The Puffer Forum

Hi, i have my eye on a Figure 8 at the lfs (well i have reserved it) it is in freshwater with a touch of tonic salts at the moment. What is the best way for me to go about moving him to my tank (freshwater at the mo) do i get him and then slowly change him to light brackish, or do i need to add tonic salts so it is the same as what he's in now then slowly change over to light brackish? secondly am i right in thinking when i start to change to brackish i need to increase the salinity by 0.002 a week? and hows the best way to do this? sorry for all the questions but i want to do everything right for him.
Cheers
Lisa

First of all you should be using marine salt for a brackish tank. Tonic salt (or aquarium salt) does not contain the same minerals that marine salt has and is generally only used for African Cichlids or for treating various ailments.

The puffer can be acclimated from FW to a low end brackish water (about 1.005) in a period of a couple hours. I would recommend cycling the tank you're going to put him in at about 1.005, then acclimating the puffer when you're ready to transfer him.

FYI, F8 Puffers have done best in captivity at a S.G. of 1.005 to 1.008.

I was planning to use instant ocean, being only small is it best to acclimatise him that quickly of over a longer period of time? if i was to acclimatise him that quickly do i just slowly add tnk water to his bag over a few hours?

That sg isn't really that high so acclimating then over a couple hours won't be harmful. I would probably put him in a small container, take out some of the FW and replace with BW and keep on doing that every 15 minutes or so.

If the tank is cycled for him as FW, just move him into it like that, then change the SG by .002 per week until you have him up to brackish. That way you dont' have to wait another 6 weeks minimum to have the tank ready for him. If it's not cycled and you have to wait 6 weeks anyway, I'd just cycle the new tank brackish and acclimate him as Spock suggests.

thank you for all your help, the tank is cycled ready for him fw so i will put him in that and then start to change to brackish. Thanks again for all your help.

No problem