The Puffer Forum

I am starting up 2 tanks. How does it look?

30 Gallons Long for 1x Figure Eight Puffer and ??x Bumblebee Goby
Filter 1 - Marineland Emperor 280
Filter 2 - Aquaclear 70
200 Watt Heater (Aqueon Pro)
Hydor Koralia Nano 425 (not sure if I need it, but I have it just in case to help with the circulation towards the bottom to keep food moving for the BBG to chase/eat).
Sybon Refractometer with Calibration Fluid
Instant Ocean Sea Salt
Java Fern Plants and some other live plants that can hopefully tolerate BW.
Nova Extreme Freshwater Light
Plan on keeping it Freshwater until I add the Plants first, than BBG, then the 1x F8 a week later, then slowly raising the salinity to 1.005 over 5-6 weeks.

10 Gallon for Cherry Shrimps and Ramshorn Snails. Starting with 10x Cherry Shrimps and between 10x-20x Ramshorn Snails.
Aqua-Tech 5-15 Power Filter with some sort of sponge covering for the intake.
Top Fin 25 Watt Submersible Aquarium Heater
Moss and some other live plants.
Sylvania Micro-Mini CFL 13W 6500K 800 Lumens lights

Both tanks have started a fishless cycle with Ace Ammonia, and I have some media from my other tank that I'll add to both tanks in about 2-3 weeks or so (it's been sitting in the other tank's filter for about 2 weeks now).

F8 - Plan on feeding him ramshorn snails, frozen bloodworms, live blackworms if I need to. And an occasional cherry shrimp.
BBG - Frozen bloodworms, live blackworms if I need to, frozen brineshrimp, live baby brineshrimp (that are instant hatch-type)
Cherry Shrimp and Ramshorns - Shrimp pellets, cuttlebone, Fluval Shrimp Granules

I'm only able to get live blackworms once a week, and usually by the second or third day, they end up dead. I've tried putting them in the fridge with very shallow water, and frequent water changes, but they still end up dying on me. Which is why I'm hoping they would eat the other food as well, and not just once/twice a week on live blackworms.

I have a 20 Gallon plastic container to use, with it's own heater and powerhead, for mixing new salt water for water changes.

My questions:
How many Bumblebee Gobies can I get? I was thinking 12x because they are so small, and I have a 30 gallon long footprint.
How many Ramshorns should I start off with? Which size? Larger so that they are ready to start breeding, smaller so that I can instantly feed the F8 with, or a mix if possible?
I think I'm more worried about their food, because of how picky they both can be about food and feeding.
Am I forgetting anything?

Thank you!

If you add the cycled media now it will speed up the cycle. 12 is too many IMO, shoot for 6. The circulation pump aimed at the bottom may make it difficult for the bbg's to catch the food, they are a bit lazy from my experience and would rather the food fell in their mouths and certainly won't work too hard for it. F8's are not picky eaters but bbg's can be, they both love bloodworms just remember to soak the food in some vitamins before feeding

Welcome to the forum

To me, that diet is a bit soft for F-8s. I feed largely live snails which I rear myself, other foods just as occasional treats.

welcome it sounds good, the ramshorns will fill the 10 gallon in no time.

bertie 83 wrote:If you add the cycled media now it will speed up the cycle. 12 is too many IMO, shoot for 6. The circulation pump aimed at the bottom may make it difficult for the bbg's to catch the food, they are a bit lazy from my experience and would rather the food fell in their mouths and certainly won't work too hard for it. F8's are not picky eaters but bbg's can be, they both love bloodworms just remember to soak the food in some vitamins before feeding

Would soaking the bloodworms in VitaChem or Garlic Guard be fine?

I always soak all my foods in vits. Live worms also get fed ground fish food & krill/plankton crumbs.

I started a snail tank last week with about 15 common pond snail that the LFS gave me and now I have about 20 egg sacks lining the glass. It has been exactly 1 week today. I saw the egg sacks on Tuesday so I am guessing it took them 4 days to breed. I feed the snails slightly boiled fresh spinach (boiled so it will sink) and a algae wafer.

I was told not to try and breed shrimp in the same tank they may disturb the snail eggs. I don't know if that is true or not but I figured why risk it.

I also feed my puffers cichlid pellets with vitamins in it alternating feedings with mysis shrimp with spirulina.

Yes always breed in separate tanks

bertie 83 wrote:Yes always breed in separate tanks

Do ramshores and pond snails have to be bred in seperate tanks?

yep... they will each others eggs.

J-P wrote:yep... they will each others eggs.

I found that one out the hard way lol.

Also, this makes great food for shrimps and snails because they both require large amounts of calcium and it's great for gut loading. A half pound will be about $10 shipped: http://www.kensfish.com/product545.html

I'm sure its Nmonks that suggests 1 Bumblebee Gobie for every 20cm diameter of the tanks base due to their territorial nature and tendency to hang out near the bottom of the tank, you may be able to have more if you have more resting spots at different levels in the tank.

I tend to agree with what appears to be a quite conservative figure at first glance but from my experience if you get more they will wittle themselves down naturally because of the competetion.