My first puffer! Advice respectfully sought!

[puffypuff]

Hello Puffer Forum -

After a love affair of several months, and very careful consideration - I'm about to bring a puffer into my life! I would be so greatful for any tips on setting up my first tropical aquarium...

I intend to keep just one puffer in the tank - no other species. Is that okay? The advice that I've received so far is that it should be fine, as they're terrirtorial. This works for me - I'm very happy to have an only-child style fish! - I just want to make sure that they don't need company, and that he'll be happy in his own little kingdom.

My main question is to do with aquarium set up. I've kept coldwater goldfish all my life (with success - my last fish lived for over seven years!) but I'm more than a little intimidated by the idea of a tropical set up. I want the tank to be ready, with puffer happily settled in, by the time that my boyfriend comes home from visiting his family on 27th December - so our new arrival will be a suprise. He leaves on 20th December. Is 7 days enough time to get the aquarium set up and safe for our new puffer?

Any help and advice very, very greatfully received!

Many thanks x.

[qtrhorse89]

Hi and welcome to the puffer forum!

First off which species are you planning to keep. Your tank layout will depend on what you decide to keep. Check out the pufferpedia to look at each species requirements. The other thing is cycling your tank. There is a good article in the library on emergency cycling which will give you the basic idea. As for the time constraint that depends on whether the tank is cycled or not. You also need to purchase a heater for the tank as they are tropical fish. Puffers are territorial and will more than likely be very happy with a tank to themselves.

[puffypuff]

Oops, sorry, I should really have mentioned species! I'm looking at a Figure Eight or Spotted. Thanks for pointing me to the Pufferpedia.

This is the tank that I'm thinking of purchasing as part of a tropical starter set up - does it look okay for a single puffer?

http://www.ferplast.it/scheda_prodotto_ ... m_pagina=1

I'm buying both set up and puffer locally from an aquatics centre, so I'm hoping they'll be on hand to help me along the way!

My time frame would basically be: tank set up on the 20th and started running, 6 clear days of running, puffer introduced on the morning of the 27th... I'm definitely going to be using natural plants - will that help to speed up the cycle? I've also heard that keeping the temperature a little higher can help to get things going?

Thanks for you help qtrhorse89 - much appreciated! This puffer is definitely for life, not just Christmas - I just want to do everything right and have him healthy and happy

[Pufferpunk]

Please look into the minimum tank sizes for these 2 species. That tank will be a bit small for a F8, you'll need a minimum of 115l for a GSP. Please do read the articles on these fish in our Library.

[bigfatfish]

Definitely too small for a GSP. Have you thought about dwarf puffers? All the character of "normal sized" puffers, just in a small package!

[puffypuff]

Thanks everyone - I'll bite the bullet and up the tank size

Have spoken to the aquatics centre and they actually only have F8s in stock at the moment, so I'll be going for a 50 ltr tank, right?

Is BioSpira or similar available in the UK, does anybody know? I don't know anyone with an aquarium and was wondering if I should ask the aquatics centre for a little bit of their gravel as a starter culture to kick start the cycle? (I worry about infection with so many fish passing through their tanks though?)

[puffypuff]

Oh, totally forgot - sorry - my set up comes with Stress Coat and Stress Zyme. Am I right in thinking that Stress Zyme will help to start the nitrogen cycle off?

[busybones]

I've never used and bacteria boosters, but have heard that they are quite unreliable. I think the best thing to do would be to get some healthy filter media from a friend or your local fish shop and add it to the tank. You want to make sure your tank is properly cycled for your new fish or it could be harmful or even deadly to your puff!. Do alot of research on cycling before you get your fish to make sure you are ready.

I would also like to add that you should ask the shop where you are getting your F8 from and see if they are keeping him in fresh or brackish water...if it is brackish find out what SG they are keeping him in. F8's should be at 1.005 sg.

Be ready for some of the common problems with puffers too. It's common to get a puff that has IP's (internal parasites) you'll know if your puff has them if you feed him and his belly goes flat soon after.

Ich is often a problem too since they will be under stress when you move him. If your fish get's ich you cannot use any chemical treatments with them since they don't have scales. There is a great article in the library about treating puffs for ich. The Library has alot of great information that will help you along the way..and as always you can ask anyone on the puffer forum for help!

[qtrhorse89]

Oh, totally forgot - sorry - my set up comes with Stress Coat and Stress Zyme. Am I right in thinking that Stress Zyme will help to start the nitrogen cycle off?

Glad to help. Figure 8's are wonderful puffers if they are kept correctly. The only chemical that I have heard of helping jump start a fresh water set up is tetra safe start which can be ordered online. Even then though it has had mixed reviews as of late. Like busybones said it'd be best to just borrow some used filter material from the lfs.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Dr. Tim's also works, but I don't know that it's available in the UK. You would probably be better off using gravel from the store.

Welcome to the forum! It's great that you're researching before you buy.

[pufferpuggirl]

Hi, and welcome to the world of puffers! You've definitely made the right choice by wanting to get involved in puffers, they are wonderful, and you are right, not just for Christmas, but for life!!

If you aren't able to get some filter media from the LFS, see if they carry JBL products. You might try one that JBL makes, actually there are two products, and I've used them both. One is JBL Denitrol, and the other is JBL Filterstart -- they are both products that contain beneficial bacteria, and should help if you can't get any media to get you started.

I would not put too much faith into the Stress Zyme, as I've used that and in my opinion, it doesn't work. The Stress Coat I think is a water conditioner, isn't i? The best water conditioner, or de-chlorinator, is Prime by Seachem. You can get it off eBay cheaper than you can buy it anywhere. There are loads of other products, but you will use much less of the Prime than any other and it will last much much longer.

Too bad you aren't closer to me, I could give you some used filter media. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask, I'm sure the rest of the forum is quite happy to answer any questions, as I am too.

Good luck with the puffers! And the surprise!!!

[riggers]

Tetra and Instant Ocean are both owned by the same company and bio-spira and tetra safestart are exactly the same product. You won't find bio-spira in the UK.

[pufferpuggirl]

Sorry, but the Tetra Safestart that they have over here in the UK doesn't work very well in my opinion. I tried using it just recently and I didn't see where it did much good. But that's just my experience with it.

[puffypuff]

Thanks so much everyone - exactly the kind of advice I was looking for. You only learn these things with experience I guess, and I'd hate for my lack of that to end up harming such a wonderful little creature.

I've planned a meeting with the owner of aquatics centre today. I'm just going to go in for a crash course in cycling and preparing a tank (and to have a look at the puffers, yay!) He seems really nice and confessed he has a bit of soft spot for puffer fish - so I think it will be fine to get some old filter media, and have someone on hand to help if my water tests go haywire!

Another question - and this is going to sound really silly, sorry - but when I do water changes, what should I be replacing the water with? Is it better to use a bucket of treated tapwater, or would rain water / pond water be suitable? I only ask because I kept coldwater goldfish all my childhood and would always use pond water. They lived for years and years, in perfect health. I didn't have a clue about nitrogen cycles back then obviously - I was just using pond water because they loved to chase and eat all the larvae and worms I'd scoop up in the bucket!

The water in Bath, where I live (Bath water, ho ho ho) is really hard - our showers and kettles fur up in a matter of days - which is why I'm wondering if buggy, nitrogeny pond water might be a better bet? Or would I run a risk of parasites?

Thanks for being so welcoming! I'll be sure to post some nice pics of our new arrival as a thank you for all this amazing advice

[pufferpuggirl]

I would be hesitant to use the pond water, but I can't say that I know for sure that it's bad for your tank. Most people use tap water and treat it with a water conditioner (such as the Prime I suggested earlier). But who knows, someone on here may know something different and the pond water might be okay, I am not qualified to say.

I don't think anyone's mentioned, but if you are intending to keep your Figure-8 in brackish water, keep in mind that you cannot add too much salt at first because it will kill the beneficial bacteria in the filter UNLESS you get some media from the LFS and it's come out of a brackish tank, then you can just try to get your tank to the level of brackish water their tank was at. (did that come out right?)

Hope I haven't confused you.