Hello, I have found these guys to be my most entertaining project! I'm nowhere near the caliber of someone that can give a scientific write-up, I'm just your average high school student, but i'd like to share my experiences with these guys!
Care, feeding, salinity, and myths!
These guys are unbelievable hardy, they will tolerate a variety of salinities, PHs, and temperatures. A common misconception is that they will ONLY survive in a brackish setup with a specific gravity between 1.005 and 1.008 this in fact is not true. They actually come from an environment consisted of both brackish and freshwater, being mainly freshwater. Although, for the beginner keeper they would do best in a brackish setup as it's the easiest to maintain and has the least problems. Since They come from an environment consisting of mud, they would much prefer a sand or soft pebble based substrate over gravel or sharp rocks. They are also tropical fish and would prefer warmer temperatures around 78ish give or take. As of PH, as long as it's stable they won't really prefer one or another. Being a scaleless fish, they are exceptionally hardy but still made for an experience aquarist.
As of feeding, one of the only dry foods, if not the only would be freeze dried shrimp or krill, they wouldn't take freeze dried bloodworms or brineshrimp but will take them if live or frozen. And as alot of you may know, they will eat snails. As another primary source of protein. TLDR.... They will only take protein based foods from my experience.
Tank setup, aggression, and tank mates.
These guys can be aggressive and will be if unhappy. It's very easy to tell if they are unhappy or not as they will either run up and down the glass or harass your other fish. Otherwise when they are happy they are very docile and and cute to watch. They leave all my other fish alone, even the newborn baby guppies. For mine to be happy and stay happy I keep the lights dim, make sure there is plenty of space and cover, many caves and objects. Right now they are in a 55g with sailfin nollies, guppies, and 4 f8 puffers. I have also kept them with knoght gobies and it hasnt been a problen. As for keeping them together make sure to have enough space for them to be comfortable (20g per puffer) and if you want to house multiple together make sure to have at least 4 as that will help spread aggression if they decide to to ballistic. Also I don't know what's with them but every time I try to introduce plants into their setup, they rip them to shreds.
Thanks for reading! Sorry of it sounds unprofessional lol, I'll try to answer questions and concerns if you have any.
Care, feeding, salinity, and myths!
These guys are unbelievable hardy, they will tolerate a variety of salinities, PHs, and temperatures. A common misconception is that they will ONLY survive in a brackish setup with a specific gravity between 1.005 and 1.008 this in fact is not true. They actually come from an environment consisted of both brackish and freshwater, being mainly freshwater. Although, for the beginner keeper they would do best in a brackish setup as it's the easiest to maintain and has the least problems. Since They come from an environment consisting of mud, they would much prefer a sand or soft pebble based substrate over gravel or sharp rocks. They are also tropical fish and would prefer warmer temperatures around 78ish give or take. As of PH, as long as it's stable they won't really prefer one or another. Being a scaleless fish, they are exceptionally hardy but still made for an experience aquarist.
As of feeding, one of the only dry foods, if not the only would be freeze dried shrimp or krill, they wouldn't take freeze dried bloodworms or brineshrimp but will take them if live or frozen. And as alot of you may know, they will eat snails. As another primary source of protein. TLDR.... They will only take protein based foods from my experience.
Tank setup, aggression, and tank mates.
These guys can be aggressive and will be if unhappy. It's very easy to tell if they are unhappy or not as they will either run up and down the glass or harass your other fish. Otherwise when they are happy they are very docile and and cute to watch. They leave all my other fish alone, even the newborn baby guppies. For mine to be happy and stay happy I keep the lights dim, make sure there is plenty of space and cover, many caves and objects. Right now they are in a 55g with sailfin nollies, guppies, and 4 f8 puffers. I have also kept them with knoght gobies and it hasnt been a problen. As for keeping them together make sure to have enough space for them to be comfortable (20g per puffer) and if you want to house multiple together make sure to have at least 4 as that will help spread aggression if they decide to to ballistic. Also I don't know what's with them but every time I try to introduce plants into their setup, they rip them to shreds.
Thanks for reading! Sorry of it sounds unprofessional lol, I'll try to answer questions and concerns if you have any.
