I got my puffers! I got three (to keep the readers happy :) little ones. I did my best to get one male and two females, we will see how I did as they get older. The littlest one is very stream lined, when he doesn't have a stomach full of food, which is usually an indication of a male. The other two are a little more round.
Because they are so small, I had to get some diffrent bloodworms, the ones I had would have been too large for them to eat. Also, my freezer wasn't cold enough before and I am not sure how much longer the old bloodworms will last.
When I finally let them out, I kind of poured them into a corner in the tank. Since the only other thing in the tank is shrimp, I wasn't worried about introducing any parasites or anything. I assumed that as soon I let them out they would go hide in the plants or the ship or something, however that was not the case. My girlfriend, who was describing what the middle sized "female" was doing said, "Oh he is looking at the snail OH MY GOD HE ATE IT!"
They then procceded to go around the tank eating all of the snails that we couldn't pull out, and all of the nematodes they found. They became very fat very quickly, and after they couldn't find anymore, then they decided to hide. So it seems that while they may have been scared in a new tank, eating food matters more than anything, even 10 seconds out of the bag.
They got braver through out the night, and even seemed to enjoy watching me take pictures of them. In the picture above the one on the left is the little one I think is a male. I can't tell the diffrence between the two that I think are females unless they are next to eachother, although they are slightly diffrent sizes.
The puffers and shrimp get along pretty well(much better than the snails and puffers). The puffers are kind of curious of the shrimps, but cautious of them too. I have even seen the shrimp chase the puffers when the puffers were watching them.
My girlfriend got me the ship as a present. I like it, but its a little too tall and holds the hood up. I raised the filter up some. That way I could raise the water level to look better with the ship, while keeping enough oxygen and carbon dioxide in the water(carbon dioxide for the plants).
The tempature is about 75 degrees right now, I will probably raise it to about 78 to keep the puffers happy.
I will need some more plants, but I think for now it is ok. I might get some smallish sword plants, or maybe crypts. I think it will look nicer when the anacharis gets taller, but I am cutting them up when they get tall so I can have more of them.
This is the main group of dwarf clovers. They aren't doing that well, probably because the roots are so small for so many clovers. I am hoping that once a few more of the clovers die off they will start to do better. Some of the clumps of 3-4 clovers are looking much better.
Its starting to do a little bit better, the leaves seem to have pretty much stopped dying so I might have to decide how much space to give it pretty soon. The puffers seem to like it ok, I think it might be a little dense for them. Maybe they will get used to it.
I am not sure that I am going to get otocinculus. I am worried that it might be too much for the tank and take some attention away from the puffers. I could get a rubber pleco, he would mostly be out at night and there would only be one of him, but I am worried about the well being of my plants. If I get otos I would have to get atleast 2, and 3 to 4 wouldn't be bad. They are happier if the have friends to play with. I guess I will have to start a poll on this, but no promises about me following through on it.
Sorry for such a long post, I just had so much to say. My camera deciding to work was nice, but it also ment I had some catching up to do. I will try to keep them a little shorter from now on.
2 comments:
Great News, they look good! Watch out Snails!
The puffers are adoreable!! They have a great home! I hope they appreciate all the work you did getting this ready for them. Good luck feeding them.
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