New SAP and tank - a few questions for the experienced.

[ATXpuffer]

Hey everyone. I'm new to owning a fish that has very specific needs, and I need some help to be proactive and figure out solutions before the problems show up. I'm a young college grad from Texas, and I have done a fair amount of research and lurking here. I value the opinions and advice of anyone who would like to contribute to this thread, but if you are going to point out a mistake I've made, please do so kindly.

In short, here is where I stand. I have a 15 gallon tank with a single juvenile Colomesus Asellus. I did something stupid and bought the tank setup and the fish at the same time, so the puffer is in a cleaned and dechlorinated tank with a few artificial plants and some decor to hide in/around, but no established biological filtration.

I am on day 4 of owning the little dude, and he seems happy as can be. He is anxious for me to come to the tank, eats readily, and will even take food (in this case mysis shrimp) from between my fingers. There are no signs of discomfort or illness.

So, the problems I have are:

1) It was dumb to not buy the tank and cycle it first. My LFS is very knowledgeable (yet they still sold me a fish and a brand-new tank), and people from all around Texas travel to them for fresh and saltwater needs. They recommended I try API Stress Zyme (day 1, day 7, and day 14 are the days to add it) to help kick-start the cycling with the fish in tank. I am concerned that I will start running into spiking levels that may kill the little fella. Do y'all have any recommendations for how to prevent this? Will dilution via water changes (every couple days, every week, etc.) help me keep this tank safe for sustaining life while the cycle completes and bacteria form?

2) Snails. There are two things I would REALLY like to avoid. One of those is having to try and trim the beak on this puffer by hand. The other is having to raise and breed snails in a second setup. Are there any techniques for keeping tooth growth at a minimum other than a steady diet of snails? My LFS doesn't sell the ones that breed in their tanks, and the snails Petco gave me for free are too big for the little guy (he just eats their heads off). I've read of people feeding their puffers on a granite slab so that the beak is ground against it, but that sounds dubious at best. What do y'all do if snails aren't an option?

Thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to contribute positive and constructive criticism and advice.

[Srkoe]

Welcome!!!! I am in Texas as well, Killeen area to be exact. I come to Austin about once a week for supplies. I am guessing you got your sap from Aquatek? On the other hand it's hard for me to believe to info they gave you. Not that I don't believe YOU just that they did not give you good info, it disappoints me . For starters all puffers are a little harder to take care of and have specific needs. You will need snails LOTS OF THEM! I bought a small wanders 1.5 gallon complete with filter from petsmart for 20 dollars...perfect for snails. Use pond snails and ramshorns, they breed great. Sony let anyone talk you into trumpet snails, their shells are far to hard and they are invasive as all get out. Okay, here we go....15 gallon is too small in the fact that sap's need to ne housed in a small group, they are much happier that way. I suggest looking on craigslist for a much larger tank immediately! More than likely your sap will not survive a cycle. For now go get a bottle of tetra safestart and pour in directly in the filter. Also use prime as a watet conditioner, it will lock the ammonia and nitrites. Get a good LIQUID test kit and run daily tests on the watet. I would also suggest doing daily if not twice daily large water changes. Go to a local LFS and ask for some used filter media or a small handful of substrate from a healthy tank. The beneficial bacteria will cycle your tank faster. Keep it wet and get it in your tank immediately! Saps are notorious for getting ich, keep a close eye for whitespots. Good luck!

[Blaine]

+1 to Srkoe

Get your hands on some cycled filter media (usually filter floss) from someone with an established tank if at all possible. Test you water daily for ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrates and do 50-75% water changes to keep the levels as low as possible until your cycle finishes.

Also for SAP's you will need to add some more to the tank to keep them comfortable (they are a schooling puffer) so you will need a larger tank when you do.

Don't feel too bad,...puffers are so irresistible they contribute to alot of impulse buys. You are not the first person in this situation. As long as you take immediate action and are very diligent in checking your water parameters you should be o.k.

[ATXpuffer]

Thanks for the info Srkoe and Blaine. I actually got the puffer in San Antonio at Fintique. Ill be moving up to a larger tank in the next three months, but for the time being, budget and the need to move once more before being in a permanent residence will limit me to the setup I already have. I guess I need to get a test kit though, and I've heard liquid is the only way to go. When I got the puffer, he was indeed schooling, but not with other SAPs (I forgot the kind of fish it was, but they were not puffers and he was not fighting with them in the 10 or 20 gal. tank they were all in).

Any other suggestions, specifically regarding the beak and keeping it at bay? I know breeding snails isn't amazingly difficult, but it is one more tank to deal with.

[Blaine]

As far as SAP's teeth go, you are pretty much guaranteed to have to play dentist from what I have seen, regardless of how many snails you feed.

SAP"s teeth grow very fast. I have never kept any myself so others can chime in if I'm wrong, but everyone I have come across has had to trim the teeth at some point.

That being said I have seen some that manage to do it very easily, clipping the teeth without anesthetic, in tank. Catch them in a net, use the net to hold them securely but not too tight, and a quick careful clip with cuticle nippers.

[ATXpuffer]

So after doing some reading, I've gotten less anxious about the idea of trimming puffer teeth. If I'm willing to do this, does it mean that I don't need to go to extraordinary measures to get snails for the little bugger? I've tried snails about the size of his eyes, and he still only eats the head...

[J-P]

that is the way they do it. They kind of "rag doll" the prey. Try crushing the snails =)

[RTR]

I rarely needed to trim SAP incisors, but their diet for me was 95% common pond and ramshorn snails, bred by me, so I could select just-right sizes.

Stress-Zyme is snake oil, has always been snake oil, and it pollutes your tank. A huge waste of money which gives high nitrate readings. That makes you think you cycle is going, but it is really just that Stress-Zyme is loaded with nitrate, so you get reading making you think it is working. It does not.

[Pufferpunk]

Any "bacteria product" that insists you need to add it in intervals, is garbage. Either the tank is cycled & had the proper bacteria in the amounts necessary to support the bioload or it's not.

[ATXpuffer]

Ok so it's day 5 and after a liquid test all of my levels are fine. I went ahead and did a 50% water change anyway, and I'm using prime for dechlor. Got a snail breeding tank going too. It's only a gallon and I don't have a pump for it. Has anyone successfully bred snails by doing pwc's daily or every couple days instead of getting a filter (the snails are pond snails I believe)?

Any one else keeping a single SAP? Mine seems completely happy by himself, despite all of the talk about keeping them in groups. He came from a tank with no other puffers.

[Srkoe]

What are your readings???

[ATXpuffer]

pH - 7.5
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10
Ammonia - 0

50% water change treated with Prime following these test results. This all seems on track yeah? So far I can't find any indication of anything going wrong. It seems to me that the bio-load in this tank is extremely low, so does this mean cycling will take longer? I'm trying to get ahold of some established filter media to add to help boost bacterial growth, but I'm starting to annoy my lfs. Any recommendations for maintaining the equilibrium from here to end of the cycle?

[Pufferpunk]

Looking good!

[ATXpuffer]

Thanks Pufferpunk.

This may be kind of a stupid question, but what would poor readings look like? I don't mean readings that are obviously unable to sustain life, but more like a 5-days-in-and-in-need-of-help?

At what point should things start to spike up significantly?

[Pufferpunk]

ANY amount of ammonia or nitrite is poor or nitrate >20.