The Puffer Forum

is there any way i can possibly find an equilibrium between snails (or shrimp) and a SAP? i know someone here had one going between MTS and their GSP, and i want to try and replicate this with my tank. is there any kind of snail that my puffer won't attack the adults and just go after the babies, or is there a species that can breed faster than my puffer will eat them? i want to do this mainly for my SAP to cut back on having to trim its teeth, but would also like to do this for my F8 Ra. i can get pretty much any species of snail you can imagine so any suggestions will help.

There is no satisfactory or even theoretically possible way of balancing predators and prey within a single enclosure. That is why sumps and refugia, or separate enclosures were created. It is not nice, or even possible, to fool Mother Nature.

It smacks of the antique myths about "balanced" tanks - there has never been one, and is not likely to ever be one. Entropy and the nature of predators and prey are against you.

It is possible to set multi-chambered systems for longer-term operation, but it does involve a lot of trial and error and re-design. Ecologies, even micro-ecologies are unbelievably complex. If you want reference on this, start with the works of Walter Adey.