Questions on SAPs

[allikins]

Hi, I'm new here. I've become interseted in owning SAPs. I've done some reading but have found it hard to get any concrete information.
I've got a 55 gallon, that's enough for three?
I've seen some places say that they are omnivores, is this true? If so, are there any plants that are poisonous to them?
Do they have any plants they prefer in general?
Do you have to test decorations to make sure they won't damage their skin?
What kind of substrate do they require? Some places said sand, some said not rough gravel.
What is their preferred PH?
Also. Does any body have any pictures of their SAPs set up?

Thank you! =]

[bertie 83]

Hi and welcome to the forum. First question is are you prepared to perform dentistry on your fish? If not saps are not for you, if so then it depends on the length of your tank. They don't mind what substrate you put in as all they want to do is swim constantly. As for decor nothing too sharp, plenty of plants and blunt rock. 95% of their diet should be snails or similar hard teeth grinding stuff. As for ph keep it stable, opposed to trying to get the perfect ph so long as extremes are avoided

[allikins]

Yes. I am prepared to perform dentistry if necessary.
The tank's 48" long.
I've got a ten gallon tank going that I'm going to use to breed snails and shrimp.

[RTR]

For breeding effectively, use one critter type per tank. Mixed breeding tanks do not work very well IME. One species tends to dominate.

Red Cherry shrimp are for me very easy to breed in densely planted tanks, but are unfortunately worthless as food suitable for wearing down incisor plates in SAPs. They are not nearly hard enough at all.

HTH

[allikins]

I've seen some people have success breeding the two together, that's why I was going to. The shrimp was more for the meaty parts of their diet. I've read that about 95% their diet needs to snails and the rest meaty

[bertie 83]

I second that a mixed breeder will not be a great success, 95% snails and the rest can be found in the lfs freezer

[RTR]

Too many hobbyists view short-term effects as significant, when they rarely are. Over 3-5 years I ave never, repeat never seen a mixed breeding tank which supported two different critters equally. When we are dealing with fish that routinely live 10-20 years, our support systems must be equally enduring. Puffer people need to think and plan long-term, not weeks to months.

[allikins]

Mkay. What would you guys suggest for the meaty post then?

[allikins]

Also, an I correct on thinking that 55 is enough for 3 SAPs?

[Fin]

The thread I had on my SAPs has some information in it that was passed on to me, as well as with some close observation of my crew and what things I have done for their setup.

I currently have 3 SAPs in a 55g long. They really do use up the entirety of the tank. I have a mix of plants in my tank which. I also add nutrients for the plants as I'm a provider of live plants for one of my LFS. I currently have a mixture of amazon sword, marimo moss balls, java fern, and westeria growing in the tank. I highly recommend the amazon sword as it helps to fill out the space of a 55g, and is a plant that when growing well offers the SAPs an excellent area to explore when hunting, they also seem to really like it. Several of the other forum members have reported SAPs tearing up their plants, but it can be on a case by case basis depending on their personalities I believe.

As the entire thread was primarily on it, I've found that one of the things that seems to be most important with these fellas is having a very strong current. I didn't really start getting that great puffer personality until I set up 2 power heads in my tank to send flow across the front of the glass. It took about 3 weeks after that, but now atleast 90% of their time is spent in the current or searching through the plants and driftwood for snails/shrimp.

I use a mix of live sand substrate and river gravel.

In the Helping SAPs Adapt thread I have several pictures of my tank setup, with the exception that on the left side I now have 2 powerheads running instead of one. A 700 gph and a 500gph.

If you're concerned about live plants, I add liquid carbon, nitrogen, iron, and potassium supplements. If you make sure to follow the dosing on the bottles you shouldn't have any issues. I've seen no detrimental effects to any of the creatures in the tank due to the additives.

[RTR]

+1 to Fin's comments above, good suggestions. IME SAPs are more likely to disturb crisp stem plants than rosette types, probably as they may bite throug the stem itself if there is a snail climbing up or down it. Thin soft leaves may get some puffer bite marks, but that is not as damaging as cutting a stem.