The Puffer Forum

I'm thinking of upgrading my F8's tank to a bigger size. I want to ask for advice though before I attempt this.

I would think the correct way I could do this safely is first fill my spare tank on the side with his water..which he would be in for maybe 10 - 20 minutes total... I would move the rest of his water into his new tank...move his gravel into his new tank...plants, etc... and then add water to fill it up the rest of the way. I want to keep all of his gravel because of the bacteria, but I don't know if I disturb it too much if it would harm it. I was just going to scoop it out with a cup and put it straight into the new tank. I'd be taking him out so I don't upset him with all the moving of stuff. Once I get it set up, put him in his new home. Taking him out with a cup (not net) of course..

Does anyone have any other suggestions. He's my baby and I want to make sure he will be ok during the transition.

that all sounds great..

fill the new tank with as much of the old water as possible, put some aside in a small tank/bucket to house puff whilst you do it all... make sure you put the heater in the bucket, and a makeshift lid (so puff doesn't freak out and make a jump for it...)

then scoop out as much gravel as you can, transfer the filter etc making sure nothing dries out... top up with fresh, dechlorinated water at the correct temperature..

and then acclimatise your friend back into the new tank.. especially important is you've added alot of new water... scoop him up in a large jug, float the whole jug in the new tank, then add tank water bit by bit for an hour til the jug water and the tank water match...

then just keep a beady eye on your parameters for the next fews day...

sure puff will love the bigger tank...

I've moved my F8 twice since I've gotten him, with no problems. T1gerbee has great suggestions. I also added some Bio-Spira to the new tank just because it was so much bigger than the previous tank. I'm sure it wasn' necessary, but I felt better with the added reassurance.

What I did was take out about half of the old tank water and put it into the new tank. Then I transferred my F8 into a bucket with a piece of driftwood that had plants tied to it. Meanwhile, I topped up the tank with fresh water. Added marine salt to match the SG of the old tank. Let it run a bit. Added the Bio-Spira as directed. Once the temp and params matched the old tank, I slowly added the new tank water to the bucket my puffer was in. Then I put him in the tank with the 2 ghost shrimp he'd been sharing a tank with for the last 2 weeks. He tolerated it just fine with no color fading or darkening whatsoever! Plus, today he finally noticed the ghost shrimp and ate at least one! Yay!

Well I'm happy to say Nibbler is in his bigger tank and he loves it