The Puffer Forum

I just picked up my two F8's and added them to my brackish tank on Sunday. They spent most of the day cruising up and down the one side of the tank (which faces the windows - not sure if that matters).
Just wondering if my decoration is addecuate. Most of the plants occupy the middle of the tank and the bottom is pretty bare (see pic).
Do you think I need more plants/rocks? (note: grey rocks are background image)

Just wondering if I can take a tupperware container and put my extra snails that I buy at LFS? Will they crawl out if it's not covered? How long will they last in a container like that, say half full with water?
I'm not ready for trying to breed them but I don't want to hit up the fish store every 2 days...

It's pretty sparse. Adding more decorations and water current will keep them busy and should reduce the pacing.

Honestly, the easiest thing to do would be to get a 2-5g tank and filter and start it up as a snail breeder. It's really not had to do and doesn't take long to get a good steady supply of snails.

What are your water parameters? (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, sg)
What other fish are in there?
What size of tank?
What kind of filtration?

PH is just above 7.
Amonia and Nitrite are both at zero.
The tank has two F8 and some feeders (7 were used to cycle the tank since I couldn't find amonia)
The tank is a 40Gal.
I have two AC 150's or 200's - I forget what they are called now. It's enough for a 75Gal tank.
I don't think there is much current created by them though, not until the water level gets a little lower from evaporation.

I like the background, looks good, but I think you're gonna need some more rockwork and plants in there to keep them occupied.

Looks like I'm going to the fish store to pick up some more decorations and a small tank to start the breeding process. Lol.

If you can get hold of some holey ocean rock, this makes great caves and will last when the tank is (low) brackish. It also helps buffer the water as well. Not sure of the US price but in the UK it's only £1.30 / £1.50 a kg (I got 25kg for £30 - bet it's cheaper over your side of the pond

Is there anything I need to know about ocean rock?
Is that the same as live rock?
Thanks,

I think what you might want to look for is sometimes called Tufa rock. It's basically dead rock shapped into interesting shapes.

Live rock is rock that has either been harvested from the ocean or aquacultured in holding vats. It has all sorts of living creatures on it.

I've also used formations of river/ocean rock that I've sterilised at home to make little nooks and such for them to explore. Even with a lot going on in the tank, they may still pace a bit. Mine do if they catch a glance of someone near them. Once you're away or have stopped moving they tend to go back to exploring.

Some like a bubble wand too to play in. Mine don't but others have had luck with them.

My figure eight loved his bubble wand too. When I removed it I added more caves to the tank and he seems to have forgiven me . Maybe give one a try, unless you don't like the way one looks.

For snails, I set up a 5 gallon planted plastic bucket. I set an AC HOB on the edge, put 1" of fluorite substrate on the bottom of the bucket, added live plants & snails. I put a regular old fluorescent bulb inside a light strip (from my 15 gallon tank ), set it on top, and viola: a small little snail breeder that fit nicely inside my 35 gallon's cabinet.

You might not want to get that ghetto, but it does work (for about 3 months now)!

Well I went and picked up the breeding tank. I never realize how expensive snails were going to be. The ones I got are pretty good size but they were almost $4 a pop. Breading is definitely the way to go!!!

I had the bubbles in there and they seemed to not be interested in it. So I removed it as it was just a test and I hadn't actually set it up to look good.

I'm going to need to go to another store to get rocks because where I went yesterday didn't have very good ones.

I have base rock in my f8 tank, and found my lil girl in one of the caves the other day. Definitely glad I got it.

$4 a snail, yeesh.. did you get pond or ramshorns or did they sell you apple snails?

Well after reading a bunch I am starting to think they didn't give me "pond snails" like I asked.
These ones are big (WAY too big for my puffers to eat) and kind of have a cone type of shell.
I'd take a picture but I'm at work right now. Once I get home I'll snap one.
If someone has a website that has pictures of them I might be able to pick it out.

Another question that I haven't seen anywhere: Does your tank need to be cycled before you add snails or do they not care about amonia and nitrites?

Also how many should I buy for starting to breed them?
Thanks,