Hello from Germany

[Gulie]

Hi @ all,
I am new here and want to introduce my self.
I am male, 34 yo, married, living in Cologne, working as a Biologist (genetics) at the University of Cologne.

Why I am here?
My wife and I plan to take care of tow T. biocellatus. In general there is little known about Puffers in the media/literature (we were able to get our hands on two books so far that delivered a lot helpful information but not more).
In the German speaking community it seems there was a puffer fish hype around 5 years ago since then the most forums are quiet and the old informations are part wise overhauled.

What happened so far?
We got interested in figure 8 puffer while a visit at the local Aquarium (the Dude is "SOOOO FLUFY!!!!" I could die).
Then we started to investigate if we got the possibility to to take care of the animal to at least the point were you can consider it as "good treatment" (we are aware of the fact that nature alike would mean at least a 300 gallon tank with a complete living mangrove simulation).
After 2 weeks of intensive studies (books/internet/scientific publications) we decided that we will go for a pair of T. biocellatus hatchings in a 30 gallon brackish Tank.
One week later I got us a 32 gallon Juwel RIO 125, some plants, rocks. long term fertilizer etc. and we started to design the tank.
That is already the point were we made the first mistake. We started the tank on fresh water (tab water) not on salt.
We used Easy-Life bacterial starter and the liquid filter medium for the start.
The tank was then running on fresh water for 2 weeks, nice and crystal clear, most plants started to produce shootings.

One week ago (17. Nov.2015) we added salt ( Tropic Marine) to a density of 1.003 or 6g/L (we have a gravimeter).
Since then our C. becertti is looking muddy but that was expected, the new formed leaves look promising.

Sanils are all breeding fine (we got Planorbarius corneus, Physidae and Lymnaeidae)!

Data (from the last tests on 25.Nov.2015 tested with JBL drip test Lab):
Temperature (in the morning) = 23,5°C
KH = 9,5
pH = 7,6
GH = 60
Nh4 = <0,05 mg/L
NO2 = 0,08 mg/L
Cu = <0,1 mg/L
O2 = 5,7 mg/L
NO3 = 6 mg/L
PO4 = 0,03 mg/L
CO2 = 7 mg/L
CL = 0,0 mg/L
Dichte 1,003 (at 24,8°C)

Here are some actual photos:
http://de.share-your-photo.com/img/b323e48066.jpg
http://de.share-your-photo.com/img/817902cf8e.jpg
http://de.share-your-photo.com/img/f13a0eb7fb.jpg

We have no! fish in the tank so far and want to wait till everything is perfect or at least as close to as it gets in our setup.
Maybe some of the long term puffer keepers here could give us some tips on what to look out for before we get the fish.

We are thankful for every help we can get and want to prevent any harm to the animal due to our low degree of knowledge or acting to hasty.

Greetings from Cologne

[Pufferpunk]

I'm afraid you've wasted your nitrifying bacteria by not adding a food source (fish), so it will be gone, by the time you do add the fish.
Being that you are a scientist, I think you would appreciate these articles:
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/lib ... iltration/

The tank looks like a wonderful home for your future puffers.
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/lib ... ocus/fig8/

[Gulie]

Thx for the links.
Regarding the Bacteria I am giving the Tank a new shot of bacteria suspension every 7 days, as recomended by the bottle description.
Since it should not be bad for the watercondition or the fish I will keep going till the fishes arived and maybe 2 more weeks.


What about the GH? At a densety of 1.003 at 60. Is that normal?
And how about the O2 contend? I read the puffer will consume alot oxigen when digesting. I get it up to 5.6 mg/L with a Juwel O2-Difusor, is that enough/normal in brackish water?

I will get you some more pictures these days and update my water test data.

thx and cheers
Gulie

[Pufferpunk]

You are totally wasting your $$$ by adding bacteria without food (ammonia) for it.
I am not quite anal enough to be concerned with hardness or O2. I do however, have fish that have lived 30 years.

[Gulie]

Hi,
I totally get your point
We got 5 goldband gobis (Brachyogobius doriae) today to "feed" the bacteria O_o.
I already made my selfe comfortable with the fact that I might have to get them there own tank if the puffers bully them to hard.
Gobis are all looking fine and regained strong collor after the transport and change in water condition.
They also had some Artemias for food and were quite greedy to get them.

I will keep you up to date how the tank works out in the next few days.

greetings
Gulie

[Gulie]

Hi,
little update:
All 5 goldband gobis are doing fine in the Tank.
I guess I give the water another 1-2 weeks before we get the F8`s.

By the way were do I start a Puffer dairy? (I think it is not meant to polute this area right

greetings
Gulie

[Pufferpunk]

It would be good to write your diary info in the appropriate forum: BW Puffers.

[Welch4]

Hello and welcome!