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mountaintoppufferkeeper

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Everything posted by mountaintoppufferkeeper

  1. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    When I use that method on shrimp I just cut the breather bags and dump everything water and shrimp into a specimen container then use the airline with a valve on it to drip acclimate to double the original volume. My temperature and parameters are pretty much equal by then and i release them then.
  2. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    For the most part those restricted species move into a permit program for the standard educational or scientific purposes. One of the first invasive species I saw in Hawaii was a group of wild Veiled Chameleons in a tree on Schofield barracks and of course the mongoose. I do use the cherry shrimp and plants for some of the puffer fry. Given enough plant cover my shrimp group will eventually dwindle down to a sustainable colony of those who avoid the puffer predators while the adolescent shrimp will periodically become puffer food as they appear.
  3. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    funny thing is I cant get guppies or any livebearer to really breed up here they all die off for me. I'm impressed with the guppy success
  4. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    @QBNOD I do recall the restrictions in Hawaii when stationed at Schofield Barracks on Oahu. I did look at an importing permit back then and that was so difficult then I can only imagine how it is now on the big island. I would try and source whatever is around you on the live food front. In general I'd say a worm is a worm and an insect is an insect so long as they are clean of anything harmful to the puffer. I am not well versed in the pea puffers but have used a drop of garlic extract/ garlic guard on food with some success on other species. My theory is they associate the smell to their normal food and are more willing to try the different offerings if the smell is there. If allowed on the island, I would try cherry shrimp ( they did seem to be in stock at Kona petco on the app but that app is hit or miss), scuds, and worms. Up here whiteworms and grindal worms have been great for the smaller puffers along with appropriately sized earthworms from my firshroom earthworm farm. If your petco carries live crickets and I would consider trying pinhead or small emough versions to match the puffer mouth sizes. Pretty much everything eats crickets and it is probably a fairly decent natual meal for them to consume
  5. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    You got me thinking about trying spotted congos now 😁
  6. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    I would estimate the Pao are the size of 2 week old spotted congos based off this video from @Preston John this journal is also pretty amazing stuff from @Jack.of.all.aquariums
  7. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    Congrats first off and great shots there. I defer to @Preston John on spotted congos one of these days I will try a colony myself. I can say Pao puffers are impressive with the amount of food and frequency they will eat while growing. Paos get to bbs at day 3 for me. I use Java moss in a breeder box along with vinegar eels as my first foods then bbs, grindal worms, whiteworms, snails, Some good threads here : https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/tags/spotted congo puffer/
  8. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    I agree with @Odd Duck @Atitagain @Lizzyduff.For me variety seems to be the best longer term to mitigate any deficiencies found in any single food source and for enrichment so they aren't just eating the same thing everyday and get bored with it. There is also added benefit of feeding a variety that it will help limit them from getting too picky and having issues if a source of a particular food runs out. I would guess any puffer would consume all the snails in their tank incredibly efficiently and at a rate that is impressive to watch. I feed grindalworms, whiteworms, blackworms, scuds, daphnia, MTS / pond / and ramshorn snails for live options and for frozen I do blood worms / tubifex worms / mysis shrimp / or krill with vitachem and a little garlic guard added to add some vitamins. I have also done vibra at times to change it up
  9. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    Same for those no more than 6 just an interesting I haven't tried guppies yet they may be the next up if the highland swords do not figure it out. It's certainly an odd pattern considering the rest of the species breeding up here longer term. I do run live plants and box filters it is an odd one for me.
  10. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    I've tried quite a few livebearers but I never get fry long term (more that 6 broods out of each purchased or 1st generation female) which I am always intrigued by The previous tries , Celebes Halfbeak, variatus platy,maculatus platy, black chin livebearer, black prince goodeid, rainbow goodied, Limia Perugia (Boca de Cachon), Xenotoca doadrioi (San Marcos), Zoogoneticus tequila (Rio Teuchitlan), least killifish, red swordtails, highland swordtail. I have run various temperatures and ph crushed coral 300 tds etc. Harder versions of the puffer setups. Good food and cover. My theory is high altitude negatively impacts livebearers by somehow causing issues with the mother and eventually crashing the colony. Do you think this is possible ? Why would that be more of an impact on livebearers than egglayers?
  11. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    Center of fish earth deep sometimes
  12. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    Two years already flying by
  13. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    Mine is functional and i use it when needed but I often default to the ziss box for the easy factor. Ziss has lots if flow , i can see it and feed it easily, and its in the main tank so uses that volume of water for stability. The external one has to hang off the back of my tanks here, is less observable for me, has more temperature and parameter fluctuations based off food and flow rates. The in tank ones have a mesh that keeps my baby puffers in but lets some baby brine work their way out. As a result when I'm feeding cry in the box the rest of the tank is conditioning off bbs that get through the mesh.
  14. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    I learned #5 up here. I do have it handy when needed but usually run it with a 80gph micro water pump on the tube vs the airline to limit the heat loss with 4 watts of heat and a little more and constant flow
  15. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    You make me want to try the sterbai out there now
  16. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    So cool congrats @FrozenFins, @nabokovfan87, @Chick-In-Of-TheSea
  17. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    I have never but I have also never tried them outside up here. At 9100 feet temp fluctuates between 45 and 65 depending on air temperature. Outside I wonder if temperature fluctuations and range limited egg and fry to development, If a predator in the pond picked them off early and often, etc. My sterbai took off once I had a species of percieved threat in there the Rhoadsia altipinna tetra. They ignore the corys but the sterbai won't lay unless those tetra are around now. Its like they need the tetra risk in the tank to want to spawn.
  18. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    Mine is a bit utilitarian but works for me... There are also the restaurant storage racks which normally rate for 600lbs per shelf. My racks are the Cambro resturant shelving. The price went up a bit since then but purchased on sale pre-covid for the light weight, easy of assembly however I want it, and ability to change my set up to different layouts using only a rubber mallet was worth it for me. I use the sloted shelves it comes with with polycarbonate food grade "tanks" this one is 26x18x15. Scleromystax C112 Baianinho II posing for the photo One of the units I have been using is a 24x42x64 with 4 adjustible shelves. I use polycarbonate food grade containers as tanks. Each is fitted with a bulkhead and a quick connect fitting that clips into to my pvc drain pipe to flow back into the sump system. I currently run each half of the rack as an independent sump system but could do nearly any layout with it. Using any combination of tanks up to one 22"x40"x13". My rack: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/cambro-cbu244264v4580-camshelving-basics-plus-vented-4-shelf-stationary-starter-unit-24-x-42-x-64/214BSL4264V4.html
  19. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    Congrats. I also think you are good as is. There are all kinds of natural fry foods in an established planted tank. Speaking from my panda cory experience in a planted 55, that went from 6 to way more than 6, if you see one there are almost certainly more fry in the plants at various stages of growth.The one you photographed should eat everything adults eat. That natural food in your tank and your standard foods seem to be the perfect amount to grow your group. If you wanted to be sure you alhad a little extra for fry I have crushed up flakes and pellets before with a mortar and pestle to get tiny foods to fry. That has normally be fine for Corydoras fry. Some live baby brine could be fed or live worms of some sort (blackworms, whiteworms, or grindal worms, etc)
  20. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    In this NERM year I arguably became a slightly accomplished freshwater puffer breeder. and earned my breeder certificate from the Colorado Aquarium Society raising the first captive born Pao cf palustris . During the year I raised decent numbers of Pao cf palustris and even documented spawning behavior in F1 fry at 9months old. The biggest thing "re-"learned this year is to not fight the process and take the learning lessons for what they are learning. The palustris experiences of failures, partial successes, and eventually full successes, have prepped me to better care for fuuture Pao cf palustris and hopefully utilize what I have learned to accomplish similar successes with my two other current puffer breeding projects: a split colony of 7 Pao baileyi (4 smaller in one tank, 3 full grown in another), and a colony of 5 Tetraodon miurus. It's been a pretty good year 2 on the forum. A great resource here.
  21. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    I'd say you have a good range of offerings you are considering there and a clear goal. It may be an extensive amount of tanks to keep strains pure and get populations sustainable. My personal breeding successes on fish species have been single species per tank and at least 3 tanks per species. Breeding group, growout, growout for hold backs. I'm not an expert on how selling to stores is done by any measure but in my opinion it boils down to building a relationship and supporting the business you are selling your stock to by filling whatever the local demand is for a better price or better quality than the competition. Seems like you are already on that path. I personally only keep the species I enjoy the challenge of keeping and possibly breeding, or the set it and forget it types that my puffers like. It is a lot of enjoyment/work to keep and successfully raise most species to sellable sizes. If my end pays for the cost of raising the species to that sellable size or the trade value equivalent I'm pumped, if it pays for more than that even better, if it pays for the cost of the whole operation I would feel like I hit the fishroom lottery.
  22. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    Welcome @Suzanne Thanks@nabokovfan87 I do the med trio on new arrivals and then observe. If it is a fish I keep in an outdoor pond for summer they get the trio on return inside and are observed again like a new purchase. I'm a big believer in any of the vitamin liquids like vitachem to potentially limiting deficiencies in nutrition. I buy this one personally and add it in repashy or soak frozen foods in it prior to feeding. Ill even add a little to the food I give my ramshorns and trumpet snails prior to feeding them to my puffers. At a minimum its giving a bit more nutrition to the puffers. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/vita-chem. The garlic extracts are also something I use. The below reference is a study on garlic vs parasites in guppies published in Veterinary Parasitology, Volume 203, Issues 1–2, 16 June 2014, Pages 51-58. It is one peer reviewed study on garlic as a treatment vs parasites in ornamental fish. I have no clue how settled it is but at least anecdotally parasites including aquatic ones, are not a huge fan of garlic. And it does seem to help encourage picky eaters when I add a little in my repashy mix or to my frozen food soaks. Reference https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304401714000752
  23. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    Well played
  24. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    Not yet but i am still growing the 4 new ones for a bit of a super colony. Based on the behavior of the smoother faced baileyi im confident I have a mixed group. Id say its a matter of time and an inch or two of growth until they happen.
  25. mountaintoppufferkeeper
    This happened a little earlier than expected. I had guessed 12-18 months before they started up. Should be a good project to fully document their life cycle from hatching to eventually making F2 fry.
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