Puffy, the Snail Slayer

Last Wednesday Kelvin bought a mini puffer for the hall tank. In case you don't know what one looks like, here's a picture of it:

Dwarf (Malabar) Pufferfish (Carinotetraodon travancoricus)

Some questions that might be crossing your mind now are...
Will it puff up if it's aggravated?
Nope, it's not that kind of puffer. However, if it get's stressed the colours on its body become darker. So please don't put your hand into the tank and poke it just to see if it balloons up.

How big can it grow?
This breed will grow to a maximum length of about 3cm. So no worries about a giant puffer terrorizing the tank

What does it feed on?
We got the puffer to help control the burst in snail population. However it does feed on other food such as brine shrimp or bloodworms. And nope, it can't eat those big snails in the tank, only the baby ones. However, when the snails run out it might start nipping on the tails of some of the other fishes.

If you've time, do observe it in the hall tank (that's if if you can find it first). It's really cute and cool to watch the way it swims about and if you're lucky, you'll catch it in action during its snail hunt!

Also, just like to add that we have concluded that the fry in the fishtank were given birth to by the Platy. This is because other than the endler, the only other fish in the hall tank that are livebearers (i.e. don't lay eggs to breed) are the Platies and the Mollies. Its unlikely that one of the fishes laid eggs because the temperature of the tank is too warm. Haha..so it couldn't have been baby pencilfish or mountain minnows (Awww..).

Another update! Once the exams are over, we plan to replant the tank! Which means new plants, and a new landscape for the tank! Check it out during the holidays :D