The Puffer Forum

Well, I started out w/a nice bright red one to begin with.

Well mine is quite red, although I hope I can improve his colour more through good husbandry. Has punkster gotten brighter with time? Or just always so bright?

oh, and do you think I should go with sand instead? I could replace it, I don't mind.

My preference for T.miurus is sand. P)0

ok...do you think it would be ok if i keep 1/2 of the gravel underneath and make the top 1/2 sand? enoght sand to burrow in though.

Over time, and faster with a puff burrowing regularly, differing particle sizes initially layered will sort themselves. The smallest end up at the bottom and the largest at the top. In the setup you describe, the sand will become the bottom layer, the gravel the top - the opposite of what you want.

i see...my concern is just that the substrate is from an established tank and is where a chunk of my bio filtration is coming from riight now. Do you thing just the seeded filter will hold its own if i change all the substrate out?

I am very conservative on tank re-doing. My first rule is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". In a stable, established tank with one or more mature filters, I can take a lot of liberties. In a freshly set tank, I handle it as though I were walking on eggs.

I have 2 filters on the tank and only 1 is established, so I'll wait a while before changing anything.

Punkster has always been bright red. I use 2/3 black sand & 1/3 red gravel in hopes that she sees the red & will continue to match it. Many folks have made the mistake of buying the "brick" colored puffer in hopes that it will turn red--it will not.

he's red already...good idea with the combo.