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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Figure Eight Puffers

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03 Jul 2007 12:47 #1 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Picked up a couple of these in Brittas at the weekend. Great looking fish and very interactive. They're less than an inch at the moment so I'm keeping them in my 25l hospital tank.

My plan is to buy a new 300l+ tank over the next couple of months and set it up as an African. I'll them move the Labs from my 65l and move the puffers into it.

There's a fair bit of debate on the Web as to whether these guys need brackish water. However, the reputable sites say that they do so that what I'll be coverting them to slowly over the next few weeks.

Unfortunately they don't take flake, but take bloodworm, mysis and also need shelled fish or snails to keep their teeth from getting too long. It's also hit and miss as to whether they'll accept freeze dried bloodworm, luckily mine do at the moment.

Anyone any idea where I can get hold of snails? I have everything else in my tank, but no snails. I reckon they need to be pretty small as these guys wouldn't manage much else.

Regards,

Ken.

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03 Jul 2007 12:59 #2 by Daragh_Owens (Daragh Owens)
I have plenty of snails in one of my tanks, but I dosed it with Flubernol 15 about a week ago and although it's prime purpose is not to kill snails apparently it is a side effect. The smaller the snail the longer it takes to kill. Apparently an Apple snail is gone in 24 hours, but th elittle guys I have are supposed to take three weeks to die. If they don't you are welcome to some oif no one else gets you some first.

Alternatively I suppose I could try find some of their eggs and give you those to raise.


Daragh.

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03 Jul 2007 13:01 #3 by Acara (Dave Walters)
I would love to keep puffers,but not too keen on dentistry!I have a load of snails in 1 of my 2ft tanks,they only get to about 5mm or so round.Usual method of arrival,came in on plants.You're more than welcome to as many as I can catch,won't be large amounts,but they seem to be rather prolific,so you could start a bit of snail farming!I'll have a look in there tonight and see what sort of numbers I have,and we can take it from there.

always on the lookout for interesting corys.pm me if you know off any!

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03 Jul 2007 13:11 #4 by Red Empress (Red Empress)
Replied by Red Empress (Red Empress) on topic Re: Figure Eight Puffers
Hi Ken

I have kept Figure 8's and yes Brackish is the way to go.

With regard to snails.

I fed mine ordinary garden snails from my allotment.

Just make sure they have not been near any pesticides or snail pellets.

Best thing to do is look round your garden under plants and in cracks in the walls.

You should find some.

More so after all this rain we have all had. :roll:

But don't use the big ones .

Hope that helps.

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03 Jul 2007 13:39 #5 by mickeywallace (Michael Wallace Cath Woods)
yes plants would be the way to go! i have five yo yo loaches which just about got them under control. after six months still a few to be found the plants they came on gone long ago

Mickey Wallace & Cath Woods

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03 Jul 2007 14:08 #6 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I've loads of plants in my community tank, but not one snail. Damn Gavin/Drew and their snail-less plants! :D

Regards,

Ken.

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03 Jul 2007 14:12 #7 by Tetra (Tetra)
ken I had a few dwarf puffers myself and researched alot on what snails were the best as i didnt want them to be to big like apple snails and I didn't want them eating my plants ether.Well after loads of research I found out about the malaysian trumpet snail they dont eat your plants biggest they get is 1 inch puffers love them there also great for turning over the substrate and only eat rotting food plant leaves and brown algae they are also nocternal so you wont see them stuck to the glass during the day. I have hundreds of these little guys if you want a few send me a pm.

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03 Jul 2007 15:16 #8 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Figure Eight Puffers
plenty of snaisl in a garden pond

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03 Jul 2007 16:31 #9 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
The Malaysian trumpet snail would probably be ideal for small puffers.
They will hide in the substrate most of the time and multiply quite quickly keeping a supply in the tank.
Even though they are supposed to be nocturnal (the snails) you will see them out and about when the lights are on.
They will also survive in brackish water.
Dont rely on the snails for there main diet. Think of them as little dentist's.

If you are making up brackish water make it from marine salt and not off the shelf Aquarium salt.
I think a specific gravity of 1.005 would be fine for them. You will need a hydrometer to test the salt concentration ( specific gravity ).

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04 Jul 2007 05:26 #10 by tazdogue (tazdogue)
I used to have puffers and most of the LFS would give me any snails they had in the tanks. I would also feed them little crabs i would find on the beach or in rock pools, this is very good for their teeth too. Prawns, cray fish, clams are very good too but i found that the small snails and crabs were best.

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04 Jul 2007 14:50 #11 by Damian_Ireland (Damian_Ireland)
they appear to like crayfish and prawns. check out youtube

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