Combination

[luvmygobies]

Hey everyone-

I have my pufferfish in one tank and my cichlids, gobies and monos in another. Any thoughts as to whether or not I can combine them? The SGs are different (puffer SG= .010, everyone else= btn .004 and .007) so I'd have to bring my puffers down if I put them in. Any ideas?

 

[madhippoz]

How many, and what type of pufferfish? I've heard they aren't supposed to do well with other fish, but I've never kept any so I don't know for certain. Jealous of the Mono's, heh I ran out of room in my 77gal and then I saw the Mono's. I was like DOH!

 

[luvmygobies]

LOL Thanks, yea I love my monos. I have two right now and am thinking of getting two more. I have one figure8 and one green spotted. They've never acted badly towards other fish, but they're kinda in a small tank right now. When I kept them with my gobies they weren't agressive at all.

 

[madhippoz]

How big is this tank? Sounds like you'll be alright. Gobies tend to hold their own though I find, they aren't bullied easily. Not sure how Mono's are for that and I'm sure your Cichlids would more than likely be fine, as long as they all had enough room. Its probably easiest to bring your puffers down to the lower salinity than the other way around, but it wouldn't matter too much I don't think. I keep my 77gal tank at about 1.010 and my Colombians, Knight Gobies, and Archerfish seem fine with that. I let it drop and rise a little with water changes.

 

[luvmygobies]

My tank is a 30gal tank... Yea, my gobies don't seem to have a problem with the other fish at all and I know that the cichilds will be fine... When I first got them my two little red chromides (the smallest fish in the tank) were the worst fin nippers but they've stopped completely. I took the puffers out because I wasn't sure that they would get along with the cichlids. However, I would really like to put my puffers in with the other fish.... On the condition that they get along and can handle the lower SG. I don't want to loose anyone.

 

[beaver8888]

well my puffers are at 1.008 id be ok to drop them to this but i dunno about any lower considering this is how they get to breath

 

[AggieMarine]

Dwarf puffers actually belong in full fresh water. They have very short lifespans in brackish water. They are avid fin nippers as well. I've kept them for a long time.

 

[luvmygobies]

AggieMarine-

I have one dwarf puffer that hasn't been eating well lately and is staying close to the bottom. I took my water in yesterday to have it checked but everything came out a-ok. Do you have any suggestions? And my dwarf puffers are in freshwater. When I posted this I was asking about the figure8 and green spotted puffers that I keep.

 

[CoNMaN]

You want to put a fig 8 and a green spotted in a 30 gal that already houses 2 monos, 4 knight gobies, 2 chromides, and 6 other cichlids? Those puffers require about 5 gal a piece to be happy.

 

[luvmygobies]

I was thinking about it... I have them in an extra 10gal that's been empty. But I'm thinking that I might bring them back to my LFS. I feel bad for them not having any other interaction besides themselves.

 

[CoNMaN]

They eat their interaction. One would be plenty happy in a 10. So if you are thinking about dumpin them, Why not just hold on to one and build a paradise for that one.

 

[AggieMarine]

A ten gallon is enough for a single T. biocellatus. A pair for a 20. A pair of T. nigroviridis (or fluviatilis) needs a 29. They really don't need much in the way of interaction. In fact, they generally hate other fishes. At best, they ignore them. At worst, they eat them. Your C. travancoricus might not be eating for several reasons. What have you been trying to feed it? They generally prefer to eat live foods or frozen foods. Try frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, and frozen mysis shrimp, and if you can get your hands on a baby snail, try that too.

 

[luvmygobies]

I've tried frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. I keep common snails in there at all times and feed them the frozen stuff twice a day. But they only go for the snails- I'm always vacuuming up the frozen stuff. Yesterday I went and got a shrimp hatchery and am waiting for a batch to hatch so that I can put them in and see what happens.

 

[CoNMaN]

maybe if you didnt have the snails always available for your puffs, they would turn too the frozen food.

 

[luvmygobies]

I tried them on just the frozen food and they wouldn't take it then. That's why I resorted to snails. I didn't know what else to do and the snails seemed like a sure thing. *helpless shrug*

 

[AggieMarine]

Sometimes wild fish are just really hard to get eating anything but live food.

 

[CoNMaN]

Yup, Okay Gobies we will get off your back now just kidding, I thought that you had always had the snails in there. Try takin and empty snail shell and stuffing it with FD bloodworms, and trick them into, just see how it goes. Stubborn lil buggers!

 

[luvmygobies]

Sorry, for a while there I was really feeling like I had done something wrong. I'll see if I can find a shell big enough to put blood worms in.... I usually try to get really small snails so that they can just pick them off of the glass without any problems.

 

[AggieMarine]

You can try not feeding for a few days and then trying to offer frozen again.

 

[luvmygobies]

I'll try that AggieMarine- that'll give them a change to take all of the snails out.