mountaintoppufferkeeper

Yes the Julie's are Tanginikan. Though I view these ones are also Utah'ian 😁 .... he bred them in his fish room. We traded those and some other species for some of my Orinoco pike, regani pike, and something else I forgot

Surprise fry are like magic🪄 happening in front of my every time congrats.

@ARMYVET from a Schofield Barracks 1/27th Wolfhounds, with few other stops after that, veteran .... So awesome congrats.

I agree on pricey. The culture should theoretically last longer than our fish if we set them up right with the food and rotatate which we feed from. My set ups are apple cider vinegar, an organic apple washed rubbed and rinsed in the extra vinegar, then slices of that apple jammed down into the bottle. I do about 1/2 apple each running culture buy im sure you could so more or less.

I bought the snail shells that come with the esargot can from safeway last week to join you all at some point with the shell dwellers. Only a nerm thinks i should buy those to have for a shelldewller project i have yet to start when in the canned meat and tuna asile.😁

Congrats very cool. I have some Julidochromis marksmithi F1 from a trade growing up, and technically have two others my breeding pair and first F1 fry of the pelvicachromis subocellatus 'moanda', and my pair growing out of F1 pelvicachromis kribensis taeniatus moliwe

Id bet you have a good amount I harvest by using the polyfill down in the neck just touching the vinegar mix and add the freshwater above the polyfill. You probably have a ton after a month. I cant see them down in the bottle either but I make them out when they get to the clear water. The other option i sometimes have luck with is to twist the bottle around to get a little rotation and try to pick up movement counter to that rotation using a light behind the bottle and looking up into it. I just use a mini syringe to suck up freshwater and eels then replace with fresh water when done when harvesting. I have also knocked the polyfill down into the bottle after a week to let the spares back into the culture no idea if it helps or not but they seem to last forever .... so far. You can always just knock the fill down into the bottle. I would suggest a mother culture which you feed apple, put in a vinegar mix and leave and 2 working cultures if you need to feed vinegar eels. I just work off one and have the back up then rotate them while reestablishing the used up ine from the mother culture

Im not entirely sure why but i couldnt find the livestream prior to or during the stream (i could in the first month) Any tips for next month to avoid missing out again? That was a bummer to somehow mess up on my end.

@Myznada08 the short version is I havent seen that issue in my personal puffers but im sure it exists as a risk in some puffer species. I agree that feeding a variety is vital to long term health of puffers and all fish in my care. Longer version: I could not find any acedemic research on the pufferfish lockjaw subject but did find some internet posts from keepers. Those claims seemed to focus on saltwater puffers, especially the Porcupine puffer - Diodon holocanthus, in the home aquarium who ate only freeze dried krill developing what the keeper personally identified as lockjaw. I do think feeding only one food is to be avoided at all costs for heath concerns and risk of loosing that food source when most needed either by supply issues or the fish quit eating it. I only keep freshwater puffers particularly of the pao genus but I would assume the krill reports that is some sort of a nutrient issue either deficency or over abundance if puffers eat any one food exclusively. I primarily use the frozen foods as a direct vitamin delivery method and the live snails etc as an in direct delivery method for the nutrition that those snails or the occasional fish or shrimp have from the vegetables, flake, repashy, pellets, etc they eat. Krill is an ingredient in many foods to me its essentially the black soldier fly larvae of the sea. Every food is rich in something and lacking in something else. If all I ate was carrots, or steak, or any one thing really id develop something horrible due to the lack of or buildup of a nutrient eventually. If I were one of the people allergic to it I am sure the issue would be worse when it appeared externally. My assumption, since there is only the occasional report, is that the seemingly rare puffer and krill issue could be either a puffer genus is unable to process a portion of the nutrients within krill fully, krill lacks a vitsl nutrient to processes of that puffer genus, or an individual puffer is allergic to krill or some ingredient in whatever krill / krill mix being fed. The possibility that something in krill or whatever krill mix is involved is not able be processed by the kidneys or liver of the puffer and displaying as lockjaw especially in saltwater species is interesting. Do you have any theory on what the mechanisim is that could be causing it? I havent personally seen lock jaw in a fish from krill and have used it with 11 puffers since 2018 across Pao baileyi, Pao palustris, and Tetraodon lineatus. I also have fed it at a similar rate to dwarf pikes, both crenicichla regani and crenicichla orinoco, and meat eater plecos since 2019 with no issues noted yet. With the rotational feedings and the availablity of fish and snails I would guess at most I feed 20% frozen krill /shrimp with vitachem and similar supplements to the puffers. For all my fish I try to keep them eating as many different things as possible to minimize the risk of health issues from a deficency or worse an over accumulation of some substance from their food in their body. I have not tried the oyster shell with repashy method but i did obtain some extra for that purpose eventually. I use it as a box filter weight and water buffer. I also may just cook some clams one night, save the shells and boil them clean for future use. In that case I would bet it would be easy to pour repashy onto or into clamshells as a meat substitute. Depending on size of the shell used and how i repashy it that would probably be able to work as grazing rock for puffers, a direct clam meat replacement in the shell, grazing for plecos shrimp etc on the exterior shell, etc and to help buffer water to some degree as thr shell dissolves over time.

Sorry on the delay missed that one. @Myznada08 I feed both species of the pao puffers 2 or 3 times per week and rotate between frozen krill with vitachem, and frozen bloodworms with vitachem. I also have livebearers which could be food but rarely are on different feeding schedules. They are nutrient rich if that occurs and get fed lightly spirulina flake, krill flake, or pellets 2 days a week opposite puffer days and one day i feed live brine or peanut beatle larvae to encourage spawning from all. I occasionally drop in mystery snails from my snail growout tank to the hairy puffers if they need a little variety that seems to fire them up.

@James Black nice. I feel like I made it on the mount rushmore of forum there being included in that list with @Colu, @Daniel, @Fish Folk, @Streetwise

So cool. Congrats. Extra water changes are something i occasionally do and i definately change out filter media more often when feeding live baby brine. I just recently had my first "krib"spawn, P.subocellus moanda , and left the fry with the parents for 2 weeks. I generally leave fry and parents together until the parents seem disinterested in guarding the fry as closely. My bolivian rams quit protecting at about that two week time and I should have pulled the fry as soon as I noticed the behavioral change. My regani pike took 60 days to stop guarding I pulled the majority of fry then; i think its more parental behavior dependant for my tanks. The only other thing I do with cichlids is feed a variety for the adults while guarding as well. My cichlid parents seem to get the fry eating whatever they eat and that saves a lot of hassle later on. Early pulled fry for me were picky eaters with lower survival rates and slower growth.

@Patrick_G im very happy with the mekong the rowdier version of a schouldenti for like 40% of the price. I have kept or am keeping a few species and am happy to give my opinions to help the cause. The Pao palustris, mekong river puffer top out at 5-6". Mekong are a pretty fun puffer for me. My 75 gallon colony set up of 6 and now 5 puffer ( non bonded female went into the males cave and it didnt end well) was very wild for the first month and now is settled out enough for spawning. My mekong like having caves especially the male, pretty much any parameter works in the "standard" ranges and 75-77 temp seems to be most prefered activity wise. Mine benefit from heavy plants for both line of sight breaks and in my opinion the comfort of defendable territory. Even though they are probably not much community puffer my group havent bothered any other fish that makes it past 2 weeks cohabitating and gets out of the way of their mouth. My understandimg was they were pure fish eaters I disagree as evidemced by my groups of Multicolor victorae and variatus platty which are both growing in size with a tank of 5 mekong adults. If you are going for an individual they are quite alot of "beak for the buck". The colors on the male with the leopard spot belly and darker green are awesome in person if going for a more intense version. of this species. I obtained a group of 6 with intention to get a pair out of them. The females are the light green males are darker to the degree that you think its a different species when fired up. The male is the one with the spots on his belly females are lighter and a little different head shape. They are active feeders and actually dont fight while eating at all fights occasionally occur about territory and end when the sight line breaks between the two puffers. The below gif is nkormal feeding taking turns not biting each other. They mostly chill out in plants and caves unless their person is around, someone breaks the puffer rules and goes into anothers area, food hits the water, or something interesting is happening outside their tank. I know it exceeds your size list but Fahaka puffer 14-20" ish get pretty big need a 75 plus. Mine was in a 75 was about 8" 2 years in and was a big baby. Never really ate fish, prefered snails and especially ramshorns, would hid in the corner if a fish was too aggressive. Was very interactive but fairly flighty. A good excuse to add the footage of the snail feeding thohgh. The Pao baileyi, hairy puffer 6" ish is one of my favorites. I have 3 sometimes a pair in a 50 gsllon no issues ever. Some say they sit and do not interact but I have found in a group they are more active that alone. When i have removed the 3rd puffer from the pairs tank that puffer interacted way less and returned to normal puttering around when reunited. As you can see top left even hairy puffers had a large school of tiger barbs they ignored after two weeks or so. They do go crazy for larger snails as well. I have noticed the size of the snail matters because my Hairys will grab and remove the meat without going through shell. Ive also done a group of pea puffer before which were fun to have as a group as well. I might move the hairys to a smaller tank for breeding and work a dragon puffer as a colony in the 50 they currently reside in the next few months. Anything with a puffer is pending puffer food at the discresion of the puffer but they all seem to be less mindless killers and more easy meal eaters for me prefering snails and frozen krill etc over ambushing live fish.

I do the drain through a 120 micron sieve then a turkey baster of tank water to the inverted sieve into a container. Strain no rinse for me. Feed from that container with a no drip baster and the remaining I do not feed that day go into a silicone icecube tray for freezing

Congrats. I have not tried brackish water yet. My assumption would be the general suggestions for puffers: shelled / crunchy foods and I would consider some other inhabitants for clean up purposes. I include variatus platys in most puffer tanks even for the ambush fish eater puffers. The variatus tend to stabilize their population within a week or two of introduction and then start to grow their numbers back up in my puffer setups. Because the puffers are little messy when eating the livebearer clean up crews are a benefit to my systems by eating all the bits the puffers do not and cutting down on the excess food going bad in the water. 36 Gallon Planted Brackish Community posted by @Chris may be worth reviewing also that is an excellent thread that might help you as well.

A decent shot of the mudfish feeding on live baby brine tonight. Their mouth is wild to see in action.

@Gestaltgal i only know my experience with them for certain. wild caugh orinoco are much more mean than my wild caught regani were. Both control the tank of any size once they pair up. Regani, which look similar but are bigger are very peaceful for me with other species allowing pleco, khuli loaches, and variatus platys to live with them in relative peace.

Still working on the feeding photos. They are nocturnal at the moment and still pretty reclusive but juat as intersting as they were on arrival.

@MAC yes they remind me of the fish version of a platypus with the mouth / trunk you dont expect to see on a fish. The knowledge gained either on how to keep them and breed them or ill how to not keep them will be a fun journey to document for me. Id prefer success over hard learning but both make me a better fishkeeper in the future. I will update the process milestones here whichever way they go for me. Guess its about time for a 2nd security camera in the fishroom to document that tank.

@Fish Folk thanks much. I say the same about your selections as well. These are going to be some challenge they are way cooler in person than t b e few videos on youtube. I can only imagine when they start interacting with each other as they mature. My butterfly fish group formed two pairs and started dancing immediately when i swapped these in for the moliwe kribs and adjusted the decor slightly. Male in trail with the longer anal fin ray, female out front with the even anal fin. . Moliwe to a 20 also fired up immediately i think it has worked well for all groups. Not the best resolution but will upload better as anything noteworthy happens

New roomates for the african butterfly fish have arrived. A group of 6 mudfish by far the craziest and most intriguing fish ive ever seen in person. The reaction from my wife, despite knowing they were coming, was as you would expect when I opened a box containing what can only be adequatly described as a bag of 6" jumping dinosaurs at our telework desks. . Not the best photo in the water but we will get plenty more to post in the coming years. I can only imagine what the first feeding will be like once they get all settled.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🥳 . Nice progression its not fun to deal with tank leaks or angry gourami. Thanks for sharing. I am envious of the betta set up especially

Anything snake like with anything cichlid that might give it a test bite could be problematic. I would try whatever is the most enjoyable to my eye. I haven't personally kept any of these : The Senegal bichir @MAC suggested, maybe another bichir species you like. The Mastacembelus eels ( fire eels, spiny eels, etc ) are pretty snake like and could be pretty interesting the caution would be they would likely freak out if bitten. Dojo loaches - foot long hotdogs with interesting color morphs now. They seem to be really active in the videos I've seen. Might also freak out if bitten.

@Karen B.I second @DaveO 's response and would add that seeming response you witnessed occurs in most animals and many humans when dying. Similar to the last goodbye and something that certainly would have occured reguardless of if you helped your fish or left it to suffer longer.

The plan is a 50 gallon for the mudfish group that checks the block for well seasoned tank time. Currently holds my african butterfly colony of 6 , mixed genders, and soon to be spawning pair of molwie kribensis. Would you move the molawie to a smaller tank and make it a straight african congo oddball breeding set up? Or keep it an african tank with all three. I believe the molawie are keepimg the butterfly fish from reproducing due to their "intensity"