rate my Figure 8 puffers care:)

[Aquarist]

Hello again. Just put up my GSPS tank specs and information. Heres my figure 8s

Tank size: 10 gallons
Substrate: Gravel
Tank filter: 10 gallon standard tetra whisper
Heater: Dont even remember.. Preset
Temperature: 78 F stable.
Water changes: Weekly
Ammonia 0, rest unknown.
Aggression not at all. Hes a very skittish puffer. Wont even follow your finger
Salinity: 1.005-1.008 a 10 gallon brackish tanks hard to maintain. Just put in a random amount of tsps per gallon after a water change*instant ocean marine salt*
Has plenty of hiding places.

Obviously not as good as my GSPS..:/ you guys can rate this too I suppose. Im prepared for a rating of 1-2 :S

[RTR]

Any addition of "a random amount of tsps per gallon after a water change" is very poor practice, dangerous and stressful to the fish and bacteria. NIMFT, never under even emergency conditions

IME & IMHO, the tank is too small. Does it have decor?

You do not mention diet.

[mrgreen]

One figure 8 should have 15 gallons- minimum.

Are you using marine salt? Any other salt lacks mutrients and diesn't truely turn it brackish. Do you have a refractometer? Its good to know the SG . 1.004 or 1.006 etc. I've gotten good at adding salt without doing much measuring. But for starters, you should be careful as a change more than .002 can kill your nitrifying bacteria / uncycle yoyr tank. The fish won't care as much but they will with an uncycled tank.

Your filter is for 10 gallons and that's okay but puffers are very messy so overfiltration is recommended.

Also, i try to keep my temp aroynd 80. They are ok at 78 and maybe even 82, but much higher and there will be less available oxygen in the water.

And lastly, when you do your waterchanges, how much to you change? I change 50% - even more if there's food left by accident. Which brings me to test kits. Buy liquid kits and use them. API sells good ones. I yested my tanks for a year every week or more just to make sure i was on top of things.

[Myaj]

Agreed, the tank is too small for a full grown Figure 8. And matching the newly mixed brackish water to the existing tank water is NOT difficult at all! Especially in those small of amounts.. just figure out how many cups (or half cups or whatever) it takes to raise your bucket of freshwater to the same level as the tank, and there you go. No guessing needed. Assuming of course you have a hydrometer, which costs only a couple bucks and there's no excuse to not have one.

[Aquarist]

Sorry. Was tired the night I posted this ;P. I add 1 tbsp per gallon. I do have a hydrometer but Brackish in a 10g tank is hard to maintain the salinity.. so I decided to just start putting one tbsp per gallon. Easier,


What tank size does this figure 8 need? I have a gsp alone in a 60. But the figure 8 I thought would be fine in a 10

[Aquarist]

His diets the same as my gsp

Frozen Krill Frozen Bloodworms Frozen Brine Shrimp and live snails. Any idea what size tank this guy needs? I cant maintain salinity in a 10g tank. If I test my gsps tank it comes out to 1.012 every time if I tested it 15 times in a row.. This tank I test it once and it reads like 1.008 then test again reads 1.005 then eventually none. So. Salinity in a 10g is very difficult. Yes the tank does have decor and also has one airstone. I use instant ocean marine salt

[Myaj]

Its not any more difficult than a larger tank, other than evaporation making the salinity go up, but I can't tell you what you are doing wrong, sorry. If you use a swing arm hydrometer, make sure you are rinsing it between uses to get any residual salt out, and tapping the side to knock any bubbles loose from under the arm.

One tablespoon of salt in a gallon of water should give you roughly.. oh lets see, half a cup of salt per gallon makes full seawater, so 8 tablespoons in a half a cup, so you are at 1/8 of full seawater approx. So you should be right around 1.003. Either way, if you always put the same amount of salt into your freshwater before putting it in the tank, AND top off with freshwater a couple times a week to counter evaporation (water evaporates, salt stays behind and raises the salinity of the remaining water) you should always have the same salinity. 1.003 is a perfectly acceptable level for Figure 8 puffers, some like it a little higher, some don't, just watch your fish if you do decide to raise it to the 1.006-1.008 level, and raise it there gradually over a few weeks.

Figure 8 puffers need 15 gallons minimum, for one, and 10-15 gallons for each additional. They look small when they are young, but they can grow pretty nice sized.