The Puffer Forum

I have a problem: Plants live very well in my cory and pleco tanks. But they don't want to live in my puffer tanks. Even plants that are supposed to be very easy to grow dies in my puffer tanks. This is getting really annoying, and isn't very well for the puffers either. Besides the fact that the puffers loses plants to hide between, the water also is affected when the plants start rotting. I have a few ideas about what happens, but I would like to hear what you suggest too. What happens in my puffer tanks, and how can I find a solution that makes the plants thrive in those tanks too?

All tanks will respond in slightly different ways. Could the puffers themselves be attacking the plants or roots?

If you don't think that the puffers are damaging the plants then how powerful are your lights (WP(US)G)?
What substrate are you using?
What fertilisers are you using and how much are you dosing?
Do you add extra CO2?
What plants are you attempting to grow?

Do you keep the tanks differently? i.e are the puffer tanks so well looked after that there isn't a trace of NPK or trace elements around for them to feed on?

For me, FW puffer tanks are always planted, and are handled exactly like the other FW fish or invert planted tanks. I handle both basically the same regarding lighting, substrate, nutrient addition, and partials. There is likely some differences in the plants used, but those vary with all of the inhabitants of the tank - to suit their lifestyles and swimming needs, whether puffer or something else. Other than the giant FW puffers, I have not found it necessary to select special plants or handling due to puffers. Giants never have much plant variety in my tanks.

Planting for Cichlid and catfish tanks tends to trickier than for puffer tanks IME.

HTH

I have had plecos with corries. Plecos poop a lot, cories serperate the poop as they sift through the sand, poop becomes poop dust..I imagine that plants might like poop dust??

Just a thought, I know nothing about plants.

RTR wrote:Planting for Cichlid and catfish tanks tends to trickier than for puffer tanks IME.

In my house it's the other way around. I use the same plants, the same substrate and the same lighting. The only differences is the PH (lower in my cory and catfish tanks), that the water is stored before pouring it into the tank in my cory and catfish tanks, whether the tank has a cover (most of my cory tanks have no cover, but that's not all of them), and what I think is the main difference: what food I use in the tanks. My puffers get frozen shrimps and other stuff like that. My cories and catfishes get more "dry" food, like different kinds of tablets, discus granules and bloodworms. I don't think the bloodworms affect the plant growth, but I suspect that the dry food maybe do. Dry food tend to leave a lot of dust on the bottom, and it's also easier to overfeed when you use it (and I suspect I overfeed some - especially the cories, as I want them to have lots of eggs). My puffers, on the other hand, get food measured up to exactly what they need, as I only have one puffer in each tank. Well, that's what I have been thinking about myself.

Here's the answers to the other questions:

Iliveinazoo wrote:Could the puffers themselves be attacking the plants or roots?

No, they don't.

If you don't think that the puffers are damaging the plants then how powerful are your lights (WP(US)G)?

I can't give you the exact numbers, but it's no difference in what light I use in puffer tanks and the other tanks, except differences because of the size of the tank. Besides I use fluorecent tubes that are not very well marked with information.

What substrate are you using?

Sand in all but two tanks; one of those two has catfishes, the other has a puffer). All other have sand, both in puffer tanks and cory tanks. Except of course my BW tanks. But I don't have plants in those.

What fertilisers are you using and how much are you dosing?

I am really bad at remembering using fertilizers - both in puffer and cory/catfish tanks. No difference there. I have tried to remember to use fertilizers in puffer tanks lately, but it's so few times that I can't see any difference.

Do you add extra CO2?

No.

What plants are you attempting to grow?

My favorite plant is Hydrocotyle leucocephala. It's a very easy plant to grow, and it grows quickly...but not in my puffer tanks. I really, really don't understand why. It grows so quickly in my cory tanks, and you can use it both floating and as a plant growing a little on the bottom (it doesn't stay there though). I also use Echinodorus bleheri in some tanks, and some kind of vallisneria in some. But in my puffer tanks, they all die off, or only partly survive. Those are the three most used plants in my tanks. I have a few other I don't know the names of.

Do you keep the tanks differently? i.e are the puffer tanks so well looked after that there isn't a trace of NPK or trace elements around for them to feed on?

I have the same frequency on water changes in all my tanks (with a few exceptions). As I said earlier in this message, the cories get lower PH and has the water stored before pumping it into the tanks. That's the only differences when it comes to the water. One other difference is that none of my puffers have external filters, only internal ones. Not all my cory tanks have external filters either, but the majority have. I do have one cory tank where I can't make the plants survive though, but there's something very odd with that tank. I think the problem there can be the low PH.

When I think of it, my cory and catfish tanks probably are the exception here, as I didn't succeed with plants before I started keeping those fishes. I have more cory tanks than puffer tanks now though.

According to the Tropica website your PH shouldn't be causing a problem:

http://www.tropica.com/plants/plantdesc ... px?pid=038
http://www.tropica.com/plants/plantdesc ... px?pid=071
http://www.tropica.com/plants/plantdesc ... x?pid=055A

It lists Vallis as doing well up to a PH of 8 but I had it growing nicely above 8 in my Brackish tank for a couple of years until I overdosed Flourish Excel and killed it off.

You have an inert substrate so the plants would benefit from root tab fertilisers. Also add a liquid fertiliser (with nitrate, phosphate and potassium) when you notice signs of defficiency.

You mention that the tanks with flake food that settles on the bottom as the tanks where the plants grow the best which makes sense because the plants will be taking in the nutrients from the leftover food as it breaks down.

If you're not going to remember to add ferts regularly then you could always add it at water change time and then everything is done at the same time?

Internal versus external filtration should not have any effect. Placement of filters has no effect on the filtration itself. If there are significant difference in the currents provided by the two filter types, that could affect plant growth.

If you are overfeeding the catfish tanks, that would affect plant growth. But puffers tend to be messy eaters - it can be harder for me to keep puffer tanks clean than catfish tanks.

All of my water is aged, none is fresh from the tap. But that should not make a big difference in plant growth.