Puffer Fish Questions!!

Question
Hello There David,

    My boyfriend and I had started out buying his brother a 10 Gallon fish tank. Well he decided to not take care of it, so we took it over. Now we have been bitten by the Fish Bug, and can't stop!! We now have a 46 Gallon bow front tank we just bought about 1 month ago. We let the tank cycle for 2 weeks before introducing fish, since we wanted to make sure we did it right the first time and didn't hurt any of our little fishy friends. My boyfriend had seen Dwarf Puffers in a fish store, and we both fell for them and how intriguing they are. We did our research on them, which we continue to do daily. We have even started our very own snail breeding tank to feed our puffers snails which we know have been taken care of and fed nutritious foods. Anyways, our tank is filled with many caves and hiding spots as well as many fake plants for many hiding spots for the puffers. We have 6 dwarf puffers, 2 Bumblebee Gobies, 2 Sucker Loaches, and I think about 10 Ghost Shrimp (We had 25 Ghost Shrimp but someone has been eating them!! But the biggest survived!!). We were wondering if we could put in South American Puffer Fish in the tank along with the Dwarf Puffers and Bumblebee Gobies?
   I also have one more question, as I stated above we are starting our own Snail Breeding Tank. We have a 5 Gallon Aquarium filled with sand, a foam small filter, air bubbler, and also a small heater which keeps the water at about 80 degrees. One fish store told me it was a good idea to start this tank to feed the snails to my puffer. Another fish store told me that if I fed the snails to the puffers they would most likely just get Ich from the snails that could be carrying it on there snails. He also said that snails only breed in dirty water with high nitrate levels and this is how they can carry Ich. I was told they need snails for there beaks, and plus they LOVE to hunt for there snails in there big aquarium. Can you please tell me if there is anything else we need to do to the aquarium to make sure the snails ARE healthy and STAY healthy for our puffers? Also can you tell me what I need to feed the snails? And lastly, Can snails carry the Ich and only breed in dirty water??? Please help me!!

Thank you so much,

~Kristal


Answer
Hi Kristal: It is best not to mix puffers as they will eat each other.  In fact I recommend one per tank but since you have already put a few in your tank they should be ok because they are already acclimated to each other.  I would assume that the puffers are eating your ghost shrimp and the rest will be gone soon.

SNAILS: ICH is a cold water disease and fish who have ich usually have a poor diet or have experienced a sudden drop in temperature.  snails and other invertebrates are known to carry ich because they often live in colder waters.  If you keep your snail tank about 74-78 degrees you should be able to avoid ICH.  Now the key here is two parts... healthy fish don't get sick and the higher temperature keeps ich inactive.  An interesting fact:  most fish already carry ich in their gills... ICH sits there waiting for a drop in temp to activate.  Puffers need snails to keep their beak working properly...Trust me when I tell you that Snails breed whenever and wherever they feel like it... the dirty water rumor has some fact to it because snails self regulate their populations. The dirtier the water the more they feel like they need to raise the population to clean it or rather... like some mammals they breed based on their food supply...dirty water is equated to a healthy food supply but the dirty snail tank has little to do with ICH.  You will need to change the water in your snail tank about 30% per week and a light gravel vacuum will help too... though I don't recommend gravel and snails.  Hope this helps... dave