The Puffer Forum

I was thinking of adding some low light plants (java fern, anubias, maybe anacharis) to my puffer tank. But my Turgidus puffer is definitely more comfortable with the tank hood light off and just room lighting. When I have the fluorescent lights on it just hides under the rocks or fake plants I have in there now.

In the long run, what is more beneficial? Having the plants to soak up some nutrients (and do puffers care about live plants vs. fake?) or having subdued lighting to make it feel more comfortable. If I don't do live plants I was thinking of getting some white LED moonlights so I can see my my puffer better but still keep the lights dim.

Some puffers care about the difference. Any live plants I put in Lil's tank will have the leaves removed until there's nothing left but a buried stump. She clearly prefers the silk plants. Other than that, none of my other puffers show any preference.

Whenever possible I use live plants as being better for the water quality, but with most BW fish this is not possible. All the FW puffers I have kept have been with live plants, but some individual fish do have their quirks - my T. mbu was picky about aquascaping, and would bite off plants he disliked or found in his way, but always slept under the overhanging foliage of the densest clump.

If you have not done live plants before, a puffer may not be the fish to learn with. Artificials are not bad, they just don't help the water, but they do help avoid a bare tank - which does matter to the puffers IME. This is not a mkae-or-break thing, handle the setup in a way with which you are comfortable.

I think that moonlight bulbs could be a worthy investmanet. As for live plants if you are able to provide big specimens you may find that you fish will feel more comfortable with the overall shade they offer. You could try some floating plants and a few anubias with big leaves

RTR wrote:If you have not done live plants before, a puffer may not be the fish to learn with. Artificials are not bad, they just don't help the water, but they do help avoid a bare tank - which does matter to the puffers IME. This is not a mkae-or-break thing, handle the setup in a way with which you are comfortable.

I keep live plants in my other tanks...I have a 40g community with Java Fern and Java moss that grows well and Anubias that grows slowly but steadily. I also have a 5g with a dwarf puffer that has a few sprigs of Java fern that never really grows but just sort of survives. I guess my main concern is my Turgidus. Whenever I have the tank lights on it hides under cover a lot more than with the tank lights off. I don't want to stress him/her out by shining bright lights on it all day. I suppose if I do plants it will get used to to the lights though. And if I have the lights on while I'm away at work then my puffer can hide all it wants since I'm not there to watch it.

You could try some floating plants. They would shade out the light, depending on how many you have.

kass wrote:You could try some floating plants. They would shade out the light, depending on how many you have.

You could try some hornwort...float it or plant some...grows fast under moderate light...is a nutrient sink...and if floated will quickly cover the top of the tank providing a subdued light level below..

You could still have some java fern or moss...as it will eek out an existence almost anywhere...

Just a small point, if you use hornwort, it should be left floating or weighed onto the substrate but shouldn't be planted. Any part that's planted under the substrate will rot and foul the tank. And if you use it, don't get much. It propagates rapidly and you'll soon find you're yanking out handfuls of overgrown hornwort.

I would go for floating riccia or ceratophylum, they grow fast, use a lot of nutrients and the excess can be sold on ebay for a tidy sum

I'll probably go go with some floating anacharis to start off with, and transplant some java fern cuttings from my other tank. Maybe add some anubias later. I'm looking at mainly low light plants, as I don't want to deal with lighting requirements or fertilizer dosing.

sounds like a good plan