I would add in more puffers (You could probably do upwards of 10-15 in a 29g) and way more plants. They are less aggressive in bigger shoals so as long as they continue to leave your
BN alone you are good-I also would add in more
driftwood for your BN to munch on too. They love heavy planted tanks and yours looks a bit sparse (It looks good design wise, just needs more plants) I would try wide leafed plants such as Amazon swords, and try to get some more floating plants with long roots.
How old are the DPs? Do you know how many males and females you do have exactly? You also always want more females than males. i.e. 2m and 4f preferably with your group right now.
Also I do not think that one
sponge filter will be able to sustain your 29g for very long- what is the
air pump rated for? BN along are HEAVY waste producers and in my opinion need better filtration. I would suggest getting a
HoB personally.
More Puffers Eh? I suppose I could add some more down the line, not many people in my area are getting them in right now. I have 6 puffers in here currently, I believe 3 males and 3 females, or its 2 males 4 females. I think one of the 3 males might be a sleeper, I am not sure, but there is no aggression, so I never worried about it. I have had 5 of these DP's for at least 6 months and the other one is a more recent addition. All, even that young one which is smaller, are showing sexual dimorphism.
As for plants, I was hoping to just let the Pogostemon Stellatus Octupus fill out, and it really has grown in, but I feel as if it won't give the cover I am looking for. If I were to add something else to this tank, which I will at this point, I am looking for something shorter and bushier. Maybe a type of
crypt? I honestly am thinking about changing these java ferns out as well for some
anubias, maybe
Anubias Barteri or Coffefolia, preferably a larger species I'll do some research later on, but suggestions are welcomed!
As per floating plants, I can remove the
Salvinia Minima and grow it in another tank no worries. I have
Dwarf Water Lettuce basically on tap at this point so I can go ahead and swap that out.
Pertaining to the
pleco and the filter- Chances are plecos in here will be more of a '
vacation individual' in the future as he has been in there for 3 days now (it is only about 1.5") and the tank is basically spotless. He will probably go back to the 75g soon. As for the filter, I have had a fluval 30 on here and I was quite happy with it. I think I may pick another one up in time when funds become available. I am not sure what the flow is on the air pump, but since I 'hot-rodded' the sponge filter and added an
air stone the flow and efficiency of it has gotten significantly better.
Thank you for the reply!
I would recommend very heavy cover as kattiq said, also if you happen to have spawning angelfish, I've heard of a trick where you add the reproductive hormone-laced water from the angels tank to a different tank to trigger breeding in other species like
cories; perhaps it could work on puffers too?
Very interesting idea... Fun Fact: I have angels about to spawn currently, and addition to this, I have cories I am trying to spawn too! Might give that an idea, although last time I put my hands in a tank after the angels spawned my hands were covered in 'white fish juice' and it didn't smell particularly good. Its an idea! Thank you!
