# my new (to me) biocube14 with dwarf puffers



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

traded my fluval ebi for this from homahfan (thx again), i love it, it has way more light (2x 24watt fixtures instead of my 2 dead 13w fixtures)

inhabitants are 25 red cherry shrimps still mostly under 1cm, 3 adult low grade crystal blacks, 7 dwarf puffer juveniles (cant sex em yet, i'l likely thin them out once i can determine which are male), and 1 oto cat

plants are xmas moss, limnophila aquatica, water lettuce and a floating plant Morainy gave me (thx again), and hygro rosa nervis which im hoping will go back to red with this new lighting. i also took the time to pick out ALL DUCKWEED while moving everything over 

heres some pics, albeit not very good ones.


----------



## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Beauty, glad you're happy with your trade!


----------



## gouedi (Apr 25, 2010)

dwarf puffer wont eat anything but snail and shrimp......


----------



## simont (Apr 21, 2010)

be careful the dwarf will eat ur shirimps...


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

gouedi said:


> dwarf puffer wont eat anything but snail and shrimp......


mine mostly eat bloodworms tbh, the shrimps try to run away with the bloodworms and then the dwarf puffers chase after them and steal the worm back
im thinking about trying daphnia

bambam came by and picked out most of the shrimps about 2-3 weeks ago, these were shrimplets that got missed

theyre more than welcome to eat the shrimps, theyve been living together in the ebi for weeks tho


----------



## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

That looks like a great puffer home, Mike. I bet the tank looks great next to your computer. 

The floating plant is Asian Watergrass. I got it from CRS_Fan (Stuart). It grows quite rapidly, so I had extra. It's a very interesting plant. 

Plucking the duckweed out -- that's a feat!


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

Morainy said:


> That looks like a great puffer home, Mike. I bet the tank looks great next to your computer.
> 
> The floating plant is Asian Watergrass. I got it from CRS_Fan (Stuart). It grows quite rapidly, so I had extra. It's a very interesting plant.
> 
> Plucking the duckweed out -- that's a feat!


this one is actually a bit big for my computer desk so its in the living room i moved the 10gallon under my 37gallon and put this on the buffet between the tv in the family room and the dining room table

thx for the name, yes it does grow very fast i think soon i may clip some off and make it available to members, its really neat how it builds its own little flotation devices lol

plucking out the duckweed was a major feat lol, glad i did it though.


----------



## neven (May 15, 2010)

yea the Asian Watergrass grows like stink, i now have it in 4 of my tanks, lol

I love using it with salvinia, really keeps it in place


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

il have to look up what salvinia is, im still a plant noob


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

ah sorta like water lettuce


----------



## neven (May 15, 2010)

salvinia minima


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

is this tank too small for a crinium?
and are there any small flowering plants i could try?

Maureen mentioned the asian watergrass is good for the water does anyone know exactly why? is it just a good nitrate sponge?


----------



## neven (May 15, 2010)

the water grass roots are insanely long, one of mine even goes 6 inches into the water column. Pretty much it is a nutrient sponge to help limit the excess. Plus it does wonders holding in place smaller floating plants if you have a highly turbulent surface


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

yeah i think one of my roots is approaching 8-10 inches it goes from the top right front corner almost down to the intake at the bottom at the back on the right (if u look close at the 3rd pic u can see it)

what do you think about the crinium? i rly like how twirly they look


----------



## neven (May 15, 2010)

tanks too small for that, i love the look too, but i dont have a tank thats 20+inches tall to house it properly :/


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

thought so, thanks


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Nice looking tank Mike!! Definitely more room & lighting than that Ebi .


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

Diztrbd1 said:


> Nice looking tank Mike!! Definitely more room & lighting than that Ebi .


yea the puffers are really enjoying cruising around together as a group, lots more space for them, and whenever you come up in front of the tank they stop whatever theyre doing and come right up to the glass to say hi, smiling and looking at you with those cute blue eyes


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

lol sounds cool...been thinking about getting dwarf puffers myself, you just made it more tempting lol


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

theyre really cute, come by and grab some asian watergrass sometime if u want and u can see em


----------



## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

might have to do that sometime soon, will bring some of that flame moss with me if I do


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

i put a khuli loach in the tank to clean up some of the bloodworms the dwarf puffers leave behind, its way too fast for them to catch
does anyone know if a couple cory cats would be ok too?


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

corys anyone? mebbe 3?


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

i should note that they dont bother the oto that i have had in there several weeks


----------



## Tn23 (Apr 21, 2010)

Looks good! Love the free food the cherries provide haha


----------



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

Tn23 said:


> Looks good! Love the free food the cherries provide haha


lol ya, tbh when i first put the puffers in i thought the shrimp would get eaten alot faster, its looking like some of these might even live long enough to breed to continually feed the puffers with shrimplets


----------

