SA Puffer's

[crazywolf]

How many of these guys could I put in a 10G species tank? Nowhere to put them now but they seem extremely interesting and in a few months I'll have a free 10g. Maybe a few oto's too.

Any thought's?

 

[diVer]

At the most you could put 1 SA in a 10 gallon. You need to make sure you feed them lots of snails and crunchy food or else you will have to trim their beaks.

 

[ryansfish5g]

I have 1 SA with some other fish in my 5 gallon. I do know that he will quickly grow out of it, but he is small and okay for now. I do plan on taking the other fish out within the next 2 months so he can at least have the 5 gallon to himself until I can move him to a 10.
So I would say 1 unless you plan to move to a bigger tank. I saw a full grown SA at the pet store once and know for sure it would be too big for a 5.
If you wanted to push the envelope, I would say you could fit 2 in a 10 gallon, with maaaaybe 2 OTO's to keep things clean. This would be if you had a filter that did at least 10x filtration or 100GPH.

 

[crazywolf]

I have a penguin mini on the 10g now. I just got my 29g up and running and am moving pretty much all of my community there. I would be able to swap the black skirts I have in my 12g tank over to the ten to give them more room. However the 12g is just taller than the 10g. How fast do they grow? Whats the best source for snails? my LFS? ALso if I get a few snails will the bred fast enough so I don't have to keep buying them or are they like feeder fish where I would need to keep buying them? Thanks!

 

[diVer]

The easiest way to get snails is to ask your LFS for any pest snails they have, mine are more than happy to give me bagfulls for free. Although they do look at me a little funny when I ask for them.

 

[crazywolf]

I've scratched the SA idea due to tank size. I was talking to my LFS today and was asking about dwarf puffers and he was saying even though they are ok in freshwater they really do better in brackish water. Is this true? I don't mind setting up the tank to be brackish if I need to I just want whats best for the fish. I've posted a new topic to address the question though.

 

[diVer]

I was talking to my LFS today and was asking about dwarf puffers and he was saying even though they are ok in freshwater they really do better in brackish water. Is this true?

No, dwarfs are 100% freshwater.

 

[ryansfish5g]

I've scratched the SA idea due to tank size. I was talking to my LFS today and was asking about dwarf puffers and he was saying even though they are ok in freshwater they really do better in brackish water. Is this true? I don't mind setting up the tank to be brackish if I need to I just want whats best for the fish. I've posted a new topic to address the question though.

diVer is correct, dwarfs are strictly freshwater!

Sometimes though, LFS's sell baby ceylons or GSP's as dwarfs though, not knowing any better.... (ceylons and GSP's are brackish, but they would probably do ok in freshwater when they are young)

I had dwarfs before....got bored with them and traded them in. I would suggest sticking with the SA's somehow...they are way cooler to watch,

 

[diVer]

got bored with them

You've never seen them play follow the leader before, have you?

 

[ryansfish5g]

got bored with them

You've never seen them play follow the leader before, have you?

Well.... Not so much bored, more like I really wanted a Figure-8 or GSP in the first place and finally decided I could handle brackish!

I didn't know about south american puffers at the time.

 

[crazywolf]

Won't I be limited to like 1 SA in a 10g tank? If so can I fit 2 in a 12g tank? It's taller than the 10g but has the same footprint. Or would I see more benefit going brackish? Is it alot more difficult to maintain a brackish tank?

 

[ryansfish5g]

Won't I be limited to like 1 SA in a 10g tank? If so can I fit 2 in a 12g tank? It's taller than the 10g but has the same footprint. Or would I see more benefit going brackish? Is it alot more difficult to maintain a brackish tank?

I wish we had a black and white plain text forum so I could post more freely from work...

Anyways, maintaining the brackish isn't that bad at all. Just a matter of adding in the proper amount of Marine Salt (I use instant ocean) every time you change the water. I also check the Specific Gravity (salt level) of the water every few weeks or shortly after a water change to make sure I added the right amount of salt. Some people insist you have to pre-mix your salty water, but I just add it in and let it do the mixing in the tank. In the wild there are fluctuations in salt levels anyway...

I really think you could fit 2 SA's in a 10 gallon, people from the puffer forum would probably argue with that, but I think it would be okay. They just need lots of scenery and places to hide so they don't constantly see each other. Of course a larger tank is always better, ie the 12 gallon, but do whatever works best for you.

Let me know if you have any questions, I posted some pics of my puffers in the pictures forum last night, if you want to take a look.

 

[crazywolf]

Cool fish. I'm extremely torn at this point in what to do. I am moving in a few months and then can go a bit wild. however at this point I have to move a 29g and the 10g if I put puffer's in it. I'm considering doing dwarf puffers just so I can put like 4-5 in the 10g. Maybe I will do that and then once I move setup the 12g with a couple of SA's or maybe figure 8's. How big do the 8's get? I wouldn't mind giving brackish a run. Thanks for all your advice.


Oh the 10g is a long about 20"'s or so 2 SA's would be fairly separate. I dunno I've got the fish fever bad and it's driving my wife nuts.

 

[ryansfish5g]

Cool fish. I'm extremely torn at this point in what to do. I am moving in a few months and then can go a bit wild. however at this point I have to move a 29g and the 10g if I put puffer's in it. I'm considering doing dwarf puffers just so I can put like 4-5 in the 10g. Maybe I will do that and then once I move setup the 12g with a couple of SA's or maybe figure 8's. How big do the 8's get? I wouldn't mind giving brackish a run. Thanks for all your advice.


Oh the 10g is a long about 20"'s or so 2 SA's would be fairly separate. I dunno I've got the fish fever bad and it's driving my wife nuts.

I am driving my fiance nuts as well....I know the feeling. I have 2 tanks already, and now I want a third in our apartment.....just wait until we get a house.

In terms of figure-8's, they are slightly more aggressive than SA's, I think you could only have 1 in a 10 or 12 gallon. I have 1 in my 10 gallon with a knight goby and a tiny bumblebee goby. I am considering taking the knight goby out if he bothers my puffer to much, but they have interacted well together thus far. As the puffer grows, maybe the tide will turn, but for now the goby is way bigger than the puffer.

The figure-8 will probably grow to be 3-4" not including its tail fin, but right now it is like 1" maybe (very young).

I do like the figure-8's personality more so far, as it likes to look at me, probably is just begging for food. It does get very excited when it sees the net that I drop bloodworms into the tank with. I even fed it freeze dried krill out of my hand.

I am probably just making you more confused about what you want....sorry.

I did start with 4 dwarfs in one of my tanks, so maybe that would be a good place to start, and if you change your mind you can always take them back to the LFS for some credit on something else.

 

[crazywolf]

Yup I picked up 2 dwarf puffers last night. They rock they are so interesting to watch so far. I need to add some sight breaks and things. I thought it was pretty broken up but they still run into each other every now and again. They were too small to eat the krill I gave them so I had to take it out. You use a net to sink the bloodworms? I was having an issue getting them to sink. I also have a friend bringing me some snails hopefully tomorrow.