SAP's

[CtHM]

Okay so I'm looking around, and from what I see SAP's are good looking, reletively small puffers. If you read my last post, I'm looking into info on more puffers.

How hard are SAP's to get? I know they have fast growing teeth, so snail ARE required. Say I got a 30-40 gal. tanks, how many might I be able to put in there? WHats a proper size and requirements for 3 of them maybe?

[Myaj]

Usually we suggest 15 gallons for the first, and 10 for each additional SAP (so figure 2 in a 30 gallon, 3 in a 40, assuming you also have some otos or a bristlenose pleco in there for algae). These are extremely active fish, so the bigger your tank's footprint the better. I don't really like seeing them in anything less than a 4ft long tank, myself.

And they can get pretty decent sized, so don't let the little guys at the store fool you. I've seen some at the Shedd aquarium that really surprised me at how large they were.

[CtHM]

Okay. Because i've been looking at SAP's for awhile, but didn't know much about them. I don't know if i can get them from any LFS around here. None carry any puffers but DP's and GSP's, and the only store that you could custom order from is shutting down after 30 years in buisness =/. Any online store suggestions maybe?

[nosepuff]

where do u live? i would suggest u keep looking around locally. it took me a really long time to find figure 8 puffers here (they were rarer in this location, but common in other locations), but i eventually found them in another town. sometimes u just have to keep asking around. sometimes u can find fish online at http://www.liveaquaria.com or http://www.aquabid.com, but i don't know if they will have SAP's.

[CtHM]

Okay, so heres my idea. I have a 30 gal tankwith all my mollies (a whole 3 of them) a butterfly fish, 3 plecos (getting rid of the big one soon) and 2 kuhlies. I would like to put SAP's in there (would 2 fit comfortably?) if I got rid of the mollies, and the big pleco. My main concern is the butterfly fish. He could fend for himself, but he has really long fins. Also I'm just starting to grow live plants for the fisrt time. There are baby mollies and guppies/mosquito fish (i don't know which!) in there. I'm keeping them till there are big enough to give to the school aquarium.

I figured it might be a good idea since the tank is already cycled.

Another question!

Where the hell can I find freshwater sand for a tank without going online?!

[Hilly]

Gonna pass on the tank mate bit but i cant remember reading a post about SAP's being fin nippers like you would read about tiger barbs. 2 could go in there, just keep and eye on water parameters and schedule water changes so you keep the nitrates under 20ppm with whatever is in there and all should be good.

As for the sand I can only suggest checking out LFS's to see who has bog standard aquarium sand.

[Myaj]

For the sand, better fish stores will have different types. I've used regular old playground sand, but its very dirty and takes a LOT of washing. I'll never use it again. I've heard if you can find "pool filter sand" or "sandblasting sand" that they are a bit more coarse and work nicely.

Any puffer with tankmates can be risky. I'm not familiar with a "butterfly fish", what's the species name? And 3 plecos (even 2 plecos) in a 30 gallon tank can be too much depending on the species. What kind are they? I've personally never had an issue with SAP agression and mixing with other species, but I'm concerned about overstocking and nitrate levels. Puffers just can't handle stress and nitrates at all, really.

[CtHM]

My big pleco i'm giving away here soon anyway, my other 2 are around 2-3 inches long. Butterflyfish scientific name is Pantodon buchholzi. They're rather agressive fish, though, knowing my luck, I end up with the passive fish. so the most fighting he does is to kill a moth on the top of the water.

I might donate one more pleco to my school library aquarium.

If I get the puffers, I would just have 1-2 pleco, 2 kuhlie loaches, and a butterflyfish, oh and a handful of baby mollies and guppies, which when they get bigger, I'll be giving away anyway, or using as feeders for the butterflyfish

[Myaj]

I'd still be concerned with the pleco. They grow over a foot long and really pollute the tank, which will hurt a puffer really quickly.

And the butterfly fish makes me nervous, just because I dont' know anything about them at all.

[Primus]

I think SAP's are in season now, i know of a few metro Phoenix area LFS's that have tanks full of them now.

Ditto on the aggression as pretty much every one else, i have had no issues with them. I have some tetra's, otto's and a few other odds and ends in with my 3 SAP's in a 55 and have never had any issues, even during feeding time they are fine.

Only "problem" i have ever had is that one of my SAP's has taken a liking to algae wafers, which was making it tough to get food to a pleco i had in with them. I moved the pleco to another tank as he was getting pretty skinny and that SAP was getting pretty FAT