The Puffer Forum

I picked up two 2" Avocado puffers (A. modestus) last week. I only wanted one for a 13 gallon tank, but the LFS guy offered me the second for cheap so he could empty out the tank (they were the last two Avocado puffers - in a brack tank no less). I couldn't resist, so my two puffers are a bit cramped right now.

About a day after taking them home, I noticed some new fin-nipping. I think they are sorting out the territories, but they do often swim together. I added quite a few plants to help provide cover for them, but I noticed the Vals have been chewed up a bit since I added them.

Is this normal?

After seeing a full-grown 4" Avocado puffer at another LFS more recently, it really struck me that they would need more room. (This other puffer was in a split tank with F8s, so I assume it was also a brack tank. Jeez...) I've decided to move them up to a 15.5 gallon long tank. It's 48" x 10" x 10", so the footprint is quite large (double that of their current tank, actually).

I figure the length will give them more exercise and allow them to steer clear of each other if they want, while the small width will make it easier to break up their line of sight with fewer plants and rocks.

Does this make sense?

Their current and future tanks are both part of a centralized water system, so I'm only curious about space, not water cleanliness.

Yes, that does make sense to me. I'd try to keep good swimming space while they are young - it gets less important when they are mature. I'm a big fan of 33XLs for the same reasons (48x13x12"), I started using them back in my Chiclid phase and have always since found them quite useful.

I had an Avacado Puffer at a point. He was little and I thought "Hmm, wouldn't he look good in my planted aquaria?" So of course I brought him home and put him in my 55 gal planted tank. The next morning I saw some of my dwarfs in that tank a little shaken and a few with damaged fins, but no sign of the Avacado Puffer. Then I looked near a cave that was created by a Royal Pleco I had in there to find a beaten Plec and the fat Avacado Puffer.

I then moved him out of the 55 gal to a barron looking 30 gal tank I had with dried mangrove roots, vals, java fern, and an anubias nana. So I watched him in there for a while he chased the comman plec around and didnt mind the corries. The morning after I found half of the anubias chewed up (of course thinking the pleco went on a feeding frenzy), so I plopped him into my 10 gal quarantine till I found him another home. A few hours later I find the anubias chewed up more with a fat Avacado Puff hiding in shame beneath part of the mangrove root. I ended up giving him to a friend who had a large Amazon looking tank. As far as I know he is larger and happy in that tank.

So as a warning 'DO NOT KEEP ANY PLANTS YOU REALLY LIKE, OR CHIPPED OUT A LOT FOR WITH THESE PUFFS!'

I have 3 in my 40g, along w a large royal pleco & a SAP. I noticed a modestus missing & when I went to clean the tank, a fungused corpse floated up. Not sure what happened to it. There was also a very old very large purple spotted gudgeon in there, that they nipped to death. I had no where else to put him. Definately not a good fish to mix w/sedentary species...

Pufferpunk wrote:I have 3 in my 40g, along w a large royal pleco & a SAP. I noticed a modestus missing & when I went to clean the tank, a fungused corpse floated up. Not sure what happened to it. There was also a very old very large purple spotted gudgeon in there, that they nipped to death. I had no where else to put him. Definately not a good fish to mix w/sedentary species...

These seem more of a pain then any loreti's I had.

Thanks for all the info. I'm definitely not going to put these puffers with any other tankmates - that was never part of the plan.

Tihsho - thanks a lot for the advice about the plants. I'll stick to cheap plants for this new tank.

Flusher wrote:Thanks for all the info. I'm definitely not going to put these puffers with any other tankmates - that was never part of the plan.

Tihsho - thanks a lot for the advice about the plants. I'll stick to cheap plants for this new tank.

Or if you want a lush tank just put a good variety of plastic or silk plants in there. and when the puffs figure out "Oh I can't eat this" see if you can swap them for real plants!

Tihsho wrote:Or if you want a lush tank just put a good variety of plastic or silk plants in there. and when the puffs figure out "Oh I can't eat this" see if you can swap them for real plants!

LOL. Good idea, but I doubt it'll work. They had plastic plants at the LFS, and wised up very quickly to live plants.

Expensive, but you could try a Java Fern jungle. Easy and most fish, even herbivores, don't eat it. Start with a few to see if it works before spending a bucketful to do the whole tank.

Eugh... Expensive is right. Top that with the rotten, sad shape most Java fern I see comes in, and it wouldn't be worth the bother. It's a great idea, though.

Flusher wrote:Eugh... Expensive is right. Top that with the rotten, sad shape most Java fern I see comes in, and it wouldn't be worth the bother. It's a great idea, though.

If you really want cheap plants go to http://www.thatfishplace.com and look at the prices of plants. I do have to say that you should get all the plants you want in all together in a lump sum so you dont have to order again and pay more shipping fees. I have to say from experience from ordering there that the plants are not half bad. They come a lot healthier then any petsmart plant I have seen.

I think java fern just takes patience - little noticeable growth for some time then it just takes off. Also, my java fern grown on driftwood grows faster than java fern grown on rock or floating.

I've also noticed that my light BW in my puffer tank (1.005 SG) slows the growth rate down, but it's growing for me - as is my java moss and watersprite.

Eric

I just moved some plants around today. I put most of my Java fern into my A. modestus tank, plus some more E. bleheri. So far, the puffs haven't touched the E. bleheri, but I'll have to wait and see what happens now that the vals have been removed.

I'm going to grow watercress in a container at the surface of this tank. Apparently, this stuff makes a lot of roots fast, so my puffs will have something to eat at, plus lots of cover.

I'll check out that link, too.

I did manage to find a fair amount of fairly nice Java fern for a fair price awhile back. It got nibbled on a little bit (so did the E. bleheri), but seems to be okay with the A. modestus'.

I have a new problem: their tank is very narrow and shallow, and is receiving a lot of light (4.2 WPG). This is the only tank in my tank rack with an algae problem. All the lights are on a central timer, so I can't really reduce the hours per day of light too much without affecting all the tanks and all the plants. (I already did fine-tune the timer a bit, but it'll be awhile before I find out what effect this has.)

From what I gather (including on this thread), algae-eating tankmates aren't an option. I even tried snails, since they are cheap, but they didn't last long. Is this normal?

I'm hoping to get some other puffers eventually, like SAPs or Red-Tailed Red-Eyes. If I put the new puffers in this tank, and moved the A. modestus puffers, would a small pleco stand a chance?

I've got a 6" royal plec in w/my 2.