The Puffer Forum

so my new build is a 24x29x74 approx 230g with a 24x24x72 refug 180g

i plan this to be a fowlr with refug being 250lbs live rock. thoughts?.

i want an octopus the species i have selected will arrive between 4-6", id like to know of any species that can coexist

rock shall be here within a few weeks and i will begin cementing the decorative pieces into caves etc for the fella to roams.

id love for a puffer to be in here porc of course would be my *choice

I wouldn't keep anything else with an octo. I also wouldn't devote an entire HUGE tank to an animal that may live only a year & will easily escape through the tiniest hole.

yes i realize they are one of the hardest to care for and life span in captivity around a year to 2 but there fascinating and i would love to attempt some form of harmony.
tank size etc was to ensure optimum water conditions.

Lol an octo would be @##! Cool though...random topic while having a beer...
"My octopus named cheddar bones...etc"

Evryones face is like " excuse me did you just say octopus? "

Mixing an octo and a puff though that's iffy....the puff would probably see it, drool dream and stare at thst big peice of meat, jiggling, swaying and crawling with those meaty, sexy legs all squishy and curvy.....CHOMP!

I feed octopus to my puffers. It's in the mix I buy from the store.

I buy (dead) baby octs and squiddies for my larger puffers. mbu (Sigma ood) loves them..

so been awhile since i was here i decided on a reef tank and it is going well, though its hella more exp then a fowlr its definitely alot more exciting,
im looking to add a mandarin goby next but unsure how i can breed my own pods as well as distributing them to the tank auto like (yes im lazy) also i have 2 rbta that ive heard like to eat fish but not yet seen it happen.
anyways if anyone has any suggestions to this dilemma (how to breed pods n sump) please let me know

I get them eating live blackworms.

If your set-up includes a 24/7 lighted macroalgae refugium with passive* return to the display tank, many of the 'pods generated in the macroalgae refugium will end up in the display as food for the mandarin(s). You really should let the tank mature several months before adding the mandarin(s). They adapt a lot more easily to pretty mature tanks IME, mainly due the development of local 'pod numbers and species in the nature system.

*Passive means that tank water is pumped from the display to the refugium, and overflow back to the display passively, with no pump on the outlet side. If you pump from the refugium back to the display, the pump will kill many of the 'pods. That will not feed the mandarin very well.

HTH

thanks for replys and i will follow your advice. a 24/7 refugium sounds ideal. would a return pump kill off all the pods? as my tank is set up to be very minimal stuff inside it its all below so a passive refug wouldnt work.. only thing i can think is to have the refuge in the sump then return to via pump to the display..
but perhaps as pufferpunk suggests i can teach them to eat worms.
either way i need some more maturing time before i begin this adventure.
cheers

Pods zip right thru the pump.

frankenstein lives running dual 300 gph skimmers with a meshmodded 1200 gph pump, so far so good few tweaks left but finally rid of the hobs.
and freed up some space running them out of the sump now on to the refugium...
also does anyone have advice on vibration noice dampening?.. changed up my return pump to a
SUPREME PONDMASTER PM-24 MAG DRIVE POND PUMP 2400GPH but it didnt come with any suction cup base like my other and its hella noisy. btw can get it cheap from here. and kicks hella but on my old one.http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPREME-PONDMAS ... OC:CA:3160

Some 'pods go through some pumps without harm. Others are shredded. Some fish eggs go through some pumps similarly, as do some newly hatched fry. Other in both those categories are shredded. Too-broad generalizations can do harm to the system. Captive systems tend to lose species rapidly after being set with materials from the wild - that is inevitable. But the more we force selection by high-sheer force equipment, the poorer our chances become of supporting long-lived systems. I like to maximize my chances rather than narrow them without knowing exactly what stresses are unavoidable. Our tanks are highly complex systems. Avoiding high-selection pressure steps has to be more positive than higher-selection pressure options. These games are too new to us to evaluate well currently.Archimedes' screws or peristaltic pumps are almot certainly improvements over high-sheer impeller pumps, but to my knowledge that first option must be custom made and the second option has few and short-lived models available currently, or are quite expensive.

HTH