My Loach is stealing my puffer's snails!

[appleblossom]

Having read a fair bit of info about puffers needing to eat hard foods like snails to keep their teeth worn down, we went to our lfs and asked for some snails for our figure of eight puffer which they kindly provided for free.....glad to get rid of them I think

We were a bit worried about our tank getting overrun with snails if the puffer decided not to eat many, or any of them so we put all the snails in our quarantine tank to live and breed....

I decided to try the puffer on some of the snails this morning, I dropped three into the tank and he set on one of them right away trying to bite open the shell, however something I wasnt expecting was the yo yo loach decided he would rather have the snails for himself. He managed to pick up each one with the fronds round his mouth and turn it round so the opening was facing up, then he put his mouth round the hole and sucked the snail right out!

I had no idea they did this! I put another 2 snails in for the puffer to have a chance at them and the same thing happened again!

Having said all this I'm sure its a common thing and everyone has seen similar already, but I thought it was exciting

Poor puffer hasnt had any snails yet though...I'll have to go back and get some more snails for the both of them at this rate

 

[MAM]

ummm, not to rain on your parade, but figure 8 puffers are a brackish fish. yoyo loaches area fw fish......... if you are keeping the water brackish, i'm not sure how long your loaches will do okay. if you are keeping the water fresh, your puffer will have a difficult time acclimating and you may find you don't have a figure 8 in the near future.........

as cute as this is, the puffer really needs those snails to keep his teeth filed.

 

[appleblossom]

The guy at the lfs said the puffer would be fw till he got older

I don't want him to die though, he's my favorite...should I run out and buy another tank now for him? I was planning on getting him his own tank when he started to outgrow this one which I would gradually make brackish for him...

He seems happy enough in there at the moment, active and eating fine...now I'm worried

 

[MAM]

they can be okay for a short time, but i wouldn't recommend it long term. they don't acclimate well. if you want him to grow up healthy, i'd recommend a bw tank sooner than later...............

 

[appleblossom]

My student loan will be through any day now so I will get him a tank asap. Are there any other brackish fish that would be happy in there with him? I wish the guy at the lfs had told me this at the time, I dont want him to be unhappy

 

[MAM]

as for other bw tank mates. depends on the tank size. you might be able to get a second figure 8 in there, dependign on tank size and plant coverage. there are a number of bw gobies, but you'd have to see what you store carries. scats are bw, but they usually get quite large and would require a BIG tank. do some searches on brackish water fish and see what you lfs has available.
don't feel bad about not knowing. many lfs sell them and the green spotted as fw to sell more. they don't bother to explain that these are really bw fish. thats why you should really research fish before you buy them.
do some searches on here for figure 8 topics and see if any mention successful tankmates.

 

[appleblossom]

Maybe I can get another puffer to be his friend I will only be ablle to afford a 5 or 10 gallon tank, but I will do my homework this time... Thanks a lot MAM

 

[MAM]

if you can only get a five or 10 gallon, DON"T get a second puffer, not enough room really. maybe smaller bw variety gobie would work if you can find one at your lfs. otherwise, i wouldn't worry about a tank mate for him.

 

[kissez_61]

how much room gose one of them need?

 

[kissez_61]

dose*

 

[MAM]

typically, in captivity, they get around 3 inches or so. you MIGHT get away with two ina 10 gal, but i personally would just keep the one. they are fairly peaceful when little, but can be a little nastier when reach full size.

 

[Opcn]

THEY ARE FRESH AS JUVENILES! how big are they? if its less than 1.5 inches then they are fresh if its 1.5-2 they are lightly brackish and if they are 2+ they are brackish. And if you want 2 you need to get a 15 gallon tank.

Opcn

 

[appleblossom]

The puffer is only about 1" long, it is quite a new addition to the tank and still young, One of my friends suggested that they may be pure freshwater now from being bred in captivity for so long, but I wasn't sure if they were still caught wild because its easier than trying to breed them.... I'll get a tank sorted as soon as I can anyway, it's a good excuse to get something to replace him in the fw tank