mountaintoppufferkeeper

I have dwarf orange crayfish in with cherry shrimp. The shrimp exist but i wouldn't say they are thriving. I would also assume the crayfish are happy to consume whatever they can catch. That is probably much easier during shrimp molting.

The possibilities are probably endless😁

Ive never tried that but if it's just a white cleaned bone of some sort I'd imagine it would be a great repashy holder, cave, and buffer the water a bit.

So amazing congratulations

@Guppysnail that's awesome stuff I'll tag @Fish Folk because the legend always has something cool happening. Today was shrimp with vitachem and garlic guard feeding day Tetraodon miurus launch into food....and each other occasionally. A fairly unique method across the puffer species up here. Of course my adult male palustris is crushing the food today. That normally means he will be guarding eggs within 4 days. He also let me capture this courtship display to a female One of the adult hairy puffers patrolling. They grow subwassertang way better than I can Small hairys And the non puffer project Rhoadsia altipinna Adults : Male red edge fins females smaller Foods in rotation Frozen shrimp with vitachem and garlic guard. I chopped up the shell on deveined shrimp to pieces added vitachem and garlic guard and break off pieces to feed as needed. Grindal worm culture white worm culture Earthworms Repashy community plus with flaked oyster shell

If I were trying it I would also ship like fish. Water in a bag, the media in there, and maybe try and do oxygen or at least airpump air to fill the bag.

Recorded a decent gif of the hairy puffer adolescents displaying. Tail up puffed out dominant display, tail down belly exposed submissive puffer of the encounter.

I just buy wherever i can find it I use Poly-Bio Marine Poly Filter Pad and hand cut into cubes. Generally find mine online and always check COOP first personally. My understanding and experience with it is that it absorbs excess substances which cause it to change color. That color intesifies as it locks in more of that excess substance and gives me an idea of what is happening in the water when I look at it. Light Tan progressing to brown less concerning red (never seen) yellow (never seen) or light blue I get testing and assessing what is causing that. In the fishroom I put some in my filters as needed just as a visual of water conditions when desired. I also use it to remove remaining meds in the water post treatment and water changes. I have even put some in the tank to keep an eye on conditions since it changes color based off of what is being absorbed. In shipping bags I just use it for insurance but it would mostly be there in case it needed to absorb ammonia and organic waste if the fasting was not quite right. I get photos of the cubes on arrival if I'm trading with friends so I can visually assess how the fasting, packing, and shipping process might have impacted water quality for the fish on arrival to their new home. The color change for some substances it will absorb: Aqua to Dark Blue: Copper or Copper salts. Orange: Iron. Bright Red: Aluminum. Bright Yellow: Ammonia, Amines or Solvents. Organic Wastes: Light Tan progressing to Dark Brown @Fish Folk particularly those distribution hubs ....I've got some stories there pretty sure someone played soccer with a box to me before

I have only done dwarf pike and palustris puffer fry. I fast 48 hours prior to packing. I use #275 Corrugated cardboard box, 1 1/4" foam box inside that and a 2 mil box liner bag. The fish go in a 4 mil bag that i make square bottom by taping the corners i fill that with 1/3 fresh tank water put a little subwassertang or java moss in there for security and comfort and 2 cubes of polyfilter absorber. I try to divide the group into 2 or 4 bags depending on amounts. I fill the bag with air off the air pump. I then put that into a 2nd 4mil bag put a little air in that for an air cushion /more insulation and tape those corners as well. That double bag goes in the box liner bag and I seal it up. I havent checked the temperatures in transit but it's worked well over my "experience" of 5 shipments. I still consider myself inexperienced there and probably way over packed.

Yeah I'm with you there. We don't always know the journey they took prior to coming into our care or what if any internal problems they might have Both problems could cause random deaths. I just shoot for the best possible conditions and care I can give them and roll with the learning experiences I occasionally go through.

Sounds like stray current could have been the issue based off your observations. I have extra filter media bio rings etc going in my filters that i could use to run a quarantine tank when needed. The tank itself can be nearly anything of sufficient size. I have food grade polycarbonate if I need it and set up a box filter using that media and fresh polyfil but again anything of sufficient size would work as qt for me

I do the quarantine trio first and observe for a week. Then normally use test strips before adding new fish, before and after water changes to get an idea of what is going on in the water. I'll also use water condition to treat the volume of the tank just before refilling with fresh water. My opinion is 1. Pre-existing condition of the individual fish, 2. PH or temperature shock, 3. unknowns introduced into the water unintentionally (hand lotions, soaps, etc), 4.quick water quality spikes (ammonia, chlorine/chlorimine and nitrite especially), 5.stray electicity, 6.stress from either tankmates or something they can see external to the tank. 7. I've had co2 dump into a tank overnight but that was not a mystery and my DIY setup immediately went away. I'm not personally convinced temperature swings cause deaths but could be a contributor to death by weakening their immune system. Especially if too cold or too hot too quickly. I imagine anywhere where there is water and wild fish has rain, sun, vegetation, and clouds causing some level of temperature and parameter fluctuations all the time.

Paos do some wacky changes. Spawning male and female colors vs standard colors same group of pao cf palustris F1s

I unintentionally copied @Fish Folk there with the palustris puffer fry. I'm a little unique on the specialties here but it's fun. I essentially cultivate individual relationships with everyone, build rapport long term, and frame it like they are helping me out....which they are. Puffers eat probably 20 times the expected amounts of food I had guessed they would when growing up. I have 3 lists for this project one for each store: LFS A - same state 5 hr drive (1) made 5 spaced out and not small orders over a few years to become that good, paying customer. (2) chatted up the stock manager about my plan to be the/among the first to document breeding Pao palustris in captivity. That definately got us to a first-name level now (3) Asked once 6 months ago if they would like any F1 Pao cf palustris fry at 1" to sell. No expectation of credit or payment. Didn't get a response there but I wasn't concerned (3a) Asked again last month, included a hd photo and link to the video of the F1 fry spawning at 9 months. They took 7 of them immediately we didn't bother on credit or payment but I eventually accepted 20% in store credit. They had highly detailed needs for shipping which were at my level of packing. (4) I Followed up weekly and made sure the fish did well for them. (5) I then described my breeding projects and talked shop a bit. a.Here is where I can sensitize them to what I'm looking to do next project species wise. The real value for me is working on that next rarer project that they may see on the list and be willing to tell me about and possibly order in for me. (6) I do try and touch base regularly to let them know how my projects are going and genuinely see how they are doing as people. (7) If there is interest they are generally going to let me know in conversation that they want some when I bring up fry I have. LFS B - 2 hrs drive (1) "cold called" on facebook messenger. A bit of a drive for me 1 hr each way. (2) chatted up the owner about the pao cf palustris sent pics and video through that app to the owner about how i did it and how great they are as a fish. (3) I gave 6 1" fry to the store to try out no credit no payment. That definately got us to a first-name level (4) I followed up weekly and made sure the fish did well for them. (5) I stopped in a few times after and described my breeding projects and talked shop. a.Here is where I shared what I'm looking to do next project species wise. The real value for me is working on that next rarer project that they may see on the list and be willing to tell me about and possibly order in for me. (6) I do try and touch base regularly to let them know how my projects are going and genuinely see how they are doing as people. (7) If there is interest they are generally going to let me know in conversation that they want some when I bring up fry I have LFS C - another state 1) made 12 spaced out and not small orders over a few years to become that good, paying customer. I also sent a few people to them directly and was a bit of a matchmaker on a few bigger orders. (2) I talk to their sales so much they actually know me. I chat up the group about my plan to be the/among the first to document breeding Pao palustris in captivity, pao baileyi, and Tetraodon miurus. That definately got us to a first-name level now. I also send them photos semi regularly (3) Ask occasionally if they want andly fry but that has not yet happened. I fo not take that personally I am just trying to share not put a wing on the fishroom. (4) I Followed up when I order and quarterly or so for my updates. (5) I describe my breeding projects and talk shop a bit. The real value for me is working on that next rarer project that they may see on the list and be willing to tell me about and possibly order in for me. Here is where I discovered red eye puffer species are normally Fall catches and shows on their lists then. (6) I do try and touch base regularly to let them know how my projects are going and genuinely see how they are. The relationship though distant is worth maintaining for me. They even offered to let me know where their puffer cages came from once. (7) If there ever is interest they would let me know in conversation that they want some.

One of the hairy puffer adolescents decided to repurpose the easy planter. It's about perfect "puffer-flage" And a few close ups of the biggest in the group. Same camera same light same puffer different color display. Divided for growth big one is a bit too pro level for the 3 still growing into their pufferdom

Finished my rack to 40 breeders. Top : Empty Middle: 4 hairy puffers one on right is due to being a food hoarder not really an aggression issue. 5 Tetraodon miurus "congo puffers"

I'm such a baby puffer fan 5 weeks hooks you for sure.... welcome to the rabbit hole 😁

@Patrick_G getting there slowly Female Current fry Male

Valid point 🙂 ....samsung galaxy note 20 ultra 5g.

I'm working on getting better photos for the puffer breeding documentation. I'm certainly a novice on photos and have watched all the Jimmy gimbal videos I can on the subject.... Because it's Jimmy. My current understanding and photo abilities can get me this level of clarity. Is there something I can improve on to get my phone quality of photos to the level of printing in high quality article worth definition ? Do I just need to get a better camera ? Thanks all. That's the male palustris guy is very friendly

Depending on the stand you could probably just put a 20 gallon on there with a little more space around it . I have used 1/2" finished plywood to make a more open stand, like imaginarium etc, a solid top surface before and centered a smaller tank on that. Wood can make the support a bit easier on those stands in my situation

Sorry to hear that @Beardedbillygoat1975. I have had a few of those events over the years. The CO2 accident that cost me the bucktooth tetra colony ended up moving me to puffer lane currently on. Looking forward to the new updates

I'd just get whatever species you want to enjoy. Most things eat shrimp and guppy fry if they are hungry. Snail culls are more of a puffer or loach specialty unless you crush them before feeding. If you do that its just food and will be eaten by nearly everyone. That can also be added to repashy if you feed that type of food for a bit of variety. In my limited experience anything that eats snails is probably rooting or blowing around the roots of plants and would make it a challenge to keep plants in the substrate unless planters or medium sized rocks were used to prevent easy uprooting. I use a colony of Tetraodon Miurus for that purpose. I would imagine an "ambush" puffer would do the job you are looking at if you are a puffer person. My semi educated guess based of my puffer groups is that Pao cf palustris, amazons, spotted congos, pea puffers, and red eyes would be less inclined to hunt the guppies actively unless sufficiently hungry to put out that effort. I could be wrong there though mine are fairly content to be fed or hunt slower prey like shrimp and snails.

After way more time than expected I moved my five Tetraodon miurus colony into their 40 breeder upgrade to the rack. All five one shot. Working towards breeding in 2023. Pretty good camouflage pattern this one decided on. Center facing away from camera One of two Orange phase Capturing the turn

I do have a good amount of scuds in the daphnia pond when I net any daphnia out there are normally 6-8 scuds in each dip. Mine seem to be present in bigger numbers when decomposing plants and mulm are present. That pond ranges from the 50s to 60s for water temp.