I'm back...Setting up a dwarf puffer tank.

[Matt in Houston]

Yup, and I was very impressed with aquariumplants.com. All 14 of my plants arrived extremely fresh and they all looked better than I was expecting. One thing I did learn, when ordering from them you need to do it by Sunday at 9 PM to get it the following week. I ordered on a Monday so it took an extra week before they shipped.

I think my tank is pretty much ready for the Dwarf Puffers. I am checking water chemistry and so far its looking good. The combination of some seeded media from a friend (two weeks ago) and a bottle of Tetra safe start plus (that I poured in last week) has really kick started my tank.

plants1.jpg

[mnemenoi]

I like it! Looks great and a terrific choice of low light plants that are undemanding

[Matt in Houston]

Alright, so my plants arrived in excellent condition!

It was like putting a puzzle together but my first attempt wasn't too bad at all. I used fishing line to attach the java moss and anubias to the wood. I had to work backwards to make sure each piece would fit where I wanted it to go and the plants facing the correct direction. The java fern I was able to fit into small holes in the rock.

I still might make a few adjustments here and there, but overall I think it turned out great.

tankplanted1.jpgtankplanted3.jpgtankplanted2.jpg

[morpheus]

coming along great. i agree the red background will really set the plants out. i like the background for the duscus tank too.

my 75g came with a custom black/red design as the background when i bought it off someone. i cant put real plants in there though with the africans. they tear up everything so its all plastic plants that they graciously "rearrange" for me

[Austy16414]

You should have seen my krylon watermelon colored 210g discus tank. It was an amazing pinkish/purple color, really looked awesome. I enjoy using odd-ball colors, and combined with the right lighting you can create some very unique aquascapes.

Here are some pics of that tank.

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Beautiful! That color complements the discus very nicely

[Rico04]

Looked very nice!

[Matt in Houston]

You should have seen my krylon watermelon colored 210g discus tank. It was an amazing pinkish/purple color, really looked awesome. I enjoy using odd-ball colors, and combined with the right lighting you can create some very unique aquascapes.

Here are some pics of that tank.

discustank2.jpgdiscustank1.jpg

[Austy16414]

My plants didn't ship last week but they should be here this Thursday. In the mean time I picked up a few marimo balls from fish gallery and three nice pieces of rock to make a few caves. I also modified my light hood and added a couple of LED 3000k bulbs. I have a 12" hagen aqua-glo in route to balance the color of the lighting.

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I never would have thought to try a red background, looks sweet. Quite the list of plants you've got there, should give your little puffers plenty of territory

[Matt in Houston]

Thanks! The rock on the back left has a huge cave in it, hard to see in the pics...the other two smaller ones along the right side also have small caves. I am going to attach anubius and java fern to everything and make it nice and thick. I agree, the green is going to set it off.

I might have to pre-attach my wood together since it is still floating a bit and its hard to keep everything where I want it. I can imagine it will be quite a puzzle attaching the plants to the drift wood and placing it all back in as I envision it.

[troy tucker]

The rocks look good. Ones the plants are in the tank It will pop!

[Matt in Houston]

My plants didn't ship last week but they should be here this Thursday. In the mean time I picked up a few marimo balls from fish gallery and three nice pieces of rock to make a few caves. I also modified my light hood and added a couple of LED 3000k bulbs. I have a 12" hagen aqua-glo in route to balance the color of the lighting.

tank2lights.jpgtank1.jpg

[Matt in Houston]

Sounds good...Ill check a few out in person at some of the LFS....I see some online at Amazon but its hard to judge if they are quality or not from just the pictures and reading reviews. I'll probably end up attaching plants to the top of them as well.

[morpheus]

caves wouldnt hurt. puffers are very inquisitive and like to explore. lots of plants, caves, etc. may keep them more occupied. i dont have caves, but enough plants for them to swim in, out, through, etc. they spawn in the moss as well. you have driftwood to tie off ferns. its all what you like in terms of scaping.

[Matt in Houston]

My plants should be arriving today...

Code	Item	Qty
ww574	Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus)	4
an05	Anubias, Congensis (Anubias Congensis)	1
an21	Anubias, Nana (Anubias barteri v. Nana)	1
an09	Anubias, Frazeri (Anubias 'Frazeri')	2
an13	Anubias, Hastifolia (Anubias hastifolia)	1
an19	Heterophylla (Anubias heterphylla)	1
po29	Anubias, Coffeefolia (Anubias barteri v. Coffeefolia)	2
port01	Java Moss (Vesicularia Dubyana)(4 oz portion cup)	2

Should I install some rock caves on the bottom? Not sure if they would be of use or not.

[morpheus]

Yep morph. It was a one and done thing with use too. They were fine with other fish. but shrimp, snails, crabs, or clams. food as soon as it was found. Figger8 are a little bigger then pee puffers. So it's easier for them to bite things.

yeah i was about to add they are larger than the dwarfs. i dont know if any shrimp would work with them.

some people have success with red cherry shrimp and pea puffers too, but i thought the RCS would be too small.

mine devour pond snails. when on vacation i now just go to petsmart and they give me pond snails for free to dump in my tank. never any left when i return. so i couldnt use any snail for algae, and heard the amanos do great on even on hair algae. was happy it worked out for me