Sand query for a semi lurker...

[soggydrysuit]

Nothing wrong with a character in a species tank.



At least this way I can tweak the conditions to what it needs without worrying about anyone else.

Temp this am was the same as in it's old location at 19C - even though ambient was down to 5 to 8C. The 200W heater I put in may be too powerful becasue it's set to minimum so I'll try a 100W and carefully monitor the temp next weekend. He should be fine at 19C until then and might even help acclimatisation after his stressfull move (would you like to spend a couple of hours in a salt bucket?!).

BTW, there's a guard on the heater and the cable to that and the main powerhead are the only cables it can get at. Tank is half full of plastic plants, a big rock to hide behind and a smallish piece of bogwood which I was told it nibbles on by previous owner.

It's customary sleeping area is two inches from the front glass in front of the large rock. This one seems very active - investigates everywhere. It's also putting on weight which is amazing. Only had it a month and it's definately chunkier.

Oh, on sand again - when I took the sand bed out during the move I noticed no gas bubbles which I put down to the trumpet snails doing their thing. Hopefully. The sand did seem quite packed though and I think that's the miracle mud binding the rest of the components together. Maybe just honey and aragonite at 50/50 next move because it might not pack so easily.

Thanks for your help so far!

I might need help with treats when/if it goes off of it's food...

[soggydrysuit]

Oh, before anyone else comments on some Clowns and Hawkfish being kept at low temp:- you should try the northern Red Sea in March off of a liveaboard away from the coast. Brrr in a 3mm wet suit for an hour at 20m ish!

22C, maybe... It was the wind that got me...

Not quite so tropical!

[Pufferpunk]

I'm even keeping several corals in there. Your's is out all the time? Mine sits under the sand, behind the rockwork, 90% of the time.

[soggydrysuit]

In short, yes. I'll have to ask the past owner if that's normal for this individual.

If not, I'll give it the four foot 240l tank.

Maybe the sand is too compact for it. Or could it it be the sg is too low?


They don't do stress....

[soggydrysuit]

It's still there - !

Had a slight prob with mouth fungus (pacing) but tea tree seems to have fixed that for now.

Sushi has appeared to have settled slighly in the last few weeks with not as much pacing. Tends to be out among the plastic plants or buried.

I'm keeping to no lights, garage (cool) and feeding anything I can find including the occasional live uk shore crab.


About time for a 50% w/c.

The animal would live on bloodworm if I let it.

Likes crabs, though!

Time to test my beer chiller.

Note on temps - the 120l lido tank with quite a few pumps on (up thread) has been down to a garage air temp of about 5C und up to 19C over the past month (minimax thermometer). I'm not sure what the tank itself gets to apart from sporadic readings with an accurate alcohol thermomer - last one was 15C!

If I can get the puff through the summer I'll keep it there with a heater (installed but unplugged)...

Any further ideas or comments, please, PP? I'm still at half brackish - 1.010. No LR.

I hope Chopstick is OK? - I'm sure he is!

I've yet not looked.

[soggydrysuit]

Question - PP, anyone?

If I swap my 240l (48 by 15 by 21 inch) tank for the 120l Lido that will give the puffer a bigger thermal mass to cope with hotter days (I nearly typed Hoo - and something else. Never mind).

I only moved the poor thing a month ago. They really don't handle stress including moves. Only a couple of months before that, the pervious owners brought him/her to me.

No reason for the move apart from twice the volume and a bit more thermal stability.

If anyone has any ideas, again, I'd be grateful!

[Pufferpunk]

I say, move him. Chopstick has proven to be a wonderful, resilient pet who gets along great with her tank mates & has grown quite a bit. I'll have to offer her a crab this week.

[soggydrysuit]

Thanks for the reply, PP

There's only a YTB in the 240l which will be fine in the 120l - I'll swap them over at the weekend. There's a better skimmer on the 240l.

I'll have to move a heavy piece of furniture in the garage to get the coolest spot. Or just tidy up a bit on the other side. Garages are junk magnets!

There is so much LR in the 240L that it fills the 120 Lido so if I were to go for a cold water (15-20C target range) Berlin type system how would you do that?

I could go for the same salinity as the puffer is in now, get it moved then slowly (0.02 s.g. per week) increase the salinity to full marine as you have recommended. Then drip up most of the LR? There is not much bio load in there just now so I might need to go 'nitrate factory' with large water changes and use the existing conventional filtration until it's developed the capacity I need for the puffer.

I just checked him - there' is a bump under his tum so he's demolished the first 2cm carapace width crab but has left the slightly larger one I put in yesterday for now. It's still there under a filter and alive. Scavenger. I'll not disturb him further tonight (no lights in there).

Needs a water change anyway...

[Pufferpunk]

I don't understand--the LR isn't in SW?

[soggydrysuit]

The LR is in full SW but tropical (1.023 s.g, 24C). That's a Berlin system, heavy in LR, pumps and skimmers. Very little coral sand. 20x turnover.

The Takifugu ocellatus (Sushi, UK) is in half strength brackish and cool (1.010, 15C). Two small skimmers (yes I do have three protein skimmers) but less efficient than than one in the the full sw tank, but believe me they do collect over a month. Not much, but some gunk... That's in 1.010 s.g. brackish.

Tank turnover in volume in the Takifugu's tank is 40x per hour, theoretically. (probably 25x in real time). A lot of flow.

It's bitten a leg and a claw off of the crab I mentioned earlier, so I removed the crab. Enough. That crab is now in retirement in another tank.

The puffer was enjoying bloodworm again, just now. I get dead crab legs from the market so will
try him on those....

I understand you have no time to answer - sort others out first.

[soggydrysuit]

Just to clarify again:

The Takifugu ocellatus might be transferred to the larger tank under the same water conditions it's in at the moment (1.010 s.g, 15C).

Double the volume... but I won't try to increase the salinity just yet.

No LR for now - I just wanted to ask how some of my LR may be acclimatised from, say 23 deg C to about 15 deg C.

If that's possible?

My LR is three years old and I used to keep a trigger fish in this tank. Anything edible has vanished, but there are a lot of small tube worms on the LR

If I do transfer between the two (that's why you were confused, PP)I will use existing brackish water s.g levels and my mature conventional filtration for now. Those filters should be able to handle double the water volume with no increase in bio load.

On Balance, I wonder if I should continue as I have so far with this animal. My 'gut' instinct is to say no. Go true temperate full marine but with conventional filtration.

I fear I will kill the puffer if I try to convert my LR from 23 to 15 at full seawater strength. Unless i stick the LR in a barrel for a few weeks and 're-cure it'?

From what little I know, they live in the sea (these puffers) and migrate up rivers (Yangtze, etc) to spawn. The young then migrate to the sea.

Maybe a 10 Deg C to 20 C temperature range. Anything from freshwater to full seawater in terms of s.g.

Gut feeling tells me full seawater, but cool. About 16C...

?

[sevenyearnight]

What ever became of this dilemma?

[KJB]

I never had this species but I suggest that you slowly over one to two months drop the temp of the 240l to 18-20c. While at the same time slowly raising the salinity in the tank the puffer is currently in.

Doing so would allow you to acclimate the LR in one tank and the puffer in the other making the switch easier. I know people that keep California coastal tanks and that is how they acclimate their live rock and sand bed. They just slowly lower the temps a degree or so a week.