Tyler Kaplan

Wow very interesting. I'm sure this dynamic of managing the aggression is even more sensitive with there being two different breeding pairs at the same time! Are you noticing similar sized clutches or is there a lot of variance?

Very fun! Can't wait to get some fry myself. How long do you wait to pull the eggs?

Fantastic photos - Congratulations! How long have the pair been together!

I would think about something like the Dario dario - Scarlet badis! Very fun little fish, super colorful. Does wonderfully in a heavily planted tank.

Apologies for the delay, super busy with work! The puffer is doing great, thank you all for your wonderful advice. I actually grabbed this guy from The Wet Spot, as I ended up waiting a couple of weeks before getting him. My fish room is slowly turning into a puffer room lol... Just picked up a 180 for a Fahaka (one day I will convince my partner to allow a mbu display in the main house, one day...) I'm really enjoying the different Pao species; my baileyi in particular is so active and personable Please let me know what you think! Sorry for the terrible photo quality, I have to zoom in all the way to the back because this one is insanely camera shy.

The most aggressive fish I've every owned was a wild caught betta; I'm convinced it killed/fought for fun.

I would say it should be just fine - the overall environment that they are in will play a much more impactful role in the overall health of the anubias; things like light and fertilizer. Sure every leaf will not be as efficient as possible right now, but anubias is not a fast growing plant. Overtime, and as things grow, the plant will naturally put its leaves where it wants them to be. On top of that, anubias is known for being hardy so I really don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm actually doing something of an experiment right now with anubias, I have about half a dozen different types in a tank that is getting extremely minimal light, and seeing how it affects the growth. It's been two weeks and most strains barely have a single leaf that has gone yellow - I believe that it's an extremely hardly plant. I've only every lost one to anubias rot. As for the aquascape, I think that once you give it a little time and it starts to grow in you will be a lot happier with it, I think what would go a long way is some other accents in the tank around the foreground. Maybe even some dwarf sag around that can grow around it, extra plants to break up the line of sight between the puffers is also a good thing. If you don't want to go down the side of more plants, I think even a couple of good stones (around the base of the wood, to make it look like the wood is coming out of the stones) would go a long way in making it have more depth, even small accent stones littered across the black substrate would benefit the scape in my opinion. Good luck and have fun!

Have you considered something like hydrocotyle or pennywort? You can just float it on top and the leaves should provide some nice shading, and you won't really have to worry about it with the filters.

Thank you very much to everyone for your valuable input, I'll proceed with the purchase with confidence! And of course share an update photo when they're eventually settled :D!

Hello All, I am hoping to get some help in making sure this is the Schoutedeni as opposed to the Nigroviridis and Fluviatillis! I have finally found a place to get the Congo Spotted Puffer, but would appreciate the second opinions on the pictures they sent over to make sure I'm getting the right species. If it were just me I'd say they look like the Schoutedeni, but because I've never actually seen one in person it couldn't hurt to ask!

Congratulations! There's nothing like the first time a fish gives birth in your tank. As for tips, by far the biggest thing to keep in mind if you want them to survive is that you want lots of cover for you little guys to grow up and not become food for every other fish in the tank. The parents can and will go after them, so you want to make sure there is some cover! My absolute favorite thing to use for breeding livebearers is java moss, other than a very think clump of water sprite IMO it can't be beat. Feel free to try different things to find what works for you and your fish. If there isn't a lot of microfauna in the aquarium then I would consider feeding them directly, something like a cyclops, daphnia, vinegar eel, live baby brine, or even finely crushed up flake food will do the trick. Fun fact - Mollies can go 100% saltwater!

They seem to strongly prefer aquarium water to their water bowls...

Do you have a local aquarium society? I've never seen them being sold at a local fish store, but there are at every aquarium society meeting's auction!

Although I think that it's hard to keep most fish in that size, I like the Scarlet Badis for smaller tank setups!

I would encourage you to add you plants right away, and not wait for the tank to be cycled! In fact, when you add them right away they can offer some valuable information about how your tank cycle is doing. I like to add all of my plants first, and when I start to see some nice sustained growth from the plants I know that the tank is getting established. After I see some growth I usually add in a couple of strong fish like a platy to see how the system will respond, and go from there. I would avoid adding in everything at once unless you are more experienced in dealing with the ammonia spike that is likely to come with that. I would strongly agree with Fish Folk that you should either choose the hillstreams or the bristlenose, not both; it will already be a tighter fit (especially for the loach) and they will be competing at similar places in the water column, Good luck, and happy fish keeping!