MaddieLynn

Sooo... today I called PetCo and asked them to order in some Dwarf Puffers for me! I'm really excited! Everything is coming together nicely for my puffer tank. The live plants have been ordered, the puffers will be tomorrow... everything else I need (heater & snails) I can get easily without ordering.

A few questions though... I'm planning on going to the LFS and asking for garden snails, but will they eat my plants? Also, can snails be a DP's main diet?

shih-tzu mom

MaddieLynn; They also eat bloodworms and brineshrimp, some are quite fusy so i hear but mine eat all of that. hope this helps and Pink will be along shortly to help you further. ask for pond snails or small Ramshorn snails, they are pest snails and they will give them to you, and you can set up a tank for them to grow in and will save you a lot of running around.Mine don't bother my live plants lol. Actually i have one dwarf that sleeps on a leaf of the plant-when i couldn't find her that is where i looked and she was sound asleep on the leaf. bella

agabr123

congrats on your puffers!

MaddieLynn

I think I'll set up a tub on the porch and have a snail farm. But I'm still wondering about snails being the main diet...

MaddieLynn

Ooh! Must bump post becuase PFP is on!

shih-tzu mom

Hi: they need a variety in their diet lol bella

pinkfloydpuffer

Haha, whoops, sorry. I got on here and then got distracted by another forum in another tab....

Anyways...
With most snails, they will only eat your plants if there is no other food offered. I keep a colony of ramshorns in my DP tank, and the puffers actually feed themselves! All I have to do is give them some bloodworms soaked in vitamins every few days. Easiest tank ever, lol. They are rather picky eaters, but I've never heard of one that refuses snails. Usually at least bloodworms, and sometimes brine shrimp work too. Haven't heard of any that will eat freezedried though.

I can't wait to see your new puffy babies!

MaddieLynn

Well, don't die from suspense, because I won't be getting them until probably the 27th (my birthday - the puffers along with the plants and a heater are my presents), or possibly the 28th, because it's a Saturday.

Any tips on picking healthy ones and keeping them alive for the first couple of weeks?

And does Prime dechlorinate? The filter that I'll be using has been going for awhile, so it definately has good seeded media, but I'm afraid of a minni-cycle. So I'll be using Prime ALOT. If I find that I have a little ammonia, do I add it every day? Do I have to do a water change before I add a new dosage of it?

pinkfloydpuffer

Lol, I'll try not to

Pick one that's active, spots are clear, not faded, no signs of disease, eating well, white and rounded belly... how many are you getting? Try to aim for only one male at most, if they're old enough to sex of course. Mine all settled in beautifully, and I got them from 2 different stores. They seem to adapt well to aquarium life, the biggest problem is the diet, as you know.

Yes, Prime is a declorinator. I use it for most of my tanks now, since it's super concentrated and thus very cost effective. I would definitely do a waterchange if you're seeing ammonia. Puffers are more sensitive than your average fish. Change out about 2 gallons daily with Prime if you're seeing a bit of ammonia, and 5 gallons a day if you're seeing alot. For weekly waterchanges do 50%. Being only a 10g tank this should be easy.

MaddieLynn

What's considered "alot"? Right now in my 29 gallon I'm seeing about .25 PPM's, and the filter I'm using in there with 4 mollies (5 if you count the 1/4" baby) and a dwarf gourami is the one I'll be using in my puffer tank. (Yes, I know it's too small, but I'm waiting for a replacement impeller for my large filter and a 5-15 gallon filter is better than nothing!)

I'm guessing that that ammount is "a little".

Somewhere I saw the toxicity levels for ammonia in an aquarium, do you know what it is? I can't remember.

pinkfloydpuffer

That 29g is understocked, and you're still seeing ammonia?
Yeah, I'd consider .25 a little, and .5 and up as alot.... esp. with sensitive little puffers.
I don't know what it is... but with puffers any can be considered toxic.

MaddieLynn

Yes, *sigh* Ammonia hates me.

Or maybe it loves me. I can't tell.

I think the problem is that I've got a mini-cycle.

PFP, talk to the ammonia bugs for me!

pinkfloydpuffer

Lol.

Will do. I'll tell them to be nice. Luckily I've never had any minicycles

MaddieLynn

The weird thing is that I consistently have about .25 ammonia, but I have 0 nitrItes and good nitrAtes (8 when I tested a couple of weeks ago, and 5 when I tested yesterday after I did a 50-60% water change. Dont gasp; I had to get some water out so I could remodel!)

It almost seems like the ammonia is permanent. Is there any way that it could be coming from something other than my fish?

pinkfloydpuffer

Lol, I do 50% waterchanges weekly on all my tanks... except the 80g. That'd break my back. Only 25% on that one

Have you checked your tapwater for ammonia?

MaddieLynn

Well, we cleared that little mystery right up! As soon as I posted that last reply I went to check the first suspect: Mr. Tap Water.

My tap water ammonia levels are HIGHER THAN THE CURRENT LEVELS IN THE TANK!!!!! The tank was about .25 when I tested it a few minutes ago, and the tap water was at about .75!!! At least I know that I have some bacteria going...

Where in the world am I going to get my water now? And what about the puffers?

The weird thing is that I've had my (10g) tank water test 0 for ammonia before. Why? Was the bacteria able to process it all? Can I ever get it to that point again?

pinkfloydpuffer

Yeeeouch. Your bacteria should be able to catch up eventually, but waterchanges could be quite a problem.

Hm.... maybe you could make your own little waterfilter with ammonia removing media? Or get distilled/bottled/RO water.... but that could be pricey in the longrun...

Maybe you could just do very small waterchanges daily with prime instead of one large one weekly? If your bacteria is caught up then that should work.

MaddieLynn

The filtered refrigerator water has no ammonia - I checked. But there's no way I can use it for water changes because a) it runs to slowly, and b) it's too cold.

Buying water would be too expensive in the long run (and probably the short run too).

:-(

pinkfloydpuffer

I'd say maybe buy a little bit of zeolite, and run your tapwater through it. Then check the ammonia. If it reduces it, then you could attach it to the tap when you are doing WCs.