Matt's 64 Litre Tank

I was pleasantly surprised to hear the MA staff offering very good advice about them, tankmates, their diet etc. In fact the sales assistant said they said they don't sell many due to people not being able to provide what the puffers need. 

Ok so here is my plan...

I have had the wood soaking all week to get rid of as much tannins as possible and to make sure they sink. The rocks have also been in the tank growing biofilm (I will loose some biofilm by changing the substrate so it seemed sensible even if it makes little difference in reality).  I need to wash the sand first thing so everything is then ready to go. I'll have to put it in a mixing bowl once done to save running out of buckets later down the line...

Next step will be to remove the decor and plants from the tank. The plants are being reused so will go into a bucket of tank water.  I will then do a little bit of gravel vacuuming just in the areas with plants that have root tabs under them to avoid creating a big mess later on. This will also remove some water which will make it easier for me to catch the galaxy rasbora and assassin snail which are being transferred to the 220litre.  The otocinclus and goby will be put into the bucket with the plants along with the filter and heater. I'll then need to remove the tank lid because of the way the electrics work on the tank so i can run the filter in the bucket. I'm going to take a risk on keeping the goby in with the puffers for a week as I want to add 4 gobies into the 220litre in total and because they can be territorial I want to add them all at the same time if I can. If the puffers and goby don't get on I can always just transfer him across early. 

I can then drain the tank, take out the gravel, and move the tank to its new permanent location. Mrs Matt will sort through the gravel which ill put in the other bucket to find any shrimp babies and Malaysian trumpet snails.  Whilst she is doing this I can put the sand, rocks and wood into the tank and spend a while aquascaping it all until I'm happy with things. I'm going to use tetra initial sticks under the sand to provide the plants with some nutrients.

Once we are happy with the hardscape, the tank will be partially refilled with water from the 220litre, and the filter and heater reinstalled.  The next step will be planting.  As the plants are going to be in the fish bucket it will be less stressful for the fish to have the big tank with the decor in it to hide behind whilst I plant it than be in a bucket I keep putting my hand in and out of so ill move them across before i start. Ill also be stealing a plant or two from the 220litre tank.

Once the planting is done I can top up the water if required from the fish bucket and go get the puffers!!
 

 

 

Oooooooooooh, gorgeous! 

Dwarf puffers, khuli loaches, otos - that's a tank that will provide you with endless hours of entertainment.
Awesome. 

Once you've put kuhlis in your tank, there's no moving away from them! Apart from the fact that they're long lived (mine could be up to 8 years old), they are so different to anything else I've researched and seriously considered.

I find I can spend hours watching them after the lights have gone out, if there's enough background light.

Being nocturnal, I'm pretty sure they will find any left over bloodworm no matter how little light there is. It's just whether you can see them!

The most interesting thing I've seen since putting the sand in my tank, is seeing the kuhlis feeding by shifting the sand through their gills. They do it at quite a surprising rate - I can see little showers of sand flying nearly halfway down their body! And they leave some interesting scalloping patterns in the sand. I imagine that a few feeding in the same place could have quite an aquascaping effect!

Stiphodons do that. They are a nightmare to catch in a shop tank that has gravel on the bottom.

I'm not aware of my kuhlis burrowing. But they've only just got sand after many years of gravel that was a bit too big for burrowing.

But I think it was my BN Plec that was landscaping to make his favourite caves big enough for him. I've not put them completely back (just rearranged to stabilise) and he seems happy, so it has stayed as it is. I actually find the variation in substrate levels add interest.

Anyone got any tips for catching them??