Sa Puffers + Bumble Bee Gobies

[kj23502]

Hi, I'm planning on getting 2 South American Puffers and some BBG's in a couple months(I'm in the planning stage right now). They will be housed in a 29 gallon tank, which is approx. 30"W x 12"D x "18H.

I was wondering how many BBG's I could put in!
I plan on putting sand it and putting in quite a few plants along w/some bogwood.

I've had 2 GSP's before, but BEFORE I was "aquarium literate", I guess you could say. They died. So I want to try some puffers again. I read SAP's teeth grow like crazy and am considering setting up a little octagon 5 gallon tank, just to breed snails (sounds funny...breeding snails on purpose...Never thought I'd say that ) Have any of you w/puffers, or other critters that eat'em ever bred snails for feeding purposes? Which ones breed quickest/easiest(I know prob most...but I want some experience opinions...and ones good to feed SAP's!!)

I read goby's and puffer's like bloodworm and brine shrimp so I think feeding both BBG and puffers will be alright. What do you experienced keepers think about all this?

 

[nmonks]

SA puffers and BBGs get on fine. Your main problem though is making sure the BBGs get enough food. Having lots of plants, so that the BBGs can find "leftover" bloodworms (or whatever) is important. SAs are hyperactive fish and will steal food from just about anything, but they don't really like to swim into thick plants. They will, but they just prefer open water. So that at least gives the BBGs some chance of finding their own food.

SAPs are occasional fin-nippers. While my specimens never seemed to do much damage to BBGs, they certainly went after other gobies that hung about in open water, like Awaous and Rhinogobius species. Again, having plants and caves will help the BBGs.

South American puffers will thrive at a low-end salinity like SG 1.003, which is likely what you want for BBGs. Yes, BBGs are freshwater fish in at least part of their range. But because its difficult to identify your species you may want to add a little salt to the water just for the BBGs to feel happy. It does make a difference sometimes -- presumably if your supplier gets brackish water BBG species rather than a freshwater.

For what its worth, don't expect your retailer to know the difference between BBG species. Even scientists find identifying them without access to a microscope difficult. Wholesalers and retailers have no chance.

The use of different snail species for pufferfish food has been discussed endlessly here in the past. Do a search of "snails" or "MTS" or "Melanoides" here and in the brackish forum.

SAPs are hardy and gregarious. They're actually lovely fish. But do remember that they love swimming space and strong water current. They also like open sandy areas to rest on at night. My three curl up together at night. It's very cute. I'd recommend getting at least three specimens. The more you have, the less neurotic (and more tame) they become.

Cheers, Neale

 

[kj23502]

Thanks, that was a FAST answer! If I have 3 puffers, what would a good # be for gobies? I've liked gobies for awhile(..there aren't many creatures that I don't like ) but never realized until now that I don't have to have a marine tank to have them(although I would love to have a manadrin goby someday).

I would probably need to get an instrument to meassure the salinity?! I'm not sure about that part!

I'll do the search for the snails!!! I thought about it, but hadn't gotten that far yet and since I was asking about #'s and housing my fish, I thought I'd ask about the snails.

As far as giving the Gobies left over food...I could heavily plant on side and them taper the plants off so the Other side is mostly sand...or have plants on the back leave the front open...or heavily plant both sides and leave the center 1/3 open??!! What would you suggest? I think putting heavy foliage on both sides and leaving the middle kinda open sounds better to me.

Sooo much to plan....

 

[nmonks]

The puffers won't care about the number of gobies, or vice versa, so choose numbers according to your needs. I'd suggest at least six BBGs because they're fairly territorial and in very small groups you can get a bit of bullying. They're usually cheap so this isn't going to set you back much. Really, get as many as you want. Make sure each has its own cave though. A shell, hollow ornament, tiny flowerpot or similar will do. The need solid caves though. They don't dig burrows and won't use plants for shelter.

Mandarins aren't gobies; they're dragonets, family Callionymidae. A distinct but equally wonderful group of fishes.

Measuring the salinity isn't a big deal for you. Simply add 3-6 grammes of marine salt mix per litre. Vary up and down with each water change. This'll have no impact on your filter bacteria, or even most plants. Crypts, Vallis, Hygrophila, Amazon swords, etc. are all happy with this amount of salt, assuming they're otherwise content. In specific gravity terms, this is a variation between about SG 1.001 and SG 1.003.

I'd not worry about specifically putting all the plants at one end, though that can look great if the water filter is pushing the plants from the planted end over the unplanted end, to create a shady area for the fish to swim about in. But instead, concentrate on having patches of low plants (like Anubias and Crypts) in the front area, for the puffers, and then taller plants (like Amazon swords and Vallisneria) at the back and edges, for the gobies.

You might also want to visit your local garden centre and see what they have in terms of sand and rockery rock. If you can get aquarium safe items, like smooth silica/silver sand and rocks like green granite and slate, you've got lots of great materials to create a dramatic superstructure within the aquarium around which you can plant the plants. Piles of rocks are great: gobies will hide in the cracks and under ledges, while puffers *love* exploring rocks, just as they do in the wild when searching for snails and shrimps.

Cheers, Neale

 

[kj23502]

The puffers won't care about the number of gobies, or vice versa, so choose numbers according to your needs. I'd suggest at least six BBGs because they're fairly territorial and in very small groups you can get a bit of bullying. They're usually cheap so this isn't going to set you back much. Really, get as many as you want. Make sure each has its own cave though. A shell, hollow ornament, tiny flowerpot or similar will do. The need solid caves though. They don't dig burrows and won't use plants for shelter.

Thanks, that's very good to know, also!

Mandarins aren't gobies; they're dragonets, family Callionymidae. A distinct but equally wonderful group of fishes.

O, sorry. They do look neat!

Measuring the salinity isn't a big deal for you. Simply add 3-6 grammes of marine salt mix per litre. Vary up and down with each water change. This'll have no impact on your filter bacteria, or even most plants. Crypts, Vallis, Hygrophila, Amazon swords, etc. are all happy with this amount of salt, assuming they're otherwise content. In specific gravity terms, this is a variation between about SG 1.001 and SG 1.003.

This doesn't sound to hard at all!

I'd not worry about specifically putting all the plants at one end, though that can look great if the water filter is pushing the plants from the planted end over the unplanted end, to create a shady area for the fish to swim about in. But instead, concentrate on having patches of low plants (like Anubias and Crypts) in the front area, for the puffers, and then taller plants (like Amazon swords and Vallisneria) at the back and edges, for the gobies.

Good idea. I've never really had much of a planted tank before. I just got some java fern and moss a couple months ago and those are the first live plants that I've every had. I need to research lighting as well, to make sure my plants have the right amount and type. The plants are doing well, in between getting chewed on, so I'm thinking that my lighting may not be too far off.

You might also want to visit your local garden centre and see what they have in terms of sand and rockery rock. If you can get aquarium safe items, like smooth silica/silver sand and rocks like green granite and slate, you've got lots of great materials to create a dramatic superstructure within the aquarium around which you can plant the plants. Piles of rocks are great: gobies will hide in the cracks and under ledges, while puffers *love* exploring rocks, just as they do in the wild when searching for snails and shrimps.

Also great to know. I have some left over peices of black slate that I can use for this. I'll look around for the sand!

You're full of some very good info!!! Thanks much!

 

[kj23502]

I've read quite a few times that the Brackish goby doesn't get into the aquarium trade much at all. Not compared to the FW one. What do you think?

I'm thinking about starting a 5 gallon to breed pond snails....would it really need a filter, with it being snails?. or would regular water changes suffice? I remember, back when I was a lil kid, we had a container that we left on the driveway w/only water and rocks in it and the snails bred like mad... Would a cheap goldfisf bowl work?

 

[nmonks]

All Brachygobius spp. will do just fine at SG 1.005, whether "freshwater" or "brackish" varieties according to your retailer.

Cheers, Neale

I've read quite a few times that the Brackish goby doesn't get into the aquarium trade much at all. Not compared to the FW one. What do you think?

 

[kj23502]

All Brachygobius spp. will do just fine at SG 1.005, whether "freshwater" or "brackish" varieties according to your retailer.

Cheers, Neale

Thanks!

 

[jimi priest]

the snails are easy enough jsut get a tank ( gold fish bowl is easy i would also suggest a 5 or 10 gallon) the get a bunch of snails ( your useing pond i perfer the rams horn because if they get to big for them to eat the can help out my community tank and look nice ) and throw them in i have heard reports of cuddle bone helping with higher ph but basically you need 2 things a sponge filter ( just a round one will do fine im sure) and some veggie matter ( on top of sinking pellets) for them and they will take care of themselves

 

[DarkEntity]

the snails are easy enough jsut get a tank ( gold fish bowl is easy i would also suggest a 5 or 10 gallon) the get a bunch of snails ( your useing pond i perfer the rams horn because if they get to big for them to eat the can help out my community tank and look nice ) and throw them in i have heard reports of cuddle bone helping with higher ph but basically you need 2 things a sponge filter ( just a round one will do fine im sure) and some veggie matter ( on top of sinking pellets) for them and they will take care of themselves

that would be cuttlefish bone (although cuddle bone sounds all warm and fuzzy)

 

[invader]

the snails are easy enough jsut get a tank ( gold fish bowl is easy i would also suggest a 5 or 10 gallon) the get a bunch of snails ( your useing pond i perfer the rams horn because if they get to big for them to eat the can help out my community tank and look nice ) and throw them in i have heard reports of cuddle bone helping with higher ph but basically you need 2 things a sponge filter ( just a round one will do fine im sure) and some veggie matter ( on top of sinking pellets) for them and they will take care of themselves

that would be cuttlefish bone (although cuddle bone sounds all warm and fuzzy)