The Puffer Forum

Hi....
Ok, Well I now have a name for my f8 puffer. Mr Magoo. He is in his own, (I figured out was only a ten Gallon tank, and know I will need to upgrade to a 15 Gal at least) and he seems happy as can be. He doesn't do any side pacing any more and is right there looking at us the minute we get close to his tank. I have bio spira on the way and it should be here tomorrow. I have argonite substrate for the bottom with some plants and a little log cave for him with a few large seashells for added decorations. I have two whisper powered filters that take a mesh filter with carbon. I have slowly been bringing up the water to brackish and should be just about there in another week. I have set up a 2 1/2 tank with snails that I stocked from a nearby lake. They have rounded shells and Mr Magoo learned how to crack them open and get his dinner after just one time crushing one open for him. I know its a little too late, but are these snails ok for him? I also have a half dozen ghost shrimp on order that I can pick up tomorrow. If I put them in with the snails will they reproduce? I am really trying to do things right but I may just get too far ahead of myself in my excitement. I am already so attached to this little guy that I cant wait to get home to see him. He is just so darn cute! If anything is wrong here please let me know so I can try to correct it. Thanks

It sounds to me that you've done very meticulous and thorough preparation, are are giving Mr. Magoo brilliant care as he acclimates to his new home.

When you say "I have slowly been bringing up the water to brackish and should be just about there in another week," I am reminded that the convention wisdom here is not to increase the salinty of your water by more than 0.002 (on the specific gravity scale) per week. While Mr. Magoo would be able to tolerate a greater increase than this, apparently the nitrifiying bacteria in his tank would not -- and this, in turn, would be very bad for him.

Snails, of course, are a wonderful -- and essential -- part of a Puffer's diet. The conventional wisdom here -- again! -- is to be very wary of wild-caught snails, as they can carry parasites and whatnot that might do Mr. Magoo harm. It's a better bet to start your snail breeding colony with snails from the store, which have been raised in tanks. In my own experience, Red Ramshorn snails breed quite readily, and are a Puffer favorite!

My understanding is that some species of shrimp will reproduce quite readily, though I don't have experience, specifically, with ghost shrimp and snails together. I'm sure that someone else here does, though, and will answer you.

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[/quote]The conventional wisdom here -- again! -- is to be very wary of wild-caught snails, as they can carry parasites and whatnot that might do Mr. Magoo harm

Darn! I was afraid of that! My husband thought they would be ok because people eat fish from that lake, but it was still bothering me. Do I need to completely dump that tank and start fresh , water sand bottom everything? or just get rid of the snails and put the right kind in there? Ya, I think I better, I would probably sleep better at night. But what about the ones I have already fed him? Do I need to give him something for parasites?

If your snails are quarantined long enough, their babies should be a nice & healthy food.

Well I got the six or seven ghost shrimp in today and debated what to do with them and decided to try to put them all in the tank with Mr Magoo. BIG MISTAKE! I thought maybe he would just look at them and maybe play a bit with them until he figured out they were food. WRONG! He went crazy and totally demolished them in a matter of minutes. You would have thought he hadnt eaten for weeks. He definately looked rounded. My puffer is going to eat anything you put in his tank. So next time it is going to be one shrimp at a time. They are so small and almost invisible that it should be interesting trying to find them in the snail tank when it is time to treat him with one.

I *thought* that invertabres like snails and shrimp don't carry parasites and pathogens that effect fish, so its pretty safe, but still, anything out of a wild pond can be a risk I'd guess.

Hehe, yeah, they really tear those shrimp apart don't they. Watch out when you catch net the shrimp too, they do this tail flip thing and can flip right out of the net. I don't bother with them really, too much water and not enough protien, but ocassionally I scoop a couple red cherry algae eating shrimp out of my main display tank and toss them in for the puffs to have some exercise...

Brine shrimp are nutritionally weak live, pathethetic post-freezing. Any live true shinp (decapod) which has been at all decently fed, especially if algae-grazing, is an excellent nutritional source. I am unsure why several folks here run them down routinely - they are not low protein. Fresh or thawed fresh-frozen decapod shrimp or krill, whether for human consumption or for aquarium feeding, are good protein sources. Live and well-fed is best*, but frozen/thawed does not affect the protein content of these beasts, unlike the situation with brine shrimp. They are just as good as any live food, better than many.

Can we let that myth die?

*I do agree that they are a PITA to catch in a heavily planted tank, but they can be trapped if you plan in advance.

Sorry, I thought ghost shrimp had a reputation for being not all that nutritional unless you gut loaded them first, I've read it so much I just assumed it was the truth. My bad.

Ive been trying to get some econmical ghost shrimp. I dont really want to pay more than .20 a piece for them though.

I find that 80 count shrimp from walmart is the most economical and healthy food for my puffs. They both love it and its cheap, at 5.00 a pound it cant be beat!

Try getting some veggies to him too, either by gut loading shrimp with them, or if your lucky your puffer may eat them. My GSP likes peas if the outer shell is removed.

One of the reasons I'm doing my triops is to gut load them and feed em to my two ... I'm planning on carrots, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, garlic..lemon, all organic.
Maybe even some blueberry if I'm feeling generous....all the superfoods...except olives and oily fish.
Then I shall grow a race of Super F8s, who will take over the world...........ah ha ha haaaaa!

Pami - In general, nothing sold as feeders from the LFS is nutritionally competent. Standard practice is to near-starve the critters to control fouling and other water issues from the high density stocking levels pracitced. So anything from there needs fattening up to build them back to proper levels. Thus they do not have all the goodies they should have, and would have fresh from the wild or from a well-managed OT tank, but the protein levels are still high, they just lack the extra vitamins/minerals/cofactors etc. they would have if better nourished themselves.

HTH

Its ok to feed my puff feeders on ocasion right? My puff loves to hunt and I was plannign on giving some rosyies every week or so.

If your puffer is a piscivore amd not a molluskivore (fish-eater and not snail/crustacean eater), and if you have QT'd the rosey red for 3 or 4 weeks to boost the nutritional levels and to insure that the fish carries no infectious disease. Then yes, the ocassional feeder as a treat is fine. For most puffers above Dwarf Puffers, Ghost shrimp are a better and safer hunting target, and for the large puffers (T. mbu and T. lineatus), de-clawed crayfish. Those options should also be QT'd and fattened up.

RTR wrote:If your puffer is a piscivore amd not a molluskivore (fish-eater and not snail/crustacean eater), and if you have QT'd the rosey red for 3 or 4 weeks to boost the nutritional levels and to insure that the fish carries no infectious disease. Then yes, the ocassional feeder as a treat is fine. For most puffers above Dwarf Puffers, Ghost shrimp are a better and safer hunting target, and for the large puffers (T. mbu and T. lineatus), de-clawed crayfish. Those options should also be QT'd and fattened up.

I have a Turgidus who was raised on rosies. He's an excellent fish hunter. I've considered ghost shrimp but they are so expensive compared to what you get food wise

Usually they are like .50 each for a tiny little shrimp.