My first puffer! Advice respectfully sought!

[puffypuff]

**UPDATE**

Everything worked!

Tank was ready in good time for the puffer's arrival, and he is currently having a lovely time exploring his new home - feeding really well, nice bright colours and white tummy, generally being ever so friendly and outgoing - best little personality ever

I could still really do with some help though... Because of the cold weather we've had recently, the aquatic centre I had been dealing with weren't able to get me an F8 puffer. Having gone to all the trouble of getting the tank cycled in time, I really wanted the surprise to still work, so I went to another centre in Bath that I knew sold puffers from time to time.

I bought the only puffer that they had left - and he was sold to me as a dwarf puffer. Now, at the time, most of my research had been focused on GSP and F8s, so I didn't really think anything was unusual about this little guy. Having read more about dwarf puffers though, I now realise he's probably waaaay to big to be a dwarf puff!

If I posted some pics, do you think you could help me with some identification?! I have a hunch I may have got my F8 after all, and will obviously start the transition to brackish if this turns out to be true! Thank you!

[pufferpuggirl]

Absolutely, post a pic, I'm sure we can help! LFS's have been well-known to sell puffers as one thing when they turn out to be something else. I've had that happen a few times already myself.

[puffypuff]

Okay - they're not great pics, but the best I could get on my ancient camera this morning!

(The water's a lot clearer than it looks - the light was just a bit low for my camera to handle...)

Here's our new arrival, with a tummy full of bloodworms... We'd say he's about two inches long. Any ideas?

[eieio]

Figure Eight Puffer, Tetraodon Biocellatus
Home Run! Congrats!

[pufferpuggirl]

Yes, certainly is a Figure-8 puffer, so congrats, you got what you wanted in the end! You may have to treat for IP's, as he looks a bit like he might have issues there. Just to let you know.

[puffypuff]

Wooo can't believe I got that right, thank you

Any advice on IPs? As I said, he had literally just finished eating a lot of bloodworms when I took that picture - his tummy wasn't all puffed out when I bought him? Is a big tummy something that normally indicates IPs? If it is normally flat should I be worried? Thanks for the help!

[eieio]

Wooo can't believe I got that right, thank you

Any advice on IPs? As I said, he had literally just finished eating a lot of bloodworms when I took that picture - his tummy wasn't all puffed out when I bought him? Is a big tummy something that normally indicates IPs? If it is normally flat should I be worried? Thanks for the help!

excellent article in the hospital section in The Puffer Library (under the "learn" tab) in the toolbar, above!!

[puffypuff]

Thanks eieio - I've just read through it, and at the moment our fish doesn't seem to be displaying any of the symptoms listed. I will keep a close eye on him for any gradual changes though. Fingers crossed he's okay.

I've also been reading the library articles on feeding - it seems like a daily feed is the best bet for him at the moment? We were just wondering about amounts to feed? Feels like a silly question to ask, but how many frozen bloodworms counts as a meal? Is the occasional mealworm okay to feed? We've also bought some freezedried krill, to add a little variety, and will hopefully get hold of a snail or two in the next few days. Does that sound like a decent diet for a fish of his size?

[eieio]

Thanks eieio - I've just read through it, and at the moment our fish doesn't seem to be displaying any of the symptoms listed. I will keep a close eye on him for any gradual changes though. Fingers crossed he's okay.

i think he looks ok too, but it's good that you know the symptoms now, so you will be aware if anything develops

I've also been reading the library articles on feeding - it seems like a daily feed is the best bet for him at the moment? We were just wondering about amounts to feed? Feels like a silly question to ask, but how many frozen bloodworms counts as a meal? Is the occasional mealworm okay to feed? We've also bought some freezedried krill, to add a little variety, and will hopefully get hold of a snail or two in the next few days. Does that sound like a decent diet for a fish of his size?

daily is good, with a day off each week
much of that will depend upon the size of the fish & the size of his appetite
mussels, prawns, earthworms, crickets, snails.......
variety is important
be sure to clean up any scraps or leftovers
be sure not to overfeed, keep him a little hungry
i'm not too sure about mealworms, someone else will have to opinionate on that one

[Pufferpunk]

You should feed to a slightly rounded belly but one of my F8s is a total pig & steals the food from my other one, so he always looks obese while the other one has the "slightly rounded" belly.

[J-P]

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.

You mean: One has to obtain the same filter media from the same F8 tank AND match the salt leves in the new tank ..

[puffypuff]

Hehe, no it's okay, I got it first time around.

Now that I know Bommy is an F8, when should I start raising the gravity of the water? As its still a relatively new aquarium I was thinking I might wait for a few water changes, just to make sure everything is settled and steady before I start trying to alter things - would that be a good idea or is it a case of 'the sooner the better' for an F8 as big as he is (c. 2 inches)?

Thanks for the feeding tips! I'll let you know how he handles his first snail...

[Myaj]

I would wait a few weeks, let everything get settled.. then of course don't raise it by more than .002 per week. Figure 8 puffers really like hard water though, so if you have soft water you might want to start adding a little sooner, just don't go over that .002 per week measurement.

[puffypuff]

I would wait a few weeks, let everything get settled.. then of course don't raise it by more than .002 per week. Figure 8 puffers really like hard water though, so if you have soft water you might want to start adding a little sooner, just don't go over that .002 per week measurement.

Thanks Myaj! The water where I live, in Bath, is some of the hardest in the UK I think. Massive pain for keeping kettles and showerheads functional - but apparently great for my F8, yay! I'll leave it a while and then starting edging things up up .002.

Little Bommy is doing really well by the way - so thanks again for the advice everybody. His colours are lovely and bright, he's really active and REALLY into his food. He discovered his cave for the first time today and is having a great time playing in it. I also bought him some new live water plants, so the tank's a bit more densely planted now, and I think he appreciates it. We also bought him a ping pong ball which he's been having fun chasing around in the flow of the filter

Are there any other ways of keeping our little guy entertained when we're not around? I've seen that there are quite a lot of Betta toys on the market - any good for an inquisitive F8?

[Pufferpunk]

I'm not sure you have these over there but several folks like to add colorful Habitrail tubes for their puffers to swim though.