The Puffer Forum

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Fairy-shrimp-Strepto ... 414d7de472

Has anyone ever raised these? Have information on them? They good puffer food?

I'm trying to find a quick growing crunchy food for the puffers. The snails and cherry shrimp aren't keeping up.

Cant help you there but they look really pretty..80,000 eggs lol wow but it may 14 to 21 days for shipping...do you think the eggs will survive that amount of time? and the rough handling..

They are not very meaty. Red Cherry shrimp would be better, though still quite small, they are bigger and meatier than fairy shrimp (more appendages than body), and reproduce better than anything else I have kept.

What size tank are you using for the Red Cherries with what for cover?

This is the shrimp tank. The moss has approximately quadrupled in size, there's a new clump of a dark green moss, and a new java fern (which doesn't look too hot, I removed it from the 50gal as it wasn't doing well). Tank is cycled and isn't filtered but has a bubble disk to provide aeration and current.

I'm feeding Ocean Nutrition algae wafers, HBH Crab and Lobster bites, and NLS sinking wafers. I've been trying with spinach however it won't freeze enough to be broken into pieces. I'm still putting it in though as I can never find any of the leftover pieces.

Their population along with the snails were just exploding, now it seems they've all stopped.

The puffers love live food, it completely changes their attitudes for a couple days. I've been contemplating buying new shrimp and putting more in this tank, some in my tank at home, and some in the 50gal.

The shot does not have nearly enough cover, but 4x the moss will help, Tear it apart into clumps.

How big is the tank? It looks smallish. Why no filter? What partials? Water GH/KH? Are you breaking the tablets up before feeding? Tablets are for big critters, RCs are never big. (potential competition issue) Move the snails out - that is competition. The tank base need to be nearly solid plants, with enough space for the shrimp to get around (a solid moss carpet doesn't work), and some semblance of shelter for molting - the plane wreck should serve for that.

If it is a tank size issue, I know of no solution for that but a larger tank. Remember that the food chain is a pyramid - the "lower" levels are always larger than the upper. That translates roughly into the fact that you cannot raise food for 50 gallons of fish in a 5 gallon tank. Not even pond snails will do that.

But it bothers me that the RCs "stopped" breeding. that sounds like water problems of some sort. They seem to be nearly indestructible. Have you seen any molt deaths?

The tank is 10gal, I can try to get a current picture.

I have no filter because I can't stand water noise and they seem to hate the current (had one). As soon as I turn the bubbler off they come out but when it's on they're much more scarce. Water changes aren't scheduled, I try to do them every 2-3 days and I do 50% changes. I've set it up so the changes are slow, all water goes through airline tubing. Takes a good hour but I remember reading that they don't like water changes so I try to minimize any large changes.

I have yet to find a single death from the shrimp, I should have said significantly slowed down A female just had her young within the past couple days (perhaps more than 1). Out of the adult females now (maybe 5-6 of them) none are berried. 3 have saddles but no eggs yet. This is definitely slower than the beginning when I would have 2-3 berried at the same time.

The plants are growing in the big tank so perhaps soon I can grab some of those and move them over. I believe the tank is high light but I won't be adding any fertilizers or anything to it so I'll need to identify the easy keepers.

I have no idea what the GH and KH are but the water is very hard and excellent quality. The NLS wafers are easy to break up and I do break those up, the algae wafers are extremely hard so there's some small pieces and then a large one. The C&L Bites are already quite small.

I can't remember if there was anything else. The neighbours are blaring music and I'm getting frazzled.

The water is fine if the pH is higher than neutral, and if the water is really hard it is likely alkaline as well. Your GH and KH should be fine. I do 50% changes with a pump and the water refills pretty fast - with sand I have to baffle it to kept fro having to re-scape.

Have you ever tried:

http://www.petdiscounters.com/c244/Elit ... p7371.html

These filters have been around for generations, they were Tetra, way back when Tetra was really Tetra, but the new owners sold the two best products in the line off immediately - this filter design ( the Tetra Briliant or Billi) and the Tetra Luft pump which is now made by Coralife. Several companies market the sponge filters but the one pictured is what I get now - but mine are from the LFS. The pumps are $$, but I still have a couple over 20 years old and running fine and quietly. The filters need only a single stream of bubbles, and the right-angled neck is adjusted to release with the opening only 50% in the water - maximum quiet. I use at least one per ten gallons - my 30-long and 33XL shrimp tanks have 3 each and have operated well for years. The 20s have two. The tens tended to have only one for shrimp ( i have since given up tens). Rinse one sponge each week in removed tank water. The relatively fine sponges are great grazing grounds for the shrimp - infusoria heaven, as is Java Moss. The pumps are suspended by elastic loops from cup hooks screwed into the underside of the shelves above those tanks. One pump runs multiple of these filters (at least 5-6, can do more with careful adjustments). The filter sponges last ~ ten years. or a bit more. These make only slightly more noise than a canister filter. Careful release of the bubbles without using more than needed,and suspending the air pump in the air are both key factors. The long-life is one of my "things."

Small tanks, especially 10s for some reason, require much more light in terms of WPG than larger tanks. Just like tanks above mid-size, especially over 100 gallons if not over 2' deep, require fewer WPG. the frequently quoted lighting standards are for mid-sized tanks only, say 20/25 through 65/75 - outside that range you need either more or less.

HTH

Yep, I can definitely pick up one of those. We have to make an order to get an iron supplement as the plants that were reddish are now brownish. I took the small plants from the big tank and have put them in the little one. I also pruned some of the plants and put the cuttings in the little tank. I can do more but don't have the time right now. I shouldn't even be on here The puffers are very hard on the plants and little ones are never able to stay in, they keep coming out. I figure they can grow out in the little tank

It would be nice if it were easy to just move plants around OR if the puffers would let some live in the tank. Unfortunately they are extremely enthusiastic about hunting. The shrimp are doing a wonderful job of cleaning the brown algae off of these plants.

Try this site for plant supplements: http://www.yamatogreen.com. Myaj loves their dechlor too.

Thanks for the suggestion but it'll be way cheaper to buy it locally and Seachem makes an iron supplement.

I also do use fishless tanks as grow-out space for cuttings and baby plantlets. Fish are not particularly cooperative in letting small things grow without disturbance. It is not just puffers - lots of carfish are much worse. Shrimp and snail tanks are dandy for that grow-out use in my house.

Good to know I'm trying to wait patiently for the tank to fill in but it's taking too long and the puffers ruin all the small plants by their spastic glass pacing. The larger plants have rooted and are nice and solid but the little ones either didn't have a chance or were regularly uprooted. These guys move inches of substrate (one does probably 80% of all of it).

This'll help me plant up the little tank as well as my big one

Try playing with the (front glass, usually) current for the restless one. Some individual critters need or want more exercise than others, rather like people. More current mean easy exercise for the fish - a wet treadmill. But it does control and/or limit the areas used.

(Un)fortunately the current is already quite strong (poor plants can't stay put to root) with the intake at one end and the output at the other. It's got two places where it's determined to get through the glass. We'll eventually be putting a moss wall up to block them as it really seems to be visual. Put a towel over the end and the behaviour stops.

So, upon feeding more and adding in more plants it seems that the shrimp are coming out of the woodwork. I've been putting young shrimp into the puffer tank at night. I don't believe that any of them have been eaten as I don't see the puffers hunting for them. I've seen several live ones hiding as well. I don't have too many adults yet but a ton of young ones so I'm trying to reduce their population a bit to prevent overpopulation while leaving enough to replace the adults when they die.

Need more tanks Actually, I would love a small aquascaped shrimp tank. If we don't get a dog that may be on the list to be done over the summer...