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

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  • #16
    The rocks look good. Ones the plants are in the tank It will pop!
    Nothing Kills Evil Like a Sharp Stick...

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    • #17
      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.
      15g column BB low-tech driftwood/planted - Dwarf Puffer Tank :lupe:

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      • #18
        Originally posted by Matt in Houston View Post
        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.

        [ATTACH=CONFIG]26251[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]26252[/ATTACH]
        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

        "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

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        • #19
          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
          Last edited by Matt in Houston; 11-04-2014, 03:41 PM.
          15g column BB low-tech driftwood/planted - Dwarf Puffer Tank :lupe:

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          • #20
            Looked very nice!

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            • #21
              Originally posted by Matt in Houston View Post
              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.

              [ATTACH=CONFIG]26254[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]26255[/ATTACH]
              Beautiful! That color complements the discus very nicely

              "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

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              • #22
                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

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                • #23
                  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
                  15g column BB low-tech driftwood/planted - Dwarf Puffer Tank :lupe:

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                  • #24
                    I like it! Looks great and a terrific choice of low light plants that are undemanding
                    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
                    Desiderius Erasmus
                    GHAC President

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                    • #25
                      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
                      15g column BB low-tech driftwood/planted - Dwarf Puffer Tank :lupe:

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                      • #26
                        It sounds close enough, just add them all at one time to avoid any territoriality issues later on. Then monitor your water parameters closely. Puffers are messy eaters and can leave excess food after a feeding, so monitoring your initial ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate is important. They are especially sensitive to any Ammonia or Nitrite, at any level and Nitrates should stay under 40ppm at the worst. Something to try is adding a bit of a dead shrimp or excess food and see what your numbers are the day after. If you see no Ammonia/Nitrites you should have the tank cycled.
                        In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
                        Desiderius Erasmus
                        GHAC President

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                        • #27
                          That is great advice!

                          I will definitely wait at least another week and keep an eye on water parameters. I am planning to add at least 3 DP's to the tank. I wish I could sex them 1 male and 2 female, but they are still juvenile and I couldn't really tell last time I saw them.

                          Right now looks like I have zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and 5 nitrate...I'll check again tomorrow.
                          15g column BB low-tech driftwood/planted - Dwarf Puffer Tank :lupe:

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                          • #28
                            the plants will absorb the nitrates. they use it as fertilizer, so if its densely planted you rarely see nitrates above zero.

                            i just took my best guess when selecting at the store. look for the iridescent cracks around the eyes. those are generally the first markings that arrive for males. there are a many good sites for other characteristics of each sex on Google

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                            • #29
                              Yeah I'm a big research nut, I've probably read almost every thread about dwarf puffers...I tried to look closely at them but I honestly couldn't tell. I will take my time when I buy them and really look hard. They have about 6 or 7 left at Fish Gallery last time I was there.

                              In your opinion, for my setup should I stick to my original plan of 1 male and 2 female, or should I go 1 male and 3 female?

                              And yes the plants use nitrate as a fert which is another reason why I really like having planted tanks. A few years ago I had a nice starrphire 90g with pressurized c02. I enjoyed watching my plants pearl and they had amazing growth but this time I am going to keep it simple.

                              Here is a pic of that tank...eventually it grew out of control and I was trimming it constantly. I even had flowers growing out the top of the tank.

                              oldtank1.jpg
                              15g column BB low-tech driftwood/planted - Dwarf Puffer Tank :lupe:

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                              • #30
                                very nice color to that plant tank. i never did CO2. i tried the flourish excel for a CO2 boost, but never seemed to make things pop more. maybe i will give it a try sometime.

                                Fish Gallery gets them in regularly, so if you really cannot tell, you can always wait until the next shipment for more to choose from in the group. The employees are also good and can try to assist.

                                the ratio is preference really. most pages i read before i purchased recommended 3:1 for F:M to avoid males fighting. it definitely was difficult in store with them being young.

                                I personally went with the higher female ratio just incase one i thought was female turned out to be male, or vice versa. just gave me more margin for error.

                                i thought i got 3F to 1M, but ended up 2/2. oh well

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