Hard, freshwater puffer?

[OnlyGenusCaps]

So, my Colombian ramshorn snail breeding has proven effective.  After about 4 months I have from from 5 to approximately 3,000.  That's 3,000ish snails that can get to over 5cm.  The largest are over 2cm already.  I think I am going to need a means to reduce their numbers (sure, sure, I could stop breeding them, but I'm not planning that).  I'm thinking about getting a fish I can feed them to.  Perhaps a puffer.

Are there any freshwater puffer fish that do well in hard water?  Like real hard.  Like swimming in granite?

I'd like pea puffers, but I'm open to suggestion.

[Scapexghost]

Pea puffers would do fine but if you are worried about the hardness i'd try a figure 8 puffer.

[Jennifer V]

I have hard water and my peas are doing great! They do need to be kept in groups of ideally six or more, although I didn't know this when I got mine and ended up with four. Despite that, they are all thriving and no signs of aggression or odd behavior. 

[Schwack]

I've got some SA puffers doing really well in my off-the-charts hard water. I'm constantly worried about their teeth, but otherwise really enjoy keeping them.

[Odd Duck]

I have no personal experience with this, but I’ve read that some puffers that are kept as brackish water puffers are actually from super hard water and they do brackish as an easier substitute for that super hard water.  Maybe do some searching and reading along those lines?

And maybe we should tag @mountaintoppufferkeeper since he seems to be quite proficient at keeping puffers.  What say you, sir?  What species would you recommend for OP?

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

One worry I have is as you stated the Colombian ramshorns are bigger than the standard ones. Peas are notorious for eating part of the snail then leaving the shell and a lot of meat behind they don’t form those big front teeth they have a bony plate. If they’re full they’ll kill them and just leave them to rot. That could lead to higher levels of ammonia and nitrogenous waste. SA puffers and the brackish puffers (figure 8s, green spots) may be able to get through the shell as they’re toothed and they’ll eat the whole thing when they get big enough. Then you’ll deal with those log poops they produce and deal with different waste issues. 
One other thing is puffers are fairly long lived peas 3-5 years, SAs and brackish puffers can be quite long lived. Make sure you’re in it for the long haul. Have fun it’s a cool rabbit hole to go down. I’m hoping after I move in 2022/2023 to setup a puffer tank so I’ve done a lot of research. 

[Jennifer V]

On 11/8/2021 at 9:22 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

One worry I have is as you stated the Colombian ramshorns are bigger than the standard ones. Peas are notorious for eating part of the snail then leaving the shell and a lot of meat behind they don’t form those big front teeth they have a bony plate. If they’re full they’ll kill them and just leave them to rot. That could lead to higher levels of ammonia and nitrogenous waste. 

That's a great point. We crush the larger snails and only add a couple each time and only for a short time under supervision so we can monitor what they're eating and what they're just playing with. Otherwise you're totally right. They'll just make a mess. 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

On 11/8/2021 at 9:06 AM, Odd Duck said:

I have no personal experience with this, but I’ve read that some puffers that are kept as brackish water puffers are actually from super hard water and they do brackish as an easier substitute for that super hard water.  Maybe do some searching and reading along those lines?

And maybe we should tag @mountaintoppufferkeeper since he seems to be quite proficient at keeping puffers.  What say you, sir?  What species would you recommend for OP?

My personal experience is that every species I have kept, and one bred so far, does fine in my 300-400 tds and 7.0 ph.

I have not gone deep into what our source water dissolved solids are but we have a granite aquifer up here and I am definitely to the right side of the hard water bell curve hardness wise.  All of my puffers are kept on pool filter sand with plants and driftwood.   

My hairy puffers enjoy specific sizes of bigger snails and I would bet all the ambush puffers are similar opportunistic snail eaters. The hairy puffers will only go for snails they can grab and pull out of the shell with a tail swipe. They refuse to go through the shell on a snail for me. 

I'd personally consider catching out the unwanted bigger snails and feeding the snail meat to the fish you have as a fresh or frozen food. Then whatever puffer fits your setup and preferences could work.

My guess is peas would be great for the baby snails in hard water but might harass the adults to death antennae bites etc. That could be a water quality issue if the dead snails 4 qaren't removed quickly.

My fahaka would eat that size adult snail through the shell. That puffer didn't grow past 6" in 18 months but they do get big as a species. 

Edited November 8, 2021 by mountaintoppufferkeeper

[OnlyGenusCaps]

Thanks everyone for the advice!  It seems like puffers might be possible, which I didn't anticipate to be likely, but it pretty exciting. 

Also, I think I failed to describe the situation.  I'm keeping Colombian ramshorns in a tank.  They provide a lot of young.  I'm hoping to turn many of these babies into food for something.  The other option is that I would need to cull them somehow.  Feeding them to a critter seems like a better option.  I wouldn't put the puffers into the tank with the adults as I am not trying to irradiate them.  So, in terms of the pea puffers, I can give them to that species as very young snails if necessary, or whatever size they can handle. 

I suppose I could also try my hand at assassin snails again too as another option.  Last time I couldn't breed snails fast enough to feed them and they did not do well because of that.  Essentially, I have hard water and surplus supply of snails and I'd like to find a way to use this resource.  And puffers seem the coolest way to do it.

I'm still on the fence, but you have given me a lot to think about.  Thanks all!

[Jennifer V]

@OnlyGenusCaps I say go for the puffers! And keep us updated about your progress. 😊

[JettsPapa]

I have two pea puffers in my 40 gallon breeder community tank.  There are also a half dozen or so amano shrimp and a thriving colony of neocaridina shrimp, so if the peas do just eat part of a snail and leave the rest I'm pretty sure it gets cleaned up quickly instead of being left to rot.