Entertain dwarf puffers with shrimp?

[Wrecker4488]

I currently have one dwarf puffer in a planted 10g tank and I’m afraid he’s going be get bored and lonely now that his buddy died/disappeared from mysterious causes. I did a thorough cleaning of the tank and found no remnants of a deceased puffer and there’s no dried up puffer around my tank and there wasn’t no puffer in my filter. The tank has primarily water sprite since it took over everything else I had in it and lots of caves under rocks and driftwood for him to explore. Without his old pal I don’t want him to become bored so I was thinking about buying 5 ghost shrimp to have in the tank as a source of entertainment for my DP to chase around and stalk and eventually get a new treat every now and then. Does this seem like a good idea? I already have a big supply of MTS breeding in the same tank so there’s always snails to hunt, but they rarely come out in the daytime since they’re nocturnal so I was thinking about getting him a new thing to keep him entertained. I hope this doesn’t come off weird but I just want to give my puffer more stimulation activities and things to do besides wait by the snail food for an unsuspecting snail to pop out or gaze through the same plants or swim through the same currents and air stone bubbles all the time.

 

[Colin_T]

Mental stimulation is always good for fish and any animal, and while many people will freak and say your a monster for putting shrimp in with a puffer so it can hunt and eat them, it is what happens in the wild. And lots of people buy feeder fish so feeder shrimp are no different. The only real difference between a tank and the wild is the shrimp will have more room to try and escape and there will be other things for the puffer to eat. So any shrimp that get put in your tank will get eaten. In the will the shrimp might not get eaten. Feed the puffer before putting the shrimp in and try to put them in after dark so thy get more chance to settle in and don't get chomped as soon as they are put in the tank.

You can move ornaments and other items around the tank, redecorate on a regular basis so the fish can look around and check out different things. Make caves and remove them a week later. Plant a heap of water sprite in one section and leave the rest growing. And maybe get another one to keep him/ her company. You could even get some different snails and keep them in a tub and put a handful in the tank each week. Try snails that don't bury themselves in the substrate live Malaysian trumpet snails.

Maybe get some freshwater mussels and grow them in another tank/ pond and put them in the tank sometimes as a treat.

Move the filter outlet to the opposite side of the tank or have a small power filter that comes on for short periods of time throughout the day. This can be used to simulate changing tides and currents.