The Puffer Forum

So, I have a small dilemma... I have 3 tanks, a normal 20 gallon, a 90 gallon (48L x 24H), and a 50 gallon (48L x 20H).

The plan was to have the 90 gallon be a terrestrial aquascape with a dead bonsai draped in moss so it looked alive. It was also going to house a couple SAP and what not. The 20 gallon was to be planted and house shrimp and snails for feeding. And the 50 was up in the air, though breading discus sounded like fun.

The 20 was set up and is currently planted and has a number of RCS (25/$10 on craigslist while on vacation was quite a find). The issue is that my girlfriend surprised my with fishes one day, and the 20 was all that was set up, so in they went. 4 Guppies, 5 Neon Tetras, 4 Cherry Barbs, 3 Kuhli Loaches, 2 Cory Cats (only 1.5" or so at the moment), and 2 Endlers... though there are now 6-7 more Endlers and a few tiny Guppy fry (3-4).

The RCS fry will almost certainly be eaten by all parties mentioned, excepting the Cats and maybe the Loaches... so they need to move. The bonsai is going to be far too small for the 90 gallon anyway, so that is going to go in the 20 gallon and the 90 will likely be receiving the plants. If I move the fish to the 90, the SAPs will almost certainly harass the smaller fish, as would other larger fish right? If left, they will ear the shrimp fry... and realistically, a 90 gallon tank would look a little odd with a bunch of 1-2" fishes.

I've heard Cory Cats are fine in shrimp tanks, and Loaches might be as well, but the rest are no go... I was contemplating putting DPs in the small tank rather than SAPs in the big tank, but then regardless of where I moved the RCS, they would either have their fry eaten, or be eaten themselves...

Optionally I could set up the 50 (don't have a filter, light, or heater yet) with a divider and then the shrimp could have the 20, the puffers et al could have the 90, and the fish could have one half of the 50, and a breading pair of discus could have the other half, moving their fry to the first half once they mature enough...

I just have too many ideas running through my head at the moment on ways to address that I've gotten attached to the fish I wasn't planning on having, and wouldn't want to get rid of them... :/

Oh, and I also was given some marimo balls by my friend Miho after her trip to Japan which I wanted in a tank with enough current to have them roll around... the 90 has two filters which I thought would achieve this, but if it's to be planted I don't know if there would be enough room for them to do so (they are 2-4").

So yeah... any advice or comments would be fantastic, thanks!

I know the girlfriend meant well...

But if I were you I would take most of those fish back.....especially if I already had a plan in mind.

For sure the guppies should go because you will end up with more fry..

purplecandle wrote:I know the girlfriend meant well...

But if I were you I would take most of those fish back.....especially if I already had a plan in mind.

For sure the guppies should go because you will end up with more fry..

I thought about that, but sadly the guppies are the ones I'm most attached to... They are very unique, and I always stop by the guppy tank when I go to the LFS... And I go way more than I should, let alone need to.

Not to mention she would likely be very sad.

WOW those are some really nicely colored guppies.

Bcummings8521 wrote:WOW those are some really nicely colored guppies.

Thanks, the only place I've seen them so nice was when they were in a separate tank at the LFS and like $6 a pop... These were randomly in with the normal ones.

I was going to split the discus tank anyway as it was recomended to remove the fry after a few weeks so they break more, and don't hurt the adults by feeding off their sides too long. Even though 20-30g is supposed to be enough for a pair it seems small to me though.

Maybe I'll just get another 10-20 tank for the fish, I'm running out of room though. Lucky the stand for the 90 can hold two. I was going to move the 20 to my computer table once I was redoing it and setting up the 50.

Alright, so I made the descision, all of the fish are now in the 90 along with three new dwarf puffers. There's a male and a female that have buddied up and are now hanging out together, and another thats off on its own and very pale... I think its a female, but I can't tell because it's so faded. I tried to get 1 and 2 at the store, but it was hard to tell then. If it's a male, I'll probably go get 3 more females I guess.

You are keeping DPs with the guppies?

Pufferpunk wrote:You are keeping DPs with the guppies?

Yeah, I know it's not a great idea, and its probably only temporary, but it's a heavily planted 90 gallon tank so everyone should have enough room to avoid fighting I think... :/

At the moment the puffs stay mostly toward hhe bottom and the guppies are at the top, and its a 24" tall tank so...

But I thought you liked those pretty tails???

I'd be afraid of parisites from thr guppies.

Pufferpunk wrote:But I thought you liked those pretty tails???

+1 lol

You could get only a guppy tank of men? No woman, so no fry The men are the most beautiful of them, so i would do that.

The fry of the guppy's and up as food for the DP's i think.. and also that is not good for the DP's.. I agree that guppy's are very nice and beautiful fish! ( i have only guppy's and puffers, but not together )