Deadeye’s Amazon Puffer Thread
- Thread starter Deadeye
- Start date
As an experiment I put a couple pellets in. Louie attempted to eat one... this may be easier than I thought.
Being the inquisitive creatures puffers are, its not too bad if you start them young... its just the lurker species of the puffer group that tend to be next to impossible to get onto pellets...
Do you think pellets are "crunchy" enough to just feed pellets? Obviously I feed them to my fahaka, I'm only feeding him snails once a week atm to try and build back my supplies.
I had SAPs and their endless glass surfing drove me crazy. I did get mine to eat Hikari Vibra Bites. I fed the Vibra Bites at the same time I put in frozen bloodworms and eventually they took to them. They grew a lot faster on the pellets and were always fat.
I also fed market shrimp when it was still frozen rock solid in hopes it would wear down their beaks which grew surprisingly fast.
I also fed market shrimp when it was still frozen rock solid in hopes it would wear down their beaks which grew surprisingly fast.
I used to feed my fahaka NLS pellets coz they were so damn hard compared to other pellets such as Hikari massivore...
As for are they hard enough to keep a puffers beak trim is a tricky question, i guess it probably helps a bit as i used to be able to physically hear when she bit down onto the pellet but would still supplement with hard shelled food items to be safe...
In your case im guessing you should be okay though as its just temporary while you build up your crunch food stock levels and if you are really worried can always supplement with stuff like clams / mussels etc in between pellet feedings till the snail population grows...
Update:
Huey and Louie are basically done with glass surfing. Only do it for a couple seconds occasionally. Dewey has calmed down a lot too, doesn’t glass surf to an annoying extent, still a bit though.
All 3 have a feeding response, Huey and Louie take right from the tweezers, and overnight Dewey started as well. Still a little reluctant to eat and the others are more aggressive eaters.
All are completely healthy and I am getting ready to transfer them to their new home. I just want to wait a bit until all have a strong feeding response so they don’t get outcompeted.
At this point I have learned to tell each of them apart. Dewey has black spots on his caudal fin, the spot under the anal fin on Huey is large, and it is barely there on Louie. I’ll post pics if they slow down.
Huey and Louie are basically done with glass surfing. Only do it for a couple seconds occasionally. Dewey has calmed down a lot too, doesn’t glass surf to an annoying extent, still a bit though.
All 3 have a feeding response, Huey and Louie take right from the tweezers, and overnight Dewey started as well. Still a little reluctant to eat and the others are more aggressive eaters.
All are completely healthy and I am getting ready to transfer them to their new home. I just want to wait a bit until all have a strong feeding response so they don’t get outcompeted.
At this point I have learned to tell each of them apart. Dewey has black spots on his caudal fin, the spot under the anal fin on Huey is large, and it is barely there on Louie. I’ll post pics if they slow down.
Brought them into the new tank today. Before moving them I fed some repashys (Huey loved, other two weren’t so fond) and sea potato chips (brine shrimp).
After acclimating they went into a breeder net so everyone else could get used to them.
The acara was interested:
Once in the tank they went their separate ways. Louie being lazy (actually gave me a scare because he was laying on the gravel stressed for a bit, perked up after a minute), Dewey the glass surfer, and Huey exploring the tank.
Huey actually even went after some flakes stuck on the filter and duckweed. I got lucky with this batch!
Over the past week all 3 have gotten very used to their tank. All of them are exploring with almost no glass surfing (mostly while begging). Huey and Dewey are always out and about, Louie still thinks he’s a lurker puffer, but comes out a lot too.
They are loving the plants, even to the point of occasionally nipping them. Tankmates don’t care about them either. Acara may occasionally chase but is very calm. Tetras get nippy at feedings, but the puffers give it right back. Loaches hide most of the time, the one skunk is a little mean but doesn’t chase for long before getting bored.
All 3 get a lot of food, Huey is the only one to really care about repashys and eat out of the tweezers, but all of them are getting what they need.
I put in snails today and none of them noticed, hopefully the loaches don’t either so that they can establish in that tank (though I wouldn’t mind if the puffers ate them, beaks are already growing).
Ever since the puffers went in, nitrogen must have gone up like crazy. I say that because all of the plants have started to grow like crazy. Hornwort and Javas especially, sprouting out new ones and rapidly growing every day (maybe an inch per hour or two on the hornwort).
Tank is filling in nicely, I just have to figure out the algae issue, I’ll probably try some otos.
They are loving the plants, even to the point of occasionally nipping them. Tankmates don’t care about them either. Acara may occasionally chase but is very calm. Tetras get nippy at feedings, but the puffers give it right back. Loaches hide most of the time, the one skunk is a little mean but doesn’t chase for long before getting bored.
All 3 get a lot of food, Huey is the only one to really care about repashys and eat out of the tweezers, but all of them are getting what they need.
I put in snails today and none of them noticed, hopefully the loaches don’t either so that they can establish in that tank (though I wouldn’t mind if the puffers ate them, beaks are already growing).
Ever since the puffers went in, nitrogen must have gone up like crazy. I say that because all of the plants have started to grow like crazy. Hornwort and Javas especially, sprouting out new ones and rapidly growing every day (maybe an inch per hour or two on the hornwort).
Tank is filling in nicely, I just have to figure out the algae issue, I’ll probably try some otos.
