Hiya, my name is Shirley and this is my first time writing to all of you experts and puffer-lovers. I am a puffer lover and have 2 puffers in a 30 ltr biorb (round) tank and they are great - no problems there, but I have a 30 ltr biorb tank in my bedroom and I have 6 pygmy or dwarf puffers in it. I got them about 6 months ago and they are laying eggs like mad.
I have tried to take out the plants with the eggs on and have not been able to keep them alive. I saw 2 little baby puffers (through a magnifying glass) that's how small they were, but they both died
I put more plants with, I hope eggs on them in a fish tank with a small spongy filter and heater in it yesterday. They keep breeding and I don't know what to do so that I can save some of the babies.
Please, if someone could be good enough to give me any advice, I would appreciate it very much. Thanks so much!
Pufferpink wrote:Hiya, my name is Shirley and this is my first time writing to all of you experts and puffer-lovers. I am a puffer lover and have 2 puffers in a 30 ltr biorb (round) tank and they are great - no problems there, but I have a 30 ltr biorb tank in my bedroom and I have 6 pygmy or dwarf puffers in it. I got them about 6 months ago and they are laying eggs like mad.
I have tried to take out the plants with the eggs on and have not been able to keep them alive. I saw 2 little baby puffers (through a magnifying glass) that's how small they were, but they both died
I put more plants with, I hope eggs on them in a fish tank with a small spongy filter and heater in it yesterday. They keep breeding and I don't know what to do so that I can save some of the babies.
Please, if someone could be good enough to give me any advice, I would appreciate it very much. Thanks so much!
Indian Dwarf puffer fry are cannibalistic. The more plants you have and the larger space, the more babies will survive. When they hatch they stick to the plants or substrate until they are about 13 days old, and as you noticed, are basically microscopic. Then they become free swimming. If they make it to this stage and your filter isn't well-guarded, they will likely just get sucked up do to their tiny size.
You need to start by moving them (all your puffers) to a much larger tank. I'm assuming they are Indian Dwarf Puffers, but just one needs 30 gallons, and if you have more than 1 male, twice that. Since you have 6 of these little ones... each one only has a little over 1 gallon. The fry are most likely dying because of water conditions and far too small of a space.
You mentioned that you have been taking the plants out with the eggs on them... what are the water conditions you are putting the plants in? (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph, etc.) Also, what are the water parameters of the little bio-orb?
Last edited by Reaperpilot2014 on Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
It's a crayfish! It's a snail! It's a... ah who cares?
Nom nom nom!...
Tank: 4 liter custom-shaped sphere
Contents: 1 Brainfish
Ph: 7.4
Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates: ?
Problem: Cloudy/muddy water
Can you help me?
The above post is erroneous. Dwarf puffers, from the Keralia province of India, do not require 30 gallons each. The minimum requirement is 5 US gallons per puffer, and no more than one male per 15-20 gallons/ More space is always appreciated, especially if the aim is breeding. the tank should be heavily planyed and include clumps of Java Moss up in the plants. IME it is the DP's (Dwarf Puffer's) favorite spawning site, prepared by the male. A more spacious tank does allow more room for breeding and provides more microscopic food for the fry when they are free-swimming. I have bred them in 20-long tanks (1 male, two females), 30-long tanks, and 33XL tanks. Naturally I liked the longest and largest of those best, where I used one males and 3 females, as I also did in the 30-long.
If you click on the "Learn" button on the tabs at the top of the page, you will find lots more detailed info in the Pufferpedia and the Library.
Anyway yes.. as RTR pointed out Java moss is nice to have. It provides a very nice breeding bed. To protect you filter intakes you can put some stocking on it, filter floss (my 2nd favorite) or a media sock secured by zip ties. My favorite filter barrier is a sponge filter that I clip on to the intake. That is 100% reusable and guaranteed to keep out babies.
Also if you want to get serious about breeding see if you can find: http://www.bigalspets.ca/Tom-Rapid-Mini ... =salesrank
Those can also be protected by sponge. The shrimp breeders I know use these.
if you follow me, you avoid stepping in the crap that I just did...
Definitely listen to RTR, he's the master! Apply the above post to Indian Dwarf Puffers then. I assumed that's what you were talking about and gave you the best I have from my experience with them.
It's a crayfish! It's a snail! It's a... ah who cares?
Nom nom nom!...
Tank: 4 liter custom-shaped sphere
Contents: 1 Brainfish
Ph: 7.4
Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates: ?
Problem: Cloudy/muddy water
Can you help me?
I use prefilter sponges routinely. In any breeding or first fry rearing tank they are an integral part of the filtration in my setups. The prefilters are changed/rinsed weekly, but in a few tanks 2x weekly rinses are needed.
If the tank is for very small fry which require infusoria as their first food, having multiple non-enclosed fine-porosity sponges provide excellent grazing ground for those fry. Those sponges are rinsed in tank water (or other aged or conditioned water) to preserve the healthy feeding and grazing area for the fry. This is pretty much required for my Rainbow fry, and I provided the same for the DPs. If there are multiple such per tank, stagger the rinse days when small fry are present to maximize functional grazing sites.
I use quite a number of FilterMax prefilters for such setups. The fine porosity units are used for the smallest fry. They may require two rinses weekly.
Java Moss also provides a haven for fry and the infusoria they relish and may require. Java Moss walls provide spawning sites for Rainbows, but the DPs seem to prefer larger clumps supported by branches or plant clumps for spawning sites in my tanks.
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles
, BW
Apply the above post to Indian Dwarf Puffers then. I assumed that's what you were talking about and gave you the best I have from my experience with them.