Decided on an F8, tank decoration okay?

[Tim]

Finally decided I am going with a Figure 8 . Tank has been up and running with some otocinclus, amano shrimp and 4 galaxy rasbora for cycling purposes (basicly left overs from the breeder tanks for the previous puffer). Planted the tank today and made a cave somewhere from a glass jar hidden within the gravel and plants. I am wondering if this will do for a Figure 8 or if I need more decoration .

due to image size, a link http://i45.tinypic.com/50iff6.jpg

[Pufferpunk]

Looks lovely but I think the puffer would appreciate more swim-thrus. Also, I've never had luck with anubius in BW.

[Tim]

Looks lovely but I think the puffer would appreciate more swim-thrus. Also, I've never had luck with anubius in BW.

I don't have any decore that allows fish to swim thru sadly enough, other than a gigantic battle ship, but I might try spacing the anubias a bit more so that the puffer could swim around them all. Once all the anubias start growing a bit more it should be pretty well packed. I had anubias before in brackish and they did okay until the salinity started closing in on 1.010. I might not be so lucky this time but for an F8 I don't recall needing a salinity much higher then 1.005 so they will hopefully do well.

Since I am picking up an extra aquarium tomorrow I might have a look at some decor pieces that would allow for swim-thru. I did find the most gnarliest piece of bogwood today, its so dense and heavy it doesn't even float . If I can find similar pieces I might replace the rocks with those pieces.

[bertie 83]

Sg 1.003-1.005 is recommended

[Tim]

Sg 1.003-1.005 is recommended

Really? Pufferpedia said "SG = 1.005 - 1.008". Will the Figure 8 be okay at 1.003 when it goes towards adulthood? If so both the plants and my wallet will be all the happier .

[RVS]

1.003 is just ok, but i´ll go to 1.005 at least a pair times per month, cuz is well known that 1.005 is F8´s motto.

By the way, your tank is perfect, you make me wanna have some f8 lol.

[bertie 83]

Shoot for the middle, 1.004. Keep an eye on the f8 if not stressed keep it there.

[bertie 83]

A little more tall decor would be appreciated by the f8 too, so keep your eyes peeled for anything which will go with your tank.

[Tim]

A little more tall decor would be appreciated by the f8 too, so keep your eyes peeled for anything which will go with your tank.

I tried getting a hold of a larger anubia, they are listed as anubias mother plants usually, but they did not have any good looking ones at the places I went to. Bought my refugium today at swedish biggest aquarium store. Was going to ask about prices for a built to order tank, but they already had something close for cheap. Not as much volume, but much easier to place . They also had the previously mentioned mother plants in good condition but I forgot all about it when I found this tank.

Also looked at some higher fake bogwood but with the background being what it is I was in doubt.

[RTR]

IMHO & IME, specific gravities >1.005 are not ideal for F-8s; +1 to bertie's comments suggesting 1.003-1.005. What is your KH? If it is not at leasy moderately hard you will need to supplement.

I do not recommend any wood even in light BW. It will eat the KH faster than nitrification does. Fluctuating alkalinity is not beneficial, quite the contrary.

I do not suggest any Anubias in light BW either. The tank set up looks very nice, but to me is not suited to F-8s at all.

[Tim]

IMHO & IME, specific gravities >1.005 are not ideal for F-8s; +1 to bertie's comments suggesting 1.003-1.005. What is your KH? If it is not at leasy moderately hard you will need to supplement.

dKH 5.1/ Alkalinity 1.82, PH is around 7.3-.4 (I dont have the Salifert ph test, this one is some strip you just dump in the water.) I was already contemplating adding crush coral to replace the gravel, this raises the ph and alkalinity iirc (I used this for the GSP). I am not against adding reactors either. I do not want the puffer to be unnecessarily uncomfortable when it can be easily avoided. On that note, If I were the put crushed coral in the sump and behind the background instead of replacing the gravel in the front that would accomplish the same effect right? I quite enjoy the coloring of this particular gravel.

I do not recommend any wood even in light BW. It will eat the KH faster than nitrofication does. Fluctuating alkalinity is not beneficial, quite the contrary.

I had forgotten about this . There is no wood in there yet at luckily. Though I did find some really nice pieces that I will save for a rainy day.

I do not suggest any Anubias in light BW either. The tank set up looks very nice, but to me is not suited to F-8s at all.

I can't do much with these statements unless you're willing to expand on it.
I've had great success keeping anubias in light brackish water so far. Plants tend to be pretty helpful in terms of water quality. Does it do something detrimental to the water that I am not aware of?
If I were to add crushed coral which would raise ph and kh that would put those values outside their optimal for anubias, but we'll see how they do if that is the case

If it's not suited for a F8 because of not enough broken lines, then I don't think thats the biggest issue, I quite enjoy redecorating and buying new decorations but I'll first see if the Figure 8 will be okay with what I have. The 3d background at least helps some with the broken line of sight. But please do eleborate , I've never had an F8 before..

Would replacing the rocks with something like this be better? (this particular one is actually as tall as my tank)

[bertie 83]

Anything tall will help the f8 feel comfortable, they love to swim round things checking them out. You could use fake plants or fake wood or even rocks. Don't forget to add a cave for him to chill out in

[RTR]

Anubias are emerse plants in the wild, their best habitat appears to be in the spray area of waterfalls or rapids. They may well be submerse in flood, but in tanks grow glacially slowly submerse. If you want faster (but never really fast) growth, gro Anubias emerse under nearly constant mist. They are attractive but metabolically do very little for nitrogen &/or DOC extraction. The do extract a bit of CO2 and release a bit of O2, but tiny amounts unless the tank is jammed solid with Anubias. In general, growth rate and requirement for frequent pruning is a good measure of nutrient extraction (and export when you thin/prune and export plant mass). That is one reason I use veggie filters - they are utility tanks, with 1/4 to 1/2 the plant mass removed periodically. In an all-Anubias tank you do not remove 1/4 of the plant mass annually. That makes for a good display but poor nutrient reduction.

For f-8s I like pH at or above 7.8, better higher. I use aragonite substrates substrates, as they are nore soluble than crushed coral by a non-trivial margin. On this side of the pond, CaribSea has a good selection of somewhat different aragonites, but I have no clue as what is available in Scandinavia. I strongly suspect that the higher KH (and resulting pH) is a big part of keeping F-8s alive to an average of 15 years or more.

Puffers tend to be rather bright (intelligent) fish, quite curious, and always hungry and hunting. As most of them at solitary at hobby tank sizes, a diverse environment with as many thnings for them to explore for potential food items as possible will improve their activity level and keep them healthier and happier. FW and light BW puffer rarely danage plants. Marine puffers are more likely to nibble macroalgae (and many inverts, including many corals) Freshwater and light brackish puffers rarely damage other than very soft-leaved plants. They may well bite distinctive holes in soft leaves when they nip up a snail. Clown loaches can do the same, but it is easy to ell the diference in puffer and loach bites. Puffer leaf bites are half-moon to full round. Only a large puffer could damage an Anubias.

HTH

[Tim]

Thanks for the most informative response RTR

I actually meant aragonite instead of crushed coral but for the life of me I could not remember the name, what the local marine aquarium store sells is "Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Live Sand Aragonite" or something along those lines, its quite a title.


-Bertie
I made a cave from a glass jar that I dug into the sand, I put the entrance out of sight so that you cant peek inside. That should hopefully provide ampel secure feelings when he decides to use it.

[RTR]

Live sand usually is not live, but it may or may not be aragonite. If it is aragonite, it is useful and OK so long as the "live" bit does push the price up too much.