The Puffer Forum

So I got home from work today and tested the water again. Ammonia is still elevated but now there is a defnite elevated level of nitrites. So it's off to get the buckets out. Hopefully the spike in nitrites is a good thing and it means the bacterias are recovering from whatever happened to them. *shrug* Prime must still be doing it's thing 'cause the fig 8 doens't show any signs of distress whatsoever.

On a happy note I bought him home some snails tonight from the lfs. They didn't have clams neither did the grocery store, so I have to wait on those. In the mean time I got him some krill to go along with his mysis. He doensn't care too much for the brime shrimp and I think they make too big of a mess. He went insane over the snails. Ate them all in under five minutes. There were about 10 small ones (itty bitty snails). I heard his teeth on the shells though so yay for that! His belly didn't get as round as I like so I might let him try the krill tonight. I went to take pictures only the fnd out the camera is broken, so that will have to wait. Also I think I found him a 20 gallon tank off craigslist which will be awesome if it works out. I think he'd benefit from more room to roam.

Hey quarter horse is that a Gypsy horse in your avatar??? I have GH's, two stallions and a yearling filly!

Gypsies are so pretty. A local photographer travelled with gypsies (people) to take pictures of their gypsies (horses) for a book. The pictures were *amazing.*

bodicea wrote:Hey quarter horse is that a Gypsy horse in your avatar??? I have GH's, two stallions and a yearling filly!

Ohhhh I'm jealous! lol But yes it is. Not mine though, I wish! It's a pretty generic photo that is scattered all over the web. So ownership of photo goes to whoever took it. I found it on one of those stock photo websites so if it was put there legally I'm okay using it as an avatar. I use it because they are my favorite breed. I do have an American Paint Horse though. He's a 3 year old and my first official horse that will be trained by myself. I love him to pieces lol. I'd have pictures of him but the digital camera broke grrrr.

LilGreenPuffer I would have loved to see those photos. They really are gorgeous horses. I WILL own one onnnnnnne day. That and a Fahaka puffer lol.

The book is called "Gypsy Horses and the Travellers Way" the photographer is John Hockensmith, he wrote the text of the book as well. qtrhorse...do get a GH they are beyond unbelieveable...I just sold my two clydesdale mares to buy my filly. I can't tell you how much I love them...I own an equestrian centre with a full riding school so I deal with MANY differnet horses everday and NOTHING comes close to the temperment of my GH's...I just love them! And sorry to hijack the thread, I just had to ask about the avatar!

Jan

Yep, John Hockensmith. He goes to our church and takes prom pictures. They're all over his shop's window right now.

bodicea wrote: And sorry to hijack the thread, I just had to ask about the avatar!

Jan

No problem, horses are one of my main passions. I'll talk about them til I'm blue in the face lol. I will own a GH hopefully one day. I'm still trying to get through college so I'll have to wait until my finances are much more stable. But as soon as I'm able I'll have one. It's awesome that you have your own riding stables. I hope everything is going good for you. That would be something I would love to do.

LilGreenPuffer wrote:Yep, John Hockensmith. He goes to our church and takes prom pictures. They're all over his shop's window right now.

Haha very cool. I'll have to search around and see if I can find his book.

Annnnnnd just to keep this semi on topic lol Hikaru the figure 8 is doing wonderfully. He decided krill were quite tasty.

Krill should only be fed as an occasional treat. It's known to cause lockjaw in some species. But every couple of weeks should be fine.

eeeeeek I was totally unaware of that. Thanks for the heads up I'll be sure to curtail his krill supply. I'm heading to a better store soon to get him that mixed seafood pack so he'll have variety. I know it can't be healthy for him to just eat mysis shrimp.

Don't forget earthworms, crickets, ghost shrimp (feed the crickets and shrimp veggies first to be more healthy).

I always have frozen, raw shrimp in the freezer and just thaw one out and let the puffers chew on it till they are full, as a way to make my snail supply last longer.

On the horse topic, I didn't realize we had so many riders I currently have a Rocky Mtn mare, a 3yr old TWH I'm training but he's way behind in development so probably no riding till late fall, and was just asked to take on two part perch's and do their ground training.. I don't know if I want to bother dealing with non-gaited horses anymore though, they just don't have the same willing, sweet attitudes as gaited and of course, my back much prefers less bouncing heehee. But training part drafts would be fun and man are they amazing looking, I can just imagine what riding them will be like.

(in the past I've had a saddlebred/morgan and raised/trained an appy from a yearling, he's now doing eventing with a girl down in IL).

You better be careful...draft horses are addictive! I own three clydesdales and 4 Gypsy horses. I would not go back to light horses, I just cannot believe how gentle the drafts are! I think you will fall inl ove with the percherons!

Jan

Oh I hear you there if draft horses are addicting then bring on the addiction lol. I love the drafts.

Myaj I didn't realize we had so many riders either. I've always owned quarters and paints. I've never actually ridden a gaited horse. You really don't see them that much down here. We mostly have quarters, arabs, morgans, and paints. Rocky Mtn horses are gorgeous. I had the pleasure of seeing one on a trail once. Does your mare have the typical chocolate coat color with the flaxen mane and tail? My 3 yr old paint is behind in training too. He lives with my aunt three hours away from my college so I have trouble getting up there regularly. My cousin was helping but he threw her and when she landed she tore her ACL and fractured her tibia. So she's out of commision for a bit. In the horse's defense I don't think she lounged him prior to getting on so he wasn't relaxed enough with the saddle to begin with. Not to mention it was the first time he had someone on him w/o a person standing at his head. Needless to say I was irked at her. I've been on him twice with someone standing at his head and he did fine. Walked around the ring a bit, he reared up and tried to bolt once when I shifted my weight and spooked him but my aunt was standing at his head and brought him back down. He's just young and has a lot to learn.

I had completely forgotten about earthworms but my lfs is supposed to be getting in some ghost shrimp soon and I was going to go pick some up.

qtrhorse89 wrote: Which leads to a question...how badly does it hurt to get nipped by one of these fellows? Are we talking a little stinging or the need for stitches. He's small but i've seen what he can do to a snail so I'm kind of wondering. I don't really know what he'd do if I ever gave him the chance to approach my fingers in the water and I'm not sure I have the nerve to hold still long enough to find out. He will bob his head out of the water at me if he decides I'm to slow with providing the next shrimp. It's incredibly cute! I've been using forceps to feed him to minimize waste. He caught on quick.

My f8 has never managed to catch my fingers, but my gsp got me once when i wasnt looking; it pinched a little and left a tiny red circle on my index finger.

Been out of town here (riding trip in S. Indiana, whoo was it HOT), but found the thread.

Did you try the earthworms? See if your store has crickets too, they usually keep them in stock for feeding lizards.

My mare is a "red chocolate" which means basically she's a bay with the chocolate gene. So a bay with the flaxen mane and tail really, there's photos of her (and my others) in my gallery I'm sure. I'm actually not a fan of the standard "chocolate" if they have too many dapples. I'm a sucker for a bay though

+1 for Southern Indiana and Holiday World that place rocks