Few Newb Qs

[retro]

Hey,

Some of my fish sometimes have little spurts where they swim sideways across my sand/stones, originally i just thought it was my ruby shark as my other fish didn't do it but yesterday i picked up 2 baby clown loaches and a puffer fish, and i noticed the loaches did it a bit, should i be worried?

I looked in the FAQs and it said something about parasites in the gills but i can't see any redness on the ruby shark

Also, i have some snails with the cone shell in my sand, do they do anything bad for the tank?
Should i try and take them all out?

Also, i got my puffer yesterday and is it normal for them to hide and bury themselfs in plants? (She only did it since i put more substrate in, but was very exlporing when originally put in)

 

[pricey]

Hey,

Some of my fish sometimes have little spurts where they swim sideways across my sand/stones, originally i just thought it was my ruby shark as my other fish didn't do it but yesterday i picked up 2 baby clown loaches and a puffer fish, and i noticed the loaches did it a bit, should i be worried?

I looked in the FAQs and it said something about parasites in the gills but i can't see any redness on the ruby shark

Also, i have some snails with the cone shell in my sand, do they do anything bad for the tank?
Should i try and take them all out?

Also, i got my puffer yesterday and is it normal for them to hide and bury themselfs in plants? (She only did it since i put more substrate in, but was very exlporing when originally put in)

Is it a dwarf puffer How bigs your tank

 

[guppy_man]

Your fish are doing that because you have poor water quality, they most probably have either White Spot, Velvet, Slime Disease. Test your water and do frequent water changes.

The snails you have are malaysian trumpet snails. These wont do any harm in your tank, if anything they will help you by cleaning up uneaten foods. Thes will breed ALOT and may invade your tank, if you want to keep a few in there just take some out every now and again.

The puffer...... what was it labelled as at the shop?....have you got pics?.....what size is your tank?

O and clown loaches can get up to 16 inches in length so need a very large tank.

 

[retro]

I have 2 tanks,
Ones mine ones the family tank which is pretty big.
Not sure on the name of the puffer but it was in the tropical section at the store and the guy said it would be fine with my current fish .

The loaches will be fine, in the larger tank we had a pair for easily 6 months which grew to be 4"s or so then one died so we got some more babies .
Taking pictures now, At the moment he is tiny (Smaller than my baby corys).

 

[pricey]

you see the thing is that puffer tend to grow quite big and ar usually realy aggressive fish and will try and eat anything that moves!!!!

Problem 2 is that they are brackish water fish and need a certain amount of salt in the tank with them. Problem is that your other fishies wouldnt take to kindly to that!!!!

 

[guppy_man]

Does it look like any of these?

dwarf puffer
http/static.flickr.com/22/37051787_c88eade6a6.jpg

figure 8 puffer
http/tristan.homelinux.net/fish/Brackish/fig8puffer_8.JPG

congo puffer
http/fugu.biology.qmul.ac.uk/PFW/PhotoAl...traodon_mbu.jpg

green spotted puffer
http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/...cs/puf-nig1.jpg

red eyed puffer
http/www.aqua-fish.net/imgs/fish1/stripe...ye-puffer-1.jpg


Not true, dwarf puffers live perfectly well in freshwater .

 

[retro]

I didn't know they needed salt
The guy at the shop (Who is very helpfull and knew his stuff) was keeping them with platys with no salt and they were fine )
[URL="http/s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll306/r...nt=DSCN1576.jpg"]http/s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll306/r...nt=DSCN1576.jpg[/URL]
Sorry for quality picture i had to un-root my plant to get her out of hiding.

She hasn't acted agressive to any of my fish so far some of which are smaller
If anything the loaches bullied her off the snail i gave them

What shall i do about the water testing?

 

[guppy_man]

you see the thing is that puffer tend to grow quite big and ar usually realy aggressive fish and will try and eat anything that moves!!!!

Problem 2 is that they are brackish water fish and need a certain amount of salt in the tank with them. Problem is that your other fishies wouldnt take to kindly to that!!!!

Not true, most pufferfish are brakish or SW but, dwarf pufferfish can live in 100% freshwater and only grow to 3cm or smaller.

 

[pricey]

Do they really!!!!!??? I was put off getting one from a LFS because he said they NEED brackish water and that they get too aggressive!!!! #### bloody LFS!!!!! Learn something new everyday!!! Thanks for the education!!!!!! haha

 

[guppy_man]

photobucket didnt work try posting the direct image link for the photo its easier.

 

[retro]

Sorry for poor quality.
Just changed the substrate aswell which doesn't help.

Should also say, i've never used a water test kit or any of that stuff as the guy who looks after our large tank says they are a waste of money and aslong as the livestock is happy and not acting erratic the water is fine.
Should i buy one?

 

[guppy_man]

Looks like a red eye red tailed puffer, and looks female to me. Im not 100% sure, but i think these can live in freshwater too, you may need to ask in the oddball section. O and btw these dont get very big under 3 inches i think.

What do you plan on feeding her with?

 

[retro]

Hey thanks for the quick response,
Yeah i knew she was a fem as her colour was lighter than the others at the store which were male.
Yeah if she ends up getting THAT big (I doubt it ) then she'll be moved into my bigger tank or i'll buy a new one for 'predators' which look very intresting
I fed her earlier, she seemed intrested in the blood worm (She would suck it in and puff it out, is that good?)
I also killed one of the snails in my tank so she had something to grind her teeth on, but unfortunately the loached bullied her off it, so next time i will put more snails in so she gets a share.
Any suggestions on food would be welcome :}

 

[guppy_man]

cockles, prawns, bloodworm, mussels, and aslo frozen foods if she will take them not many puffer fish like frozen they prefer the live stuff.

You wouldn't need to crussh up the snails for he, they can do that there sleves. Malaysian trumpet snail shells are very hard which will help grind down her teeth.

When i had my dwarf puffers i used to go to my local fish shop and ask if they had any pest snails i could have, i used to get hundreds every week for my dwarfs. Theres no harm in asking, their pests anyway so i dont think they will mind if you take them.

 

[retro]

I already have malaysian trumpet snails, so shall i just leave them and let her kill them herself?
I think maybe i should dismantle my tank, i can put all my fish in my other tank for the duration, remove all water and substrates, extract all the malaysian trumpet snails and keep them in a little makeshift tank which i'll use for live feeding.

Then i can use 50% water from my other tank with 50% tap water, keep my filters and cycle it for a few hours then put my fish back in?
Also, the filter pump im using in this tank is a bit weak, it gets clogged up easily which mucks up the circulation, its a built in pump from the juwel line, do you think this is because of the poor water quality or the pump just doesn't cut it? if so i could bu a more powerfull one.