The Puffer Forum

ok, so i have a buyer for my red devil.... and i have access to a murius at a LFS about an hour away.... my question is: how important is sand for a murius? i have gravel now, and dont really want to change to sand (mainly because i just added my Dr. Tims and it would be a total waste) but knowing that, should i stay away from a murius? i find them intriguing and beautiful, but i dont want to get it if its the wrong substrate.... i just want to check... i know they like sand but how important is it over gravel? puffer punk? any suggestions? i know you are probably itching to answer this question any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Considering they spend 99% of their time buried up to their eyeballs in the sand... They are ambush predators. Their method of "hunting" is to lay in wait under the sand for food to swim/crawl by & pounce out in surprise.

please, it's miurus, spelled m-i-u-r-u-s
sorry, but that drives me nuts!
thanks,
"ollie"

bet it does drive you nuts... sorry bout that but... okay i guess its not the puff for me id LOVE to have one, but im not willing to replace it with sand... or have a tank that constantly looks empty because hes burried all the time... glad i checked first... im sad now, but at least i know he wouldnt be happy there, which makes me not so sad that im not going to get him... i wouldnt want a sad puffer

BTW, Kukah puffed today! and i have pix! check out my post.... ill have the pix up soon.... glad i caught it cause he only did it for about 30 seconds.... i have before (cause i just happened to be taking the pic anyway), during, and fully puffed EEEKKK good pix too!

hey pufferpunk, your puff in the avatar is in gravel.... is that a quarantine tank? or is he normally in gravel? and how does he do with it? does he seem sad or depressed ever? and how in the heck is he so freaking red! ive only seen the pinkish ones... is the pic enhanced or is it a different species or is it the food he gets? ive been meaning to ask... how in the world is he so gorgeous!?

kilofey wrote:ok, so i have a buyer for my red devil.... and i have access to a murius at a LFS about an hour away.... my question is: how important is sand for a murius? i have gravel now, and dont really want to change to sand (mainly because i just added my Dr. Tims and it would be a total waste) but knowing that, should i stay away from a murius? i find them intriguing and beautiful, but i dont want to get it if its the wrong substrate.... i just want to check... i know they like sand but how important is it over gravel? puffer punk? any suggestions? i know you are probably itching to answer this question any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

depends on the gravel (or sand)
"ollie" has a very fine grained gravel (coarse sand?) that has rounded/non abrasive grains that are epoxy coated
it's distributed by "Art Rock" in Huntington Park, Ca.
"ollie" has absolutely no trouble getting into or out of it
it's very attractive, easy to stir & maintain, natural looking, and shows his coloring well
it also comes in several different grain sizes
miurus puffers are indeed intriguing & beautiful, but as Pufferpunk wrote, they spend a whole lot of time inactive

hmmm all good things to think about.... i have regular petstore gravel.... too heavy? im seriously considering getting him... very pretty little guy/girl? but i just want to make absolutely shure i would be giving it the right tank conditions... you kno how that goes im sure... and i thought about it, im kind of okay with him bing inactive.... my cat lays around the house all the time. big fat lazy kitty... and i love her what about a turtle dock or another type of shelf (submerged of coruse) would they use one to sit on? or JUST on or in the substrate? i have so many questions and im really sorry... i just want to be fully educated before i decide... and the puffer pedia didnt completely do it for me... because the puffer pedia doesnt exactly have one lol... i like hearing from people that have one and deal with them on a daily basis

kilofey wrote:hmmm all good things to think about.... i have regular petstore gravel.... too heavy? im seriously considering getting him... very pretty little guy/girl? but i just want to make absolutely shure i would be giving it the right tank conditions... you kno how that goes im sure... and i thought about it, im kind of okay with him bing inactive.... my cat lays around the house all the time. big fat lazy kitty... and i love her what about a turtle dock or another type of shelf (submerged of coruse) would they use one to sit on? or JUST on or in the substrate? i have so many questions and im really sorry... i just want to be fully educated before i decide... and the puffer pedia didnt completely do it for me... because the puffer pedia doesnt exactly have one lol... i like hearing from people that have one and deal with them on a daily basis

look at the gravel in my user gallery pictures
it's the same gravel in both "ollies" tank & the DPs tank
i wouldn't go any coarser than that
miurus puffers are sometimes difficult to wean off of live food
feeding them can be a bit of a chore
are you up for that?
a turtle dock is not likely to be a benefit
these puffers, when not buried, usually just sit around on the substrate most of the time
typically, they're pretty lazy, and don't spend much time swimming
if "ollies" tank wasn't on my desk, where i spend a lot of time, i probably wouldn't see him very often
as for personality - big time!

*sigh* okay. although i wouldnt mind a fish who likes to loaf around and be a couch potato, since i can be the same way at times lol... the substrate and feeding requirements seem to be not for me.... but at least i could make an informed and decision about it... thank you for all your help....

all the LFS within 50 miles of me only seem to have brackish (and one red eye but whoo hoo, one small fish for 55 gal lol).... so now i gotta decide... do i RREEAALLLYY wanna deal with BW? i dont know guess i gotta do a little research on how complicated it would be... because when my working season picks back up (im a heavy equipment operator, and we dont work in the winter) i will be working sometimes 16 hrs a day... gotta find out how much more time and effort and testing it will take.... what about F8s? i read they need low end brackish... exactly how low end are we talking? low enough to where i could just.... leave it out? how detramental is it for them? life and death or just somewhat reccomended? and it would be my first brackish tank if they absolutely needed it, so it would be a learning process... im not saying im going to go right out and go buy them and mistreat them, im trying to learn, so dont shoot me over that pls lol

RTR did a study and found that F8s live significantly longer and are significantly healthier in BW. He concluded that, yeah, it's pretty much necessary.

If you decide to go brackish a F8 needs around 1.005 sg which IMO isn't that hard to maintain. I too think you should make the tank brackish if you plan on getting a F8.

kilofey wrote:hey pufferpunk, your puff in the avatar is in gravel.... is that a quarantine tank? or is he normally in gravel? and how does he do with it? does he seem sad or depressed ever? and how in the heck is he so freaking red! ive only seen the pinkish ones... is the pic enhanced or is it a different species or is it the food he gets? ive been meaning to ask... how in the world is he so gorgeous!?

I just put her into a small tank with gravel on the bottom to photograph her. She was bright red to begin with. Waited 3-4 years to find a red one like her. The substrate she lived in is 1/2 black sand & 1/2 red gravel, to keep her looking her natural color--didn't want her to try to blend in with white/black/brown sand.

well, hmmmm.... IF i decide to do brackish... i was thinking of getting this flounder i saw today, or possibly 2... i fell in love with him immediately heres a website about them http://whatthepets.blogspot.com/2006/08 ... under.html they require a min of 10 gal which doesnt seem much to me and get max 6" long.... has anyone had these and will they go with a couple F8s? anyone know their temperament? i know F8s are more docile than GSPs so they shouldnt pick on them too much i wouldnt think, i wouldnt think they would snatch the F8s up since they go for tiny fish and particles that are on the ground... they are about the size of a quarter.... i read they are relatively hard to find

wasn't sand an issue for you?

yea... but i saw on a few fourms where people asked the same question and other people said they had gravel... so im thinking it will be fine... at least for a while... eventually, im sure i will get sick of gravel cause honestly, i really cant stand it for cleaning reasons, i will probably end up switching to pool filter sand like my other tank has in a couple months or so