One important thing to know about puffer-fish is that their teeth grow quite rapidly and can get too big if not fed the right diet. If the teeth grow too big the puffer will not be able to eat and will starve. One of their favourite foods in the wild is the snail. The shell of a snail is enough to wear down the puffers teeth as he chomps through it.

The first time I fed him a snail he poked at the end of it and tried to stick his face inside the snails shell through it's hole...not what I was expecting, and not very efficient as far as eating the snail went. The second time I gave him one I broke the shell slightly for him and oriented the hole down into the sand so he had to chew through it. He absolutely loved it and his colour changed to a very brilliant green as he attacked.

I've been a little bit busy setting up my second and third tanks lately. The second is just a small tank for breeding snails and to use as a quarantine tank for any sick fish from the main tank. The new main tank is a 225 litre monster that dominates my living room. I've slowly been planting it with various aquatic plants.....experimenting with them as it cycles. Another week or two and I should be able to start adding fish. Thinking about four or five clown loaches to start, then the hard decision making begins.

Gung-Ho has a new homey, a Sri-Lankan Red-Claw crab. Not my idea, but now that I've gotten rid of all of the guppies in the tank I listened to the gf when she asked if she could have him. Funny thing is that he's so afraid that the puffer will eat him that he doesn't come out at all.

Gung-Ho is eating very well, continuing to prefer the blood-worms over the shrimp. When I was at the fish store I asked the guy to toss a couple of snails in with the crab. He gave me two that are bigger than the puffer, probably should have specified that I wanted something for him to sharpen his teeth on.

In other news, two new tanks. One is just a little five gallon, will probably just use it as my sick tank or quarantine with snails and Java Moss growing in it most of the time. The other tank is huge, pretty much dominates my living room, easily as big as the piano. Four and a half feet long and 225 litres. It's sitting there empty for the moment, waiting until I have the time and funds to get the rest of the equipment needed.

Have been making a plan for a 20 gal sump for the big tank, to increase water colume and to have as a plant refuge. Will be very nice, dual chambered, from chamber will be hydroponic (aquaponic) and back chamber will be traditional wet/dry trickle filter. Can't wait to get started on it, but for now I think I'll go build the little crab a cave.

Nothing interesting to say, I'm removing all of the guppies tonight. The number of them is close to thirty now...definitely too many fish for a medium sized tank.

Julie wants to get a new crab for the tank, I'm not completely sold as I don't want to have to arrange the tank for a crab to get out of the water. Will have to research the specific type of crab it is.

Java moss is growing in fairly well, I'm impressed. It definitely needs a little bit more spreading around, but I'm holding off on that until it is a little better grounded.

Gung Ho seems to be doing just great, I was concerned that he wasn't eating properly, but I think that was only due to stress as he seems to be eating fine now.

Went to the Aquarium shop and got him some frozen blood-worms, those seem to be going over very well with both him and the guppies. It's very amusing to see the guppies after having eaten the blood-worms as their stomachs turn bright red.

Guppy babies are doing well, though the large mother guppy that hasn't had her babies yet seems to enjoy eating the occasional one. I'm not overly concerned.

I'm currently re-reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (very chic in the /. circles I suppose, but deservedly so) and have decided to name the pufferfish Gung Ho after Bobby Shaftoe the "Gung Ho" Marine.

I decided that he had been segregated long enough and released him into the main tank completely free this evening. He seems to be adjusting quite well and has definitely scoped out some prime hang-out spots and seems to have laid claim to the cave formed by a flat rock as his home. Just fed him some brine shrimp freshly thawed from the freezer, he didn't seem to be too interested, maybe still a little too stressed to eat properly, or he ate one of my guppies...which isn't a bad thing I suppose, quite healthy for him. Oh, just spotted the last guppy, they're still all there. What a fucking cliffhanger.

Notes on feeding:

-seems to prefer live food (gotta buy him some bloodworms)
-take great care when defrosting shrimp, allow it to thaw in water from the tank, then serve quickly, not even allowing it to sit out for more than 15 minutes...easy way to poison a beautiful fish
-don't re-use food after thawing, discard of left overs and make sure to clean anything left in the tank after ten minutes out.

Accidentally clicked the link to look at my journal and realized that it was utterly devoid of content. This is just not something that I want to have be. So, here we are in my journal, I think I'll make the topic my new fish as he was acquired this afternoon.

Thus far our friend remains nameless, he is a Spotted Puffer, native to brackish waters...brackish being a description of water of a medium saline content. Think of the swamps surrounding the mouth of a river moving into the ocean. These swamps are the breeding grounds of many species of fish, one of the more interesting of which is the puffer.

Our puffer friend will be taking semi-permanent residence in a twenty gallon aquarium currently occupied by five or six guppies which have been residing there thus far to cycle the tank. They're basically a hardy fish that can cause the cycles of bacteria and chemicals in the tank to begin and come to fruition and at $0.17 per I won't feel too badly if the puffer eats them, which is somewhat likely as he prefers live food. The puffer is currently residing in an isolation tank in which I am blending the water he came in with the water of the main tank. This process will probably take a while and is undergone to allow the puffer to acclimatize himself to the temperature and salt content of the water of the new tank.

Also added to the tank today is a good amount of java moss which I've arranged around the base of the Mangrove Tree, which is currently thriving in the tank, and along the length of a pointy piece of driftwood. I'm hoping that the moss will grow well as it is rumoured to be quite hardy, even in mildly saline conditions. I fixed the moss to the driftwood using a couple of pieces of thread and to the bottom by placing small rocks onto it. It will apparently attach itself fairly well within its first few weeks in the tank.

I may continue to write in here, not that I expect it to be of much interest to anyone other than myself. It may come in handy to me at some later date. So here it is, in all its glory, my aquarium journal.