Pufferpack Posted June 28, 2004 Report Share Posted June 28, 2004 Thought y'all might enjoy a couple shots of my little Dwarf puffers showing just how ambitious they are when it comes to feeding. One persistant little fella stalked the snail for a good 30 mins before takin a bite....I thought he was going to get squished when the door snapped shut, but they are quick little beggers. Jackpot....all for me Hey, who slammed the door Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vantgE Posted June 28, 2004 Report Share Posted June 28, 2004 He ate the whole snail? That big one? Awsome pics though Oh and I have a ten gallon that'l be empty soon, What do you all think Puffers or Ocellatus? (don't mean to hijack jus thought i'd drop the question in here for someone who's kept em, will move if you mind) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pufferpack Posted June 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2004 He ate the whole snail? ...na he just harrassed it every time it opened the door, got a couple good nips in though. A snail that size will usually last about 2-3 months in the puffer tank (10 Dwarves, 3 South American, 2 Golden puffers) before they chew a hole through the shell and kill the snail inside. As for the 10 gal I would go with the puffers (then try and get a second for the Ocellatus ), but then I am addicted to the little beggers. 4 in a 10 gal is a nice fit, and if you want to try breeding them it is reported to be fairly easy to get them to spawn (a small sheltered cave with some java moss placed half in and half out of the enterence and a couple will usually move in in no time), but rearing the fry is a bit more of a challange, due to their miniscule size it is tough to get them food small enough to eat. I guess a day or two after they hatch they need a diet of Infusoria a couple times a day with gradually larger foods as they start to grow. Dwarfs (like most puffers) are pretty hard on tankmates but usually do well with non-aggressive, semi-static or noctournal roomies (like Otos, or small catfishes like Banjos) Long finned fishes and "twitchy" fish (like Cories) will usually get chewed up pretty bad. I have a few Guppies in my puffer tank (my cycle fishes decendents) that always show evidence of nipping, but they have learned to keep out of the puffers way for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudy Posted June 28, 2004 Report Share Posted June 28, 2004 Great pic. My dwarves will do that too. Team up and break the protective plate on the snail. I keep on putting bigger snails in there and they kepp on figuring out some way to eat through it. Great fish. Highly reccomend them for anybody who wants to dip into the puffer craze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madness Posted June 29, 2004 Report Share Posted June 29, 2004 I am going to be setting up a 54g brackish tank for puffers at some point this week, and have a couple quick questions... Should I use run of the mill Aquarium Salt or something like Instant Ocean that is designed for marine setups? What shop has a good selection of puffers in Calgary at the moment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pufferpack Posted June 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2004 For BW puffers I would check out Pisces. I was in last week and they had Figure 8's (Tetraodon biocellatus) and GSP's (/tetraodon nigroviridis), as well as a nice little pair of Ceylon Puffers (Tetraodon fluviatilis) that were labled XXL Pea puffers...I corrected the staff on their ID (I guess whoever brought them in only knew them as Pea Puffers) so hopefully they have re-labled them and acclimated them to BW. A 54 gal would work well for the pair of Ceylons, they grow to about 6-8 inches and are quite a bit less aggressive towards other puffers. I have noticed that Franco's on 32nd N has started to keep various puffers on occasion, as well as Oceans on Centre St. so you might want to check there as well. Definately use a "Marine" mix as opposed to "Aquarium" salt. From what I understand there are extra minerals that are need to keep the puffers healthier (I think it has something to do with processing oxygen, but am not sure as I only have FW puffers at this time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madness Posted June 30, 2004 Report Share Posted June 30, 2004 Yeah, I was going to take those 2 little Ceylons home with me one day after work, but I just didnt have the room at the time. I am kind of leaning away from the Figure 8's and the Green Spotted, guess I'm just a sucker for something other than the most common... as the rest of my fish collection would prove I was planning on heading to Oceans and Franco's tomorrow already, Oceans just to check it out (never been there) and Franco's for their decent selection of puffers. Another question... what would be a good tankmate or tankmates for a pair of Ceylon or similarly sized and tempered puffers? Archer? Bumblebee Goby? Scats and Mono's get a bit too big for a 54 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pufferpack Posted July 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2004 Well although Ceylons are reported to be generally better tempered than GSP's they are ultimately still puffers and therefore unpredictable. I have talked to experienced puffer keepers that have had puffers live harmoniously with many different tankmates for years then suddenly snap overnight and kill all it's tankmates. One puffer owner reported her 4 inch GSP bit an 8 inch pleco nearly in half, while another puffer keeper has a 12 inch Fahaka puffer (repudated to be the nastiest puffer of the bunch, better known as "Fish on Crack" ) that lives with 3 plecos and a Red tailed shark that seeps on top of the Fahaka and pals around with him all day, and they have been like this for about 5-6 years now. In that time these are the only tankmates he has accepted, all others have been summarily dispatched. If you decide to try tankmates I would go with the BBG's to start, they make a great cleaning crew for puffers as they eat basically the same foods (other than the crunchy bits) and will clean up all the bits the puffers miss. If you can find them Orange Chromides Etroplus maculatus , Green Chromides E. suratensis or Silver/Pearl Spotted Chromides E. canarensis have been known to do well in BW puffer tanks. The rule of thumb I go by is "If you keep puffers always keep at least 1 spare tank cycled and ready for emergency relocations in the event of trouble" I keep two 5 gal tanks cycled and ready for use as QT/Emergency/Fry tanks and they have saved the lives of a few differnt fish that were terrible attempts for tankmates (don't try Cories with Dwarves...they are just play toys to ride around the tank...poor little cories, but looked like the Dwarves were having a blast...their version of Rodeo, Cory Busting at it's finest ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 Interesting fish' BTW great pic;s in your photo album Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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