People have this belief that these guys only eat snails and buy them as a snail control mechanism, but they are much much more than that.
They need a varied diet and snails should be fed just once a week to keep their teeth in check. Ponds snails are best as MTS might damage their small teeth. I feed them Romifex and grindals, frozen mosquito larvae are also relished. Its fun to watch them catch those worms as they inspect them first with those chameleon like cute eyes.
They are very responsive and beg for food even if you are a few feet away from the aquarium.
I keep them in moderately soft water with hardness of up to 100-110ppm at ard 25D.
My Carinotetraodon travancoricus setup
They are small but command their own space, so keep them in a species only tank as any other fish (specially a slow moving one) would fall prey to their curiosity to see how fins taste.
I keep 8 (3 males and 5 females) in a 2’*1’*1’ aquarium. They prefer a low current so am using a sponge driven filter with changing ard 30% water a week. They are voracious eaters so water quality should be pristine.
These amazing little intelligent fish can be a perfect addition to anyone’s fish collection provided one treats them well and does not consider Carinotetraodon travancoricus as only a snail control mechanism.
