# 5gal Dwarf Puffer Tank - Can I Keep Shrimp?



## Travan (Mar 12, 2009)

I have been very interested in keeping up to 20 Red Cherry Shrimps in with my Dwarf Puffer, but am worried they wont last very long.
I believe the puffer is a girl, although I'm not sure if that would have an effect on her aggression- she's pretty feisty as it is. For the most part her diet consists of frozen mysis shrimp, and about 2-3 live snails a week.
It's the live snails in her diet which concerns me. I'm not sure if I've been teaching her to hunt the fauna in her tank, although she leaves her two Otto companions alone.

Has anyone had luck keeping a dwarf puffer with shrimp? I'd really appreciate some insight.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Normally if the tank is really big and if there's ALOT of plants, then you can keep shrimp in there (although the Puffer will eat like maybe a couple of them). However, in a tank that small, I think the puffer would eat them all.


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

it depends on your puffer. you can only know if its a killer by putting some shrimp in there to test its temperament.


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## Travan (Mar 12, 2009)

She's a killer, I know by the way she devours snails.


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

well it may not be the same case with shrimp. maybe shes an escargot kind of puffer get some ghost shrimp and test it out. if they live, youre RCS are safe (but take the ghosts out cause the ghosts will eat RCS) if they get eaten, your puffer is fat and happy.


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## Travan (Mar 12, 2009)

Why do you say RCS will survive if the Ghost Shrimp survive?


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

If the puffer doesn't eat the Ghosts, she won't eat the Cherries either. Ghosts are usually sold as feeders and are really cheap, so get some of them so if they do become a meal, you haven't wasted much money.


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## Travan (Mar 12, 2009)

Starting with the Ghost shrimps sounds like the perfect plan.

But are there any modifications I would need before I could keep shrimp (Would they venture into my filter intake, or try to climb out of the aquarium)?

And also, are the steps to condition a shrimp to the new aquarium similar to that of fish (slowly acclimating it to the new temperature...etc.)?


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## Travan (Mar 12, 2009)

*It worked!*

I tried it out with 6 Ghost shrimps. I purchased them for $.33 each at PetSmart. And she leaves them alone quite well.
The Puffer was a little confused by them at first since the shrimps crawled all over and were excited.
Even the smallest were about equal to the size of the puffer, since she is a Dwarf puffer, she's barely an inch long.


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