911 Figure 8

want4rain · Post by **want4rain** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 6:30 pm

so im very very new to the fish thing... but the way i figure is i have more of a chance of keeping one of these alive than walmart does... so with that said....

went to walmart today and they had atleast 20-30 F8 puffers in a little tiny tank (you all have seen the size of these....)

i dont know the first thing about puffers or brackish or marine...

i have a 25g cycled freshwater tank. the puffers are NOT in a salted (of any sort tank) my LFS is open for another 2.5 hours...

taking all that into consideration....

help!

-ash

want4rain · Post by **want4rain** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 6:50 pm

if someone could reply to my email.... want4rain@yahoo.com... im new to this site and not really sure how to navigate

-ash

SoloNatedawg · Post by **SoloNatedawg** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 6:53 pm

Sup and welcome. If you read the articles in the library it will give you a good understanding/start of everything you need to know like water parameters, foods, etc... Afterwards if you have any spesific questions someone more "qualified" will be glad to help.

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 7:41 pm

I wouldn't suggest adding the puffer to a tank w/tank mates. You could start another 10g for it but be sure to cycle it 1st or add Bio-spira.

want4rain · Post by **want4rain** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 2:31 am

so i expect this is going to be long... im really really trying to stay awake to acclimatize these guys. (my husband is sooooo patient!!)

oh yes, i am well familiar with water changes

this tank is set up about 5 feet from a sink!!

so i am very very new to the fish thing... i have a 10g guppy tank... Pufferpunk, im assuming you are the same Pufferpunk from Zo's forum that everyone has crying about

i posted there in the 911 forum about this... maybe a little clearer than i did here.

so i hunted around Zo's brackish forum a bit to see what i could come up with....

and had a nice loooong heart to heart with my LFS guy (who was super helpful) and my tank is NOT cycled. the gravel i had for this one was in a bucket for about 2 days. it was "wet" but not in water. he said to not even bother (and did NOT try to sell me Cycle LOL) soooo.... many many little vials to test with and lots lots of water changes.

i have bare bones right now. HOTB filter w/bio wheel, bubble rock and a thermometer. in doing some research i think its suggested to put in some sand? i dont plan on planting this tank... some time tomorrow (today??) i plan on getting some silk plants (plastic maybe, not sure..... hand-me-downs)

i also have a very ready supply of snails. not sure what KIND of snails they are... and a small tank with ghost shrimp in it... these guys do NOT look well fed. girl at WM said they ate flake food. i think i just blinked at her.... she said she had a little spat with her boss abot the puffers. she didnt know anythign about them other than they were brackish *chuckles* and shouldnt be in a FW tank.

i had one of these little guys escape his bag into the tank before i really had a chance to even the pH

seems to be doing fine for now...

baah.... epic so far. im going to rummage up some grub... might have more when i come back

and thanks!!

-ash

want4rain · Post by **want4rain** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 2:32 am

any suggestions for a feeding schedule??

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 2:50 am

What forum--what crying? I stopped visiting other forums--don't have time. I think you see how many posts we have here now...

Did you decide to set up a new tank? What size? How many puffers? How are you cycling it? Best to use crushed coral or aragonite substrate (I prefer crushed coral for ease of cleaning). Feed daily till tummy is round & skip 1 day/week.

want4rain · Post by **want4rain** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:17 am

i was thinking more of WHAT and WHEN?? i know they need snails, but how often? and i assume these little guys cant live off of just brine shrimp or just ghost... or just blood worms.... but thats alot to rotate.... one of each daily? or one type a day... im really sleepy LOL

and that forum was WetWebFoto.com

laptop is dying, im sure i will be back around 8am est

-ash

want4rain · Post by **want4rain** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:20 am

BTW 25g, 3 F8's and cycling now, lots of water changes (which is why this tank is near the bathroom

)

i dont expect all these guys to make it but figured they had a better chance with me than they did in some kids goldfish bowl being poked at with a stick to see them puff... if they make it through the cycle, i did a good thing, if they dont, i really reallt tried

-ash

want4rain · Post by **want4rain** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 9:38 am

sooo...... before i pick up some bio-spira.....

FW, BW, SW all have DIFFERENT bacteria right??

i added MARINE salt to this tank.

1tbs/5g

IF i added bio-spira today, my goal is 1tbs/1gal possibly as much as 2tbs/1g..... would i end up killing my bacteria that i bio-spira'ed into the tank in the begining??

or because i started out brackish, im growing brackish bacteria??

id really like to do this as right as possible the first time so any more info on nitrifying bacteria would really really help... im changing quite a few of the parameters of this tank over the next two weeks to acclimatize these guys from FW to BW and would hate to find out later i was spinning my wheels without going anywhere (or insert any other "effort without movement").

yes Jason, i will keep a detailed log of my bio-spira/cycle for you guys

and then i will talk all kinds of fantastic things about my puffers (if they live) and make you want one.....

also, id like to start a log here (no im NOT lost... ill have it BW forum also) of my puffers progress (or demise)...

anyhow, i was up ALL night... and i havent had caffine in 2 days now. hopefully with MY drastic parameter change, i will stress enough to drop this fry and then i can get the hell out of this breeder tank.

i hope i got out all my questions. post again later if not..... im heading back to bed.

-ash

-----------------------

thats my post in WWF... im pooped. heading back to bed for about 2 hours...

Malie · Post by **Malie** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 10:17 am

someone is going to ask this eventually, I'm sure: do you have a hydrometer or other tool to measure the SG (specific gravity/salinity) of your tank?

if no, you're going to need one in order to maintain the proper salinity in the tank.

if you have one/once you get one, yay! As I understand it, each version of bio-spira has a different range of salinity it works at. I dont know them off the top of my head, but it should say on the package and i'm sure someone else can give them to you too. each version has different bacteria, you cant use FW B-S for a SW tank or visa-virsa.

you should only raise your salinity .002 SG a week in order to allow the bacteria to adjust and let your fish acclimate. you could probably do it faster if your adding B-S every time, but you still need to let the fish adjust.

check out this article in the library for more info on F8s: http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/ ... uffer.html (im surprised i'm the first to mention the article, usually someone else points newbies [no offense] to the articles right away. y'all are slackin!

)

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:43 pm

You should alternate the food. I wouldn't bother w/brine shrimp--not a nutrttious food. Also, ghost shrimp should be gut-loaded before feeding out. Mine alternate from blackworms, earthworms, crickets, plankton & krill.

Add the FW B-S. There are no BW bacteria. The amount of salt you are adding is certainly nominal. Probably wouldn't even register on a hydrometer. Malie is correct, you should have one & only raise the SG .002/week. Your most important task is to get that tank cycled safely, before anything else, even raising the SG, which will interupt the cycling process. BTW, you have 1 too many F8s in there, do you plan on upgrading?

Still curious as to why they were crying at WWM about me?

want4rain · Post by **want4rain** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:49 pm

Malie: no i dont, but thanks for bringing that up! so i dont have the meter yet, but hell, im making daily trips to the LFS at the moment and other things were a little higher on the list for me to get LAST night.

so im workign my way there. thankfully the LFS is willing to test it for me if i need it. but it IS on the list of things to get.

and THANK YOU for the article!! that helps a great deal!!

Pufferpunk: they werent crying ABOUT you, they were crying FOR you! as for beign over stocked... a friend of mine has a 20g she wants to make a puffer tank... but not for another few months. said if that i can keep these three alive, she would take one or two. i initially (daydreaming for much later in the future) wanted just one green spot for this tank...

personally i dont expect all of these guys to make it... in reading this, two look rather under fed

do i need to get a marine testing kit? i have the freshwater one already.

ill keep my eye on here but i massacred the house last night to get this tank up and these guys in it. so im going to go "nest" and clean it up.

i also need to go do my "Daily Guppy Gazing" and feed my Algae Eating Shrimp who are in Solitary Confinement (QT...). AND run out and get some snails for these little floating heads

do i just drop the food in the tank with them or do i have to do some sort of wiggling dance to entice them to eat?? snails that is... they can chase their own shrimp around LOL

-ash

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 2:14 pm

Your puffers may just be starved, or could have internal parasites. Time will tell. FW tests will be fine for now.

Folks should know they can find me here, but I guess, since I'm on the WWM Crew, I probably should be peeking in at WWM's forms too.

lisalisa · Post by **lisalisa** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 2:17 pm

I don't ever go to WWM forums...perhaps I should too..

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