New to forum and Puffers

[Pufferfreak42]

Thanks again for the welcome. I will have fun here and learn tons I'm sure.

Myaj, your suggestion sounds a lot less complicated. I just need to copy and paste the posts and print it off and read carefully.

I have a python but I didn't think it would be good to use as the water needs to sit a bit.

I read on some other site that the salt level only needs to be increased every six months. I guess that's a falacy.

What is the proper level of salinity should the tank be, meaning what is the end result? Boy, I need to do a lot more reading. Saturday is D Day for starting the addition of salt.

LGP, by calibrating, am I correct in assuming I should put the hydrometer in the tank to know where the needle is for the starting point? If that made sense.

I just copied Dadof4's Steps 1 and 2 but can't seem to find the third, help?

[LilGreenPuffer]

The third, I think, was just some conversation and Q&A about the math.

I don't age my water. I take it right from the tap.

Calibrating means checking the reading on your hydrometer in whatever your water source is, like tapwater, and then taking that number as 1.000. For example, if you get 1.003, then to raise your ACTUAL spec. grav. to 1.002, you would aim for a reading of 1.005.

[kilofey]

hi, hello, welcome welcome welcome..... im fairly new to the fourm too... let me tell you.... it is addicting! and it will make you appreciate your little guy that much more because you learn just how spectacular and interesting they are anyway... good luck on making the brackish switch.... i heard they are okay as juveniles in fresh water, but when they get older, then they start requireing brackish waters.... if im wrong on that, im sure someone will correct my error... but thats what i heard.... so you will have time to do it slowly as he is more than likely a young puffer.

btw... you should post some pics of your little guy!!!! hover over the "share" button at the top of the page, then click "user galleries" and from there you can add/edit your photos.... i think its a link in the top right corner that says "my albums" after you added some pics to your albums, to add a pic to a post, just click "TPF Gall Img" thats right above the typing box.... then just select your name from the list of people and your pics will pop up!!!!!

sorry about the long tutorial.... it took me a while to figure out how to post a pic... so i thought id try to make it easier for someone else lol

[Pufferfreak42]

Thanks again LGP for the great help with how to calibrate the hydrometer. You just stated you use straight from the tap. Do you add a decloronator, etc to the water. I add it to the water to remove bad stuff before filling my cichlid and guppy tank so I'm guessing I should do the same for the puffer tank.

Hi kilofey, thanks for the awesome welcome. I do plan on taking some pics as soon as I get his tank finished. Thanks for the tutorial on how to add pics. I love the pics of your puffers, love the name booger. I want to name mine booger now. I was going to get a dwarf aka pea puffer, they are soooooooooooo tiny and very cute.

[kilofey]

EEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!!!!! i am so jealous of your cichlid list! i <3 cichlids!!!! i have a male and a female red devil, both about 7" to 8"..... the girl wants to make the "magic" happen, but the boy isnt too into her lol, i really want babies .... she chases him and twirls around him... he bites her... she lays eggs for him to fertelize, he eats the eggs hahahaha.... working on it though... i used to have a texas and a JD but i had to get rid of them because my red devils were starting to grow up and pick on my other fishies i miss them especially the Jack

anyway, booger is a dwarf puffer.... he got his name because when i brought him home from the petstore the other day, my boyfriend immedately said what the heck is that!?! it looks like one of my boogers.... and now we affectionately call him booger haha ok, well good luck with your little guys....

PS- let the little guys be your starter puffers.... eventually, go for a big one!!!! they are so much fun.... my fahaka (shown in avatar pic) lets me pet his head, he even comes to the top of the tank for luvins.... he lets me pet the side of his body too and gets really excited when i come in the room hehe... hes 8" now but will get between 12 and 18" my boyfriend likes to call him shrek.... grrr... his name is Kukah

[LilGreenPuffer]

Thanks again LGP for the great help with how to calibrate the hydrometer. You just stated you use straight from the tap. Do you add a decloronator, etc to the water. I add it to the water to remove bad stuff before filling my cichlid and guppy tank so I'm guessing I should do the same for the puffer tank.

I definitely use dechlorinator! I should have clarified - I put dechlorinator and liquid vitamins into a bucket, siphon water from the tap into the bucket, and dump it in.

Actually, come to think of it, you'll have to age your water anyway because you'll need to mix your salt for 24h.

But you can use your python to fill up a big bin for salt-mixing from the tap.

[Pufferpunk]

I put dechlorinator and liquid vitamins into a bucket

I always felt adding vits directly to the water was a total waste--especially since FW fish don't "drink" water.

[LilGreenPuffer]

It soaks into the algae pellets that the snails and otos eat. When the baby snails eat vitamin-enriched veggies, they make very good meals.

[Pufferpunk]

IDK, vits are pretty $$$ to dilute into that much water. I'd rather drip it directly onto foods & soak.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Hmmm, true... I do soak their frozen foods in vitamins, but I can't soak an algae pellet or live food - it'll lose all the vitamins in the water.

[Pufferpunk]

I do soak bloodworms in vits & feed them plankton & old flakes.

[Pufferfreak42]

Let the salt water sit for 24 hours? I can do that. I will fill some large buckets but now I have no idea how much salt to put in them. The buckets will hold 10 gallons each I'm guessing. But if the water sits for that long won't it be too cold to put in the tank and shock the puffer? Like I said before, I don't want to stress him out too much. I'm going to call the LFS today and find out how old he is, maybe he won't need salt added just yet but I think the sooner the better, correct?

I dunno about the vitamin thing, they don't take them in the wild. Right now I give him tropical flakes, bloodworms and shrimp. Actually the tropical flakes is for the other fish but he seems to like them as well. Once the tropicals are out I won't be putting in the flakes anymore. I have other stuff I give to the cichlids, he should like them, they are hard as well. I have to do more investigation on foodies for him to keep him happy and healthy.

@ Kilofey, I love my cichlids. I just upgraded my tank to a 120 gallon from 55. My favorites are the red parrots. I got the others based on these guys as I wanted gentle fish. I love my JD as well, smart and fast she is, pretty too, I'll have to post some pics. A few weeks ago a purchased a Geophagus and Texas but the Geo didn't last 24 hours as my Oscar ate him, $15 down her belly. Heck, I don't even spend that much on dinner for me. In order to save the Texas I had to put him in with the tropicals and now I have to either try him in the cichlid tank and risk being eaten or in with the guppies and have the fry eaten. I need to decide that by Saturday as he's now with Puff.

Good luck on breeding your green terrors. I'm guessing females mature faster than males, just like in the human world. haha. I was going to get a beautiful yellow coloured terror but I was afraid it would kill my parrots. I'm sure if I got one of them instead of the Geo, he'd still be in the tank.

Sorry for the cichlid ramble.

[Pufferpunk]

I dunno about the vitamin thing, they don't take them in the wild.

But your puffer isn't living in the wild, is he?

[LilGreenPuffer]

In the wild, they can get their natural diet; we can't always provide that, which is one reason we use supplements. The other reason is that if we're going to put wild animals into little glass enclosures for our own entertainment, we try to make everything else as good as possible.

[Pufferfreak42]

Great points Pufferpunk and LilGreenPuffer, I stand corrected. It's just I spent so much money on my tanks the past month, there seems no end to it but if I want to have healthy pets, I need to do it right. Good news is I found someone that will take my tropicals. It's been hard trying to feed Puff bloodworms as the tropicals are fast and getting at them first. Puff is on the slow side, still a baby yet. It's funny, I drop some in and he swims to the other side of the tank. I drop some in on the other side, he swims in the other direction. Good thing I have lots. The other day I noticed his tummy got large after eating, and kinda bumpy, is that normal? He looks normal this morning.