove the rainbowfish and giant danio , theyre beautiful fish but too vigorous for this tank, i bet they would also rather appreciate a 48" of longer tank

 

[Fat Homer]

Never kept T.schoutedeni but having kept a few before, chances i would say some fin nipping will probably occur depending how hungry the puffers are...

As for foods, other than snails maybe try incorporating other seafoods in the mix which the puffers can have a go at with their teeth...

 

[magpie]

Just saw this - you can use a plastic dropper to put bloodworms at the bottom. You can get them for less than a dollar at LFS usually!

 

[magpie]

PS - PICS!

 

[tlindsey]

Just saw this - you can use a plastic dropper to put bloodworms at the bottom. You can get them for less than a dollar at LFS usually!

The problem is the Rainbow fish will still spot them lol.

 

[magpie]

Hmmmm I've never had rainbows apparently.

Can you bait and switch? Feed the rainbows on one side and pipette the bloodworms to the puffer? I had to sort of do that when I had my cteno. Fed him a lot in one corner and then fed the polys. Pig fish can be problematic. Hahaha

 

[tlindsey]

Hmmmm I've never had rainbows apparently.

Can you bait and switch? Feed the rainbows on one side and pipette the bloodworms to the puffer? I had to sort of do that when I had my cteno. Fed him a lot in one corner and then fed the polys. Pig fish can be problematic. Hahaha

Rainbow fish are extremely fast and will out compete the puffer's for the bloodworms. He mentioned removeing the Rainbow's and Danio's that would help greatly.

 

[simko]

Sorry i just saw all these replies!

So since my origional posts, rainbows and giant danio are gone! They ate too quickly and stole food from the puffers. the puffers now come up to my forceps to take thawed krill, cut up worms etc. I occasionally drop in bldder snails and hope the puffers get them... i add the snails at night, no reason, iw ill probably start adding them during the daylight hours

pics up later, have to rescape and clean the tank!

 

[magpie]

Nice!

I'm sure the puffers get the snails. Drop them in at feeding time and they'll chomp them right up. Part of the fun of having a puffer is watching them dispense of snails!