The Puffer Forum

I keep hearing about a long term study that was done on Tetraodon biocellatus about salt content in an aquarium. I've been searching everywhere and I can't find it. Can anyone point me to a link so I can review the study?

Thank you

Wow, I feel stupid for not finding that myself. Thank you for the link!

I was under the impression that there was an 'official' long term study done on Figure 8's. Was there an actual study with some data? The article on F8's seems to be written more from a 'personal experience' perspective.

Thank you

So it seems like there is no actual study.

What we do know is that when kept healthy, T. biocellatus can live up to / at least 18 years in captivity. From various personal experiences, it seems like their immune systems may do better in low end brackish water. Although I suppose this could also have something to do with certain parasites/bacteria inability to thrive in brackish waters.

Because most plants don't grow nearly as well in brackish water, I'm interested to find out if T. biocellatus could be kept just as healthy in a well planted FW (or nearly FW) tank. Considering nitrates (among other toxins) should be kept at nearly 0 in a planted aquarium, I'm hypothesizing that stability would be just as beneficial to these fish (as it is with most others). Knowing that they live in mostly FW conditions in the wild, I see no reason to think that this couldn’t be a possibility.

Btw... I'm in no way recommending anyone to go against common advice given here. I belive it is in the best interested of a typical aquarist to keep F8's in brackish water, I'm just curious.

Yes, there is a 10 year study done by Robert T Ricketts. I bugged him for years to post his findings. His eyesight has gone bad & I'm afraid that will never happen now. He did write an article on them though. I have one coming out soon but I can't post it here until it comes out in print or I won't get paid.

Ahhh, thats a shame. I look forward to reading your article.

Looking forward to read that article PP.

I wish they'd publish it already... I feel like I'm cheating everybody, waiting for $$$.