The Puffer Forum

looks like my next wc is going to drop down to 1.003.... Also, dont worry about the snail shell issue, i have to say that ponds are gonna be your best bet, because when the rams get too big and the puffs dont eat them, your going to be SOL. have to restart a new snail tank

okay cool. but what can I use for substrate. would gravel be okay?

Back to reading that article...

I just got sand, for one its nicer.. Two, it helps your ph level, and three its the salinity issue again. Please re read what we have discussed.... oh god im turning into a mini PP....

I prefer feeding more than one snail type if at all possible. I do not like to put all my eggs in one basket. It is not an issue for me to rum more than one snail breeder tank.

It is not an issue for me to rum more than one snail breeder tank.

it is for me. I will probably use a crushed coral substrate. What salt mix do you recommend? I use instant ocean when I work on my dentists tank.

Any cheap marine salt mix will do.

I only stocked Instant Ocean marine mix, so cannot offer any suggestions on others.

If your KH is low and your pH is unstable, your F-8s will not be long-lived. Low density BW is not sufficiently stable on alkalinity to keep F-8s long term IME. You do not want fluctuating KH and pH. It is hard on these fish.

RTR wrote:I only stocked Instant Ocean marine mix, so cannot offer any suggestions on others.

If your KH is low and your pH is unstable, your F-8s will not be long-lived. Low density BW is not sufficiently stable on alkalinity to keep F-8s long term IME. You do not want fluctuating KH and pH. It is hard on these fish.

how do i test for KH? my test kit doesnt include it. also, i can only run one snail breeding tank, too... until i have more space

You will need a KH test kit, liquid based test, also. This is a critical parameter for F-8s IME.

These are BW fish, so technically can in the wild swim from one water condition to another almost at will. But this is another of the sharp differences between the wild and captivity. In the wild the average fish does not survive long. If it survives to 2-3 years and breeds successfully with at least one surviving offspring to maturity, it has been successful and holds its place in the gene pool. In captivity we cannot yet breed them, but we can keep them to an average of ~15 years o\d if they survive QT. The two conditions are really quite different. Captivity requires high water quality, low salinity, and stable alkalinity. We do not really know the necessary conditions for breeding in the wild for these fish. We only have that info on a few puffers. And we have no clue as to the required conditions for successful breeding in captivity either. But that will come eventually, by folks like the ones here.