First time potential puffer keeper, advice appreciated!

[Pufferpunk]

Did you read the F8 article in our Library? I think they're one of the more mild-mannered puffers. You can easily keep a nice BW community tank with them in a 55g.

[mrs.som]

Pufferpunk Thank you for pointing to that article, I was not aware of the library That article is probably the most thorough I've read and definitely allays my concerns.
So, I'll plan for about 4-5 F8s, some smaller (faster) mollies for algae control and....
Thanks!

[Pufferpunk]

I try...

Personally, I'd go with 3 F8s, a dragon goby, pair of knight gobies, 6 bumblebee gobies & a pair of mollies for algae conrtol & extra "food" for the puffers. If you could find red chromides, they'd be a really cool addition too.

[mrs.som]

Wow! You are good, just was going to ask about the Red Chromides. I'm actually a long-time cichlid-phile but wasn't sure if Chromides would be ok with puffers, question answered! So, puffers, chromides, mollies, gobies, sounds like one full and fun tank! Thanks so much!

[Pufferpunk]

If fishless cycled correctly, you should be able to stock most of those at the same time, although I might add the puffers last. Check to see what SG they're being kept at the shop you are looking for them in & cycle the tank at that salinity.

[mrs.som]

In your experience, would it be better then to buy them from an LFS rather than ordering them (for example on aquabid.com)?

[Hierony]

With puffers I think it is always better if you can see them first. Very few fish stores know or care about puffer care and many seem to be kept in less than adequate conditions. F8's are pretty common in the trade right now it seems, I think you will be able to find them around with relative ease. If it were me I'd shop around and take a look at a number of LFS and try and see where they are the healthiest looking. Plus you can choose what size you start with and pick the F8's with the coloration you like and the nice round white belly you'll be looking for. Good luck!

[pufferpuggirl]

Pufferpuggirl
Ceylon's were actually my first choice because of their "large but not too large" size but what scared me off was that they were recommended to go full marine eventually and we don't have the time or money for full marine right now.
If they can be kept in brackish (without all the fancy equipment and constant maintenance of marine) I'd love to hear about it!

Well, as always, I'm going against the tide of the majority here because I have no intention of taking my Ceylons or GSP's to full marine. I have no interest in having a marine tank (at least not in the forseeable future), so I shall be keeping mine in high brackish conditions. Yes, I know it's more work in the end, but as I said, I just don't have any interest in going marine. Obviously time will tell if that has any ill effects on the puffers, but at least they aren't being kept in freshwater and I would think that they should be able to live in high salinity conditions.

[Pufferpunk]

PPG, I thought the same thing for a very long time. It took me 25 years in the hobby (8 of those working in LFS--some even having SW sections I stayed out of), to go over to the other side. Now... well, you've seen my reef tank...

[pufferpuggirl]

Okay, well obviously I will not say "never", but right now I've just got too many freshwater tanks and not enough room for anything else. I suppose there's a possibility that I could get tired of freshwater and want to go to the dark side .... but as I'm still very much a novice, I think I have a long way to go before I feel confident enough to go to saltwater.

[mrs.som]

Yeah, I'm not ready to go to "the darkside" yet, maybe in the distant future but not now
I think the best bet is to see what the LFS has and whatever they have that looks healthy I will get. If I were to find a healthy Ceylon, are they kept together and/or with tankmates? A suggested stocking list would be great!
On another note, has anyone tried raising mangroves in their brackish tanks? I saw a brackish mangrove swamp display at the aquarium a few weeks ago and really liked it!
Thanks for the continued input!

[pufferpuggirl]

I can only say that I keep my Ceylons with my GSP's ....no other tankmates, but they are fairly laid back, so they might tolerate some other fish, although I am totally ignorant about non-puffer fish, so wouldn't have a clue what would be worth trying.

[soggydrysuit]

I'm no marine expert but I seem to do less water changes on my marine tanks than I do the fw and brackish ones. More faffing to do with keeping them topped up with fw so the salinity does not change much. I've kept marines for five years consistenly now and I find they're not too much hassle so long as they are stable and mature. It's the rest of the time that has you pulling hair out

I change maybe 10% per week on average and the nitrates stay below about 10ppm, pH nicely up at 8.4... My 60 to 100ppm excursion in one tank happened because I'd used that tank for LR storage (no fish) and fed for six months or so with no changes!

I have had zero nitrates in various Live Rock based tanks before using macro algae which I don't have at the moment. I used to think my test kits were not working and in one case I was right!

[Pufferpunk]

Hence the reason we suggest bringing our high-end BW fish into marine!

[mrs.som]

I guess cause I've done fw all my life I'm not sure I understand why brackish would be more difficult than marine or vice versa, anyone care to go into greater detail?
My main concern with marine right now is cost. We are moving clear across the country at the end of this week so my husband can attend law school and we simply don't have the money to be buying a protein skimmer, the proper lights, etc. I just have enough cash in reserve to buy a used fw setup. Thoughts? Is it possible to go full marine (for only puffers initially) without having a skimmer and lights?
Thanks all!