The Puffer Forum

Ok, i will e asking my parents for a 20L for my birthday so that i can get a puffer, because i cant put one in my 38gal community. I'm asking for opinions on my plans for stocking, snail breeding, aquascaping, etc. also, any helpful input would be appreciated, as ive never had a puffer before.

as stated, the tank will be a 20L. I plan to have 1 or 2 driftwood pieces for decor and hiding places, and i think ill have some anubias growing on the wood and some low light plants (crypts & hornwort or milfoil) growing in the substrate. substrate will be either fine gravel, sand, or a mixture of fine gravel/sand/gravel from my 38gal.

I will be using my 38gal community tank and possibly my sister's 5gal tank (which is currently housing a dwarf gourami and mystery snail) to breed MTS. I will take MTS from the 38gal and 5gal a couple times a week and put them in the 20L puffer tank. Some will bury themselves, some will be eaten by the puffer to keep its beak down.

i will be keeping one of the following puffers:
Auriglobus modestus, Auriglobus silus, Colomesus asellus, Monotrete abei, Tetraodon cutcutia

please give me any and all opinions on what i plan to do. tell me which puffer you think i should get. give me your opinions on the snail breeding project.
Any help is appreciated!!!

I forgot to add- how many dwarf puffers would i be ableto keep in there if i chose to keep dwarfs? Would i have to feed them snails if i just kept dwarfs?

MTS's aren't a very good snails to give to puffers, especially dwarves. They have a very hard shell. DP's usually don't need hard shelled foods for their teeth, they seem to be fine on there own. Frozen or live bloodworms will be fine for food.

The modestus and silus would definately work. Four DP's would work also. No SAP (Colomesus asellus). They prefer schools of at least 3, and need lots of space as they love to swim. I wouldn't do an abei. They are very active and I'd say they'd need more room then normally suggested. Cutcutia? I'll have to look that up.

Ramhorn or common pond snails would be a great snail to breed for the modestus or silus.

Congrats on the tank! Let's hope your parents say yes! And good luck!

L stands for long. l stands for liters.

Ok, so if i got the 4 dwarfs i would just have to feed like pellets and bloodworms?

If i go with modestus or silus would it be a good idea to go to petsmart and ask them if i can take all their little hitchhiker snails and ramshorn snails out of their plant tank?

Mmm, mine don't touch pellets, especially hard ones. You can get these backs of frozen bloodworms for like 5 bucks, I've had it all summer and I haven't put a dent into it!

Yes, snails will be fine, but not MTS's. Like I said, they have really hard shells. Even small ones.

Worms are great. Snails are great. Try euthanizing (by blunt trauma, not meds) a ghost shrimp and giving them bits, then freezing the rest for later. (If you never quarantined the shrimp, freeze it for at least a week before you offer any to them.) You can try regular raw shrimp, but my DPs wouldn't touch it.

is it possible for me to regularly collect snails and freeze them, then feed them to the puffers as needed?

also, could i feed dwarf and silus & modestus puffers freeze dried bloodworms?

Mine also love freeze-dried plankton. Don't forget frozen mysis either. Have you seen the feeding article in our Library?

No ill have to check it out. If i get the dwarfs, how many would i be able to keep? Im not good at sexing.. The tank would be pretty well broken up. Lotsa fake & real plants, and some wood.

Great sexing article in the Library.

Ok. Again, would taking hitchhiker and rams horn snails from petsmart and breeding them as puffer food be a good idea?

Absolutely! All you need is a bucket. Snail breeding article in our Library.

Sweet! This is going smoothly. I just called my lfs and the owner said he can get dwarfs, auriglobius modestus, and A. silus. I just have to call him when im ready for him to order some.