Might Just Be Giving Up....

[McCool]

I think I'm giving up. South American Puffer fish seem to have gone extinct.
I have a 4ft 55 gallon that's completely set up and ready for them, but I can't seem too find them. I've been looking for months, but everyone has been out of stock. So now I'm thinking about just going with something else.
The tank has 8 Giant Danios and 4 Angelicus Botia Loaches. I may keep the loaches, but I'll be giving away the Danios.
I have a 10 gallon snail breeding tank full of ponds and ramshorns, plus a betta and a few endlers. I can always give the snails to the loaches, but I'm gonna have to put the betta in the 55 gallon, so I'll have limited stocking.
Could I do a pair of angels? I'm not sure about them and a betta.... He is a pretty small black crowntail, not a lot of fin. He has always been small, and I don't think he's getting any bigger.
My brother is friends with a guy who owns a huge fish warehouse supply company, and we may be going up there Saturday to look around. I'm gonna write down anything I see that I like, and research everything too come up with a final stocking plan. If I don't fall in love with anything incompatible, I want an angel pair.
So, will two angels pick on my betta? Any interesting fish that could go in my tank?

 

[McCool]

Also, By the end of this year I plan on completely redoing my tank. I already have sand, but I'm looking into plant lights. I want to plant my tank and replace all my rock with driftwood. I'm also going too be hopefully switching to a single canister filter. Don't know if it changes the stocking much, but thought I'd mention it.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Why don't you wait until you get the plant lights etc first? Then do all the haulage and moving around in one operation to make it a stressless for the fish as possible?

 

[McCool]

Why don't you wait until you get the plant lights etc first? Then do all the haulage and moving around in one operation to make it a stressless for the fish as possible?

Because that won't be happening til Christmas, or the beginning of next year. Its really just a hopeful plan at the moment, not completely 100%.
If it were to happen, I would just move the fish into buckets while I reworked the tank.

 

[nmonks]

SAPs are seasonal. They're collected during the wet or dry season (can't remember which!) which corresponds to late summer/early autumn here in England. So, you don't tend to see many of them from wintertime onwards through to around July. That said, according to Tropical Fish Finder, there are at least 9 shops on their lists that have these fish in stock, so you may want to pop across to what website, use the search facility there, and give those shops a call to see if they still have them in their tanks.

Cheers, Neale

I think I'm giving up. South American Puffer fish seem to have gone extinct.
I have a 4ft 55 gallon that's completely set up and ready for them, but I can't seem too find them. I've been looking for months, but everyone has been out of stock.

 

[McCool]

SAPs are seasonal. They're collected during the wet or dry season (can't remember which!) which corresponds to late summer/early autumn here in England. So, you don't tend to see many of them from wintertime onwards through to around July. That said, according to Tropical Fish Finder, there are at least 9 shops on their lists that have these fish in stock, so you may want to pop across to what website, use the search facility there, and give those shops a call to see if they still have them in their tanks.

Cheers, Neale

Unfortunately I'm in the US, and haven't even found one shop that could even order them. I've been watching a few sites that carry them for a while now, but all out of stock still.
I'll definitely take a peek at that site though!

Thank you!

 

[nmonks]

Glad to help.

By the way, if you want a puffer-themed tank, why not look at Figure-8s? Yes, they're brackish water, but not very brackish, so SG 1.002-1.004 is fine, and that means you can grow lots of plants. Better still, they're far less nervous than SAPs, and much more tameable, and their colours are, if anything, even nicer. They aren't quite as compatible with other fish as SAPs, but Bumblebee Gobies work really well with them, and if you're a bit more patient, you could probably track down things like Rhinohorn Gobies (Redigobius balteatus) or Zebra Blennies (Omobranchus zebra) and find they work equally well with them.

Cheers, Neale

 

[McCool]

Glad to help.

By the way, if you want a puffer-themed tank, why not look at Figure-8s? Yes, they're brackish water, but not very brackish, so SG 1.002-1.004 is fine, and that means you can grow lots of plants. Better still, they're far less nervous than SAPs, and much more tameable, and their colours are, if anything, even nicer. They aren't quite as compatible with other fish as SAPs, but Bumblebee Gobies work really well with them, and if you're a bit more patient, you could probably track down things like Rhinohorn Gobies (Redigobius balteatus) or Zebra Blennies (Omobranchus zebra) and find they work equally well with them.

Cheers, Neale

I thought about them for a while, but from what I've read on them, I didn't really think I could have more than 2 in my tank, as they are more aggressive.... I do know how too do salt, and have the materials already, but I'm afraid of how much harder my water changes would be. I'm on hardwood flooring, on the second floor, so hauling buckets is already nerve wracking enough
My LFS does have F8s...and BB gobies.....
How many do you think my tank could accommodate?

 

[nmonks]

In 55 gallons? I'd tend to "overstock" in the mbuna sense -- not overstock the tank as such, but add a large group so no single individual could be dominant. In 55-gallons, I'd have though 5-6 specimens would be absolutely fine. That would still only be, what, 15-18 inches of fish? In a 55-gallon tank? I'm not a huge fan of the inch/gallon rule, but as a baseline, such a tank wouldn't be overstocked in terms of water quality. Still space left over for some gobies!

Cheers, Neale

 

[McCool]

In 55 gallons? I'd tend to "overstock" in the mbuna sense -- not overstock the tank as such, but add a large group so no single individual could be dominant. In 55-gallons, I'd have though 5-6 specimens would be absolutely fine. That would still only be, what, 15-18 inches of fish? In a 55-gallon tank? I'm not a huge fan of the inch/gallon rule, but as a baseline, such a tank wouldn't be overstocked in terms of water quality. Still space left over for some gobies!

Cheers, Neale

Dang. You've pretty much convinced me.
Would hate for all these snails to go to waste!
I'll definitely think about it! I've wanted puffers for so long, I think I'd probably go with anything at this point.
Thanks for the help! Might just be visiting my LFS soon!

Quick question!
If I were to do, say 5 puffers, how many BBG would you suggest?

 

[ZoddyZod]

even buried in Tropical Discussion with a topic title unrelated to the world of puffers....somehow Neale still manages to find it and offer advice.

How does he do it??

 

[nmonks]

Ah, the joy of the RSS feed!

Cheers, Neale

even buried in Tropical Discussion with a topic title unrelated to the world of puffers....somehow Neale still manages to find it and offer advice.
How does he do it??

 

[MBOU]

Been waiting a year to see these fish on our availability lists and not once have they appeared I love the SAPs. One list has the C. psittacus? listed and as a brackish species. Whether they've correctly identified what they have or not is a whole new guessing game

 

[McCool]

Been waiting a year to see these fish on our availability lists and not once have they appeared I love the SAPs. One list has the C. psittacus? listed and as a brackish species. Whether they've correctly identified what they have or not is a whole new guessing game

First time I've heard of that puffer. Just googled, and I can see why they would be mixed up... Maybe you could ask for a picture?
I've found three sites that have SAPs listed, but all have been out of stock for a while.

 

[MBOU]

Mind you, depends where abouts they are collect them from because everything from Brazil/Columbia area has been an absolute nightmare to get fish from for the last year or two with this stupid dam being built. Has meant that so many species are suddenly really hard to collect... that and bans of the export of species has been changing again recently. Heard that LDA25 or Pitbull Plecs were last banned from export in Brazil recently but not Columbia (further up the amazon). All a bit strange.

I'd say don't give up looking... but they really arent a species easily available!

I'm not going to question suppliers on what they stock, we dont deal with them directly anyway but i'm no expert on identifying species! Nor... i expect... are the people catching the fish! Ends up a bit awkward when people are taking 'educated guesses' as to what fish are. Suckermouth catfishes are the worst for being misidentified when being imported.