Hello from Wisconsin
Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 1:40 am
Retired last year. My son's Gecko died and I bought his 75 gal tank. Occupants include 12 assorted African Cichlids, 2 Red Tailed Zebra Loaches, 1 Figure 8 Puffer and 2 Avocado Puffers. All were introduced together last May. 1 Cichlid, 1 Red Tail Zebra Loach and the F8 Puffer all disappeared. Everyone else is doing well and behaving. I was into fish back in the 70's and now again. I've read a lot of conflicting articles on all of these fish, but will focus on the Puffers. Puffers were thumbnail size last May, now 1.5 - 2.0 inches. Read they like brackish water. Mine is unsalted. Read they don't behave well with others. Mine stand there ground with the Cichlids even though several are 4 inches. They eat mostly Cichlid pellets and brine shrimp. I have given them snails, krill and glass shrimp occasionally. Water temp.. I live in an apartment and do not like air conditioning. Apartment (and tank) temp was at 100 F for several days this summer and averages 80 F. Water tests in May PH 8.0, Amon 1.0, Ni 0.0, Na 5.0. Readings last week were within 0.1 points on each test. I'm running a Fluval FX5 canister and have not done a water change since set up last April. In the last six months I have added 2 gallons of water to make up for evaporation. Seems per what I read that I'm doing this wrong. All "seem" to be okay, active, eating, no nipped fins or disease. The Puffers spend about half of the time swimming together the other half on opposite ends of the tank. I call the one on the right Romney and the one on the left Obama I look forward to any and all input...
![[welcome]](./images/smilies/welcome.gif "welcome")
Mine did a good job making other fish disappear, too. They are strictly FW fish. Expect more to disappear in the future. Eventually, mine killed/maimed everyone in their tank.