freshwater puffer

crayfish · Post by **crayfish** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:48 pm

Hey, i love puffers. they are my favorite fish but salt water tanks are expensive and i just discovered there are freshwater puffers. I have a 10 gallon tank that i will set up as soon as i find out about puffers. Will 10 gallons be enough for a freshwater puffer? I am willing to get a dwarf one if the brazilian type is too big for 10 gallons. so yeah please tell me what type of puffers i can get for a 10 gallon freshwater tank.
mael
P.S. here is the link of where i plan to buy my puffer
http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pag ... htm#puffer

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 10:32 pm

Nice to see a new puffer enthusiast out there that has come to this incredible forum. Personally, (from experience) I would stick with 2-3 Dwarfs in a 10 gallon. The brazilian puffer (here is known as South American Puffer, AKA SAP) are fun highly energetic puffs. 1 alone maybe fun, but a trio IMO would be more interesting and fun, but your big problem for this puff is that they need atleast 15 gallons of space PER PUFFER where as the Dwarfs are about 5 gallons PER PUFFER.

I have seen the puffers sold at where you hope to buy them (on that online store), but if you possibly can check out as many LFS (local fish stores) in your area and ask one of the employees if they happen to know if they can get freshwater puffers in. Or even go to a PetsMart, they have dwarfs for about $2.49 compared to the $7-8 that the online store carries them for. Plus you get to choose a puff that is healthy, energetic/lively, and especially fun to watch! Instead of just having a random puff (which is not always such a bad thing) sent to your front door. Plus no worries about that $24 dollar shipping for any item policy.

Well thats just some info on puffers. If you want to know more about a species, or just would like to peak on what species are out there go to this awsome site that was created by one of our own members here:
http://pufferlist.com/
Be sure to read each box carefully.

Some basics on keeping puffers would have to be:
-water cleanliness for these messy puffs (they are intolorant of many water impurities, meaning build up of waste causing amonia and nitrite spikes)
-aggression(not much aggression in the Dwarf realm, maybe other then courtship seasons)
-and a wonderful fun tank for the puff to play in and investigate!

I think I covered most of the details. If not there will be a correction done by another reader. Hope I covered most of it!

Woops, I caught something. ALL PUFFERS NEED TO BE INTRODUCED TO A WELL PRE-CYCLED TANK! That is one of the most fundamental part of keeping puffers.

Hope some of this helps!

Post by **Myaj** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:34 pm

Well, there are several freshwater puffers, check out http://www.pufferlist.com to get some ideas on what size tanks they need, etc.

Usually the Figure 8 (light brackish) and GSP (brackish to full marine) are commonly found, but its getting a lot more common to find the dwarves and sometimes other freshwater puffers locally, especially if you are near a larger city.

And yes, definately, as Tihsho said, puffers are pretty sensitive fish, so you want a tank that has been cycled beforehand. This doesn't mean sitting for a few days before you add the fish, it needs established bacteria, so if you need more info about that, let us know.

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:40 pm

Wasn't there an article/post in a sticky here bout cycling?

Post by **Myaj** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:42 pm

There was on the old site, but I don't see it posted up here yet in the Library.

In the mean time, here's a pretty good article listed at the Krib:

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html

Also, Biospira is a product to instantly cycle your tank, as far as I know, its the only one that actually works. Most of the others won't do anything to help.

crayfish · Post by **crayfish** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 12:07 am

I have proquatic water conditioner, will that be good enough for the cycling? Someone mentioned petsmart, they sell puffers? i have never seen one there.
mael

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 1:51 am

No, the only product that instantly cycle a tank is Bio-Spira.

You can also fishless cycle if your wish: http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Fishlesscycle.htm

Post by **Myaj** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 1:55 am

Nope, like we said, Biospira is the only product that is proven to actually work, and then only if kept properly refridgerated and handled. Lots of products out there say they will cycle your tank, but I've yet to see any, except Biospira, actually work. Which explains Biospira's high price tag

.

Do you have any other freshwater tanks running already? You can steal some decor, filter media or even gravel from that to seed your existing tank.

crayfish · Post by **crayfish** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 3:04 am

Hi, um how much will bio-spira cost? I currently have one freshwater tank running, I will just buy new plants. i really liked the 10 gallon tank liz posted in the picture gallery. I will try to get something like that.
mael

Post by **Myaj** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 3:15 am

Not sure how much it would cost, you'd have to call around and see if you can even find any stores that have it.

But if you already have a cycled tank with healthy fish, its no big deal to steal media from it. Either use your filter foam/cartridge/etc or put some gravel from it into a nylon stocking (so you can later take it out and put it back in the other tank without mixing the gravels if you use a different color).

Just remember, if you bring over bacteria and there is no fish in the tank, the bacteria will just starve unless you feed it. So make sure to read the links on fishless cycling and the cycle in general to understand whats going on. Puffers are very delicate, and anything off in the tank parameters can mean death for them much quicker than other types of fish.

crayfish · Post by **crayfish** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 3:19 am

So all I have to do is bring gravel from my current tank?

Pamela · Post by **Pamela** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 11:13 am

That's one way, I'd use some filter material as well.
You know what is meant by cycling, don't you? We'll be more than happy to help, but one definate requirement on your part is a good testing kit, to test the water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, as the levels of these chemicals will tell you when the cycling process is done, and the tank is ready for your fish.
I'd go for the dwarf puffs....if you had a 20 gallon I'd suggest two figure eights, which are light brackish, but then I'm biased

Pami.

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 12:49 pm

Well when I got Bio Spira I think a the smallest packet cost about 11-12 bucks.

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 1:03 pm

Great! Now, you must add fish at the same time as the B-S or the bacteria will die & you've waisted your $$$. Otherwise, keep the B-S in the fridge, untill you are ready. What puffers have you decided on?

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 1:16 pm

C'mon dwarf puffers!

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