Striped Redeye Puffer/Carinotetraodon Salivator Q's

[Elaori]

@Pufferpunk D'aw thank you so much for the offer! That's very sweet of you. I am ordering all of my plants at bamaplants though ^__^ Since I need lots of plants for my 129g figured I'd get ones for the 10 from there at the same time.

Here's the tank so far. Very bare of course til I can get the plants and some driftwood. Thinking of getting this piece of DW: http://www.bamaplants.com/index.php?mai ... cts_id=299

[gkai]

Look nice, but you may have difficulties keeping a lot of plants in pure sand...
Or are you planning to add liquid fertilizers? Personally I prefer to have a nourishing substrate, and I top it off with sand...
On the other hand it will be very easy to rearrange...Anyway a lot of water change make a lot of sense with pure sand bottom

[Pufferpunk]

I agree--sand isn't the best substrate & not necessary for this species. In addition, it traps toxic gas bubbles & needs to be thoroughly stirred weekly, which is near impossible with plants in there.

I love Yamato Green liquid fertilizer.

[RTR]

I'll have to moderately disagree with the other posters: Sand is not an issue with live plant IF the plants are well established before the fish are introduced and well established are maintained with routine fertilizer additions via the Estimative Index technique. If you are familiar with the upkeep of fine-substrate planted tanks it is not a big issue at all.

If you are not familiar with such tanks, I would not suggest starting with a puffer tank. You do have to to master the required plant supplements and water changes plus learning how to lightly surface-vacuum sand without sucking the sand out of the tank. That last is probably the hardest part to learn.

[Elaori]

@gkai & Pufferpunk I have sand in every single one of my tanks, I have no issues whatsoever keeping plants in them I only add root tabs for my swords, though this tank may be getting dry ferts using EI method and flourish excel.
The only time I've heard of issues with toxic gas bubbles is if the sand was really deep, this is only two inches.

@RTR Thankies, I think I've got sand vacuuming down XD I will let the plants root in a bit before adding the puff.

I hope I didn't come off as rude or anything, just saying how my tanks are ^_^ Thank you all for the advice, it is really appreciated.

[RTR]

We try to err on the side of caution here, basically to protect the fish. Quite a few folks are unaware that deep fine substrates can sequester plenty of toxic materials, which if undisturbed over time will be harmless. But if that substrate is disturbed after weeks to months of being undisturbed, toxic gase4s can be released into the tank and can even kill fish. Densely rooted substrate will not go as anaerobic as unplanted ones, so are a good bit safer. But burrowing fish (including several puffers) can literally stir up trouble, so do not match well w/densely planted tanks.

The bottom line is that many of us only use shallow sand substrates for digging puffers, and only very strongly rooted plants for the larger ones, with those plants well established before the puffers go into the tank. And we tend to use smallish non-sharp gravel substrates for those fish.

HTH

[Elaori]

@RTR I understand being cautious, and appreciate the explanation. I was told this puffer wasn't a burrower so not sure if it's still as much of a problem?
I'm not sure how to plant the plants if the sand isn't 2" deep, and I want the puff to have plants to hide in and make him feel comfortable :c Sand shouldn't be sharp? It didn't feel sharp to me at least. Is there some way I can check that?

[gkai]

My irrubesco do not burrow at all, and I think no red eye do that, so you should be ok.
your substrate do not look to deep to me, I would use about the same thickness except do 2/3 potting substrate, 1/3 of this sand...but if your plants grow well in pure sand, it means it's ok ...especially u had long term success this way in the past,I see no reason why it would not work now with a single puffer...
Imho sand this small is never sharp, but I am curious too on other opinions to be sure of this...I check by touching,
If it do not feel sharp it is not sharp...but I may be wrong...
Anyway, my irrubesco never touch the substrate, except when attacking a snail on the ground.
I doubt this fine sand may hurt him/her, even if it was sharp...
I guess RTR was a little bit afraid of thick fine sand because red eyes are quite messy when eating:
For example when eating bloodworms, mine gnaw it vigorously, taking it in then out her mouth, and small parts fall down...no problem for me, my guppies are on it before it even reach the ground, but if you do no have something equivalent it means very fine parts of high protein food may end on the substrate...if it get under in anaerobic region (no plant roots zone) it may end nasty...
At least that's how I see things, but I am not the most experienced here

[RTR]

If the sand has been densely planted and the plants given time and supplements to establish themselves, only light surface vacuuming is needed to get rid of food bit and fish poop. If the tank is not densely planted and the plants established, full depth vacuuming is required and 2" is a bit deep for that to be done easily.

I no longer use any nutritious substrates, as long-term upkeep becomes a real nuisance IME. I use liquid supplements added to the water column, all from Seachem. They have worked well for me for many years, but other lines are also available. Tank life is quite extend without full breakdown in such tanks. I have several which have been operating well over 20 years now without being fully broken down and reset. But that does assume that all the standard routine maintenance is done as needed. Untended planted tanks can decline and become real issues unless fully reset.

HTH

[Elaori]

@gkai Good to know!

@RTR I see My tanks all get weekly maintenance so it shouldn't be a problem I don't think.

[Elaori]

It has been a bit since I posted. This tank is on hold for gosh knows how long since my peacock gudgeons have had babies so it's now a fry tank.