1 Juvenile Green Spotted Puffer and one 10 Gallon Tank

[Pamela]

Ahh c'est rien....
Pami.

[ShinyPower/s_l_m_77]

Well... The little guy justdied this morning,

The water stats were the following

Temp: 79 F
PH 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: .25
Nitrates: 10 ppm
Salinity: 1.008

Poor Goober....

I will see what S_L_M wants to do but I don't think we will get another puffer for this tank.

May be 2 or 3 Bumblebee Gobys and a few Brackish Guppy or Mollies.

If we get a bigger tank than we might consider getting a new puffer.


Thanks for all your Help.

[Pamela]

What? So sorry about that. I guess the nitrItes were too much for him to handle.
Don't give up on puffers just yet, you've already learnt a lot and like you said....try a bigger tank...helps a lot with water quality.
Sorry for poor Goober.
Pami.

[Pufferpunk]

For future reference, the tank must be fully cycled before adding fish, especially a puffer. There is an excellent article on Fishless Cycling in The Library here.

[ShinyPower/s_l_m_77]

That why I will let my tank as is....

And I will continue to do my weekly water changes and wait till my tank has:

No Nitrates or Nitrates and no ammonia and the PH stabilizes.

Than I will a one or 2 fish a week until I have about 10 inches of fish in my tank

And then I will see about another tank (highly unlikely.... the death of goober really bummed me out) I hate losing pets.

Anyway, my only fish high note is that my FW tank is doing awesome.

Thanks again PP

[Myaj]

Well, are there any other fish in the tank?

If not, they bacteria will just die and you won't have a cycled tank and have to start over...

Don't go by the 1 inch per gallon rule either, it is really poor and inaccurate. I would never try to get 10 neons even into a 10 gallon tank, they don't stay small forever. Definately look at the adult size of the fish, not what they are when you buy them.

[ShinyPower/s_l_m_77]

Ok,

Right now in my tank I have

2 Plants, 2 Zebra Snails, and the water is at a salinity, 1.008

Should I get a Hardy fish right away (A Brackish Guppy or Molly), or wait till the nitrites and nitrate stabilizes at 0 for a week or so? (I would think then the tank would be considered cycled)


So what should I do?

Wait or Slowly Stock the Tank with hardy fishes?

[perek]

Throw some flake food or somehting in there so it can decompose, that will raise Ammonia level

[Pamela]

Yeah, you gotta keep feeding the bacteria...flake food is a great idea, rather than live fish. Even hardy ones are stressed by the cycling process.
Pretty much everyone here does fishless cycling.
Pami.

[perek]

Yeah I used flake food to feed my bacteria in my 20L tank before I got my puffer.

Unlike useing shrimp or some other kind of meat:
1. It wont mold/rot
2. Wont indruce a breeding ground for other bacteria
3. Doesnt add smell to the water.

[Pamela]

I used a manky piece of chicken, and told a few people that it was our new puffer. A couple of people believed me till they had a closer look.
I found it quite hard to do, as the idea of allowing a piece of food to rot away in warm water is antithetical to my usual fastidiousness around food.
Next time I'll use flakes for sure.
Pami.