The Puffer Forum

So I was killing time at the lfs again (bad idea ), and I saw they had one F8 left. This is the same lfs that I got my first F8s about two months ago. At that time, I came in the day after they were delivered to the lfs, so they were fairly plump. One had some health issues (unknown origin, more info on my post in hospital "Weird choking/coughing action"), and eventually jumped out of the tank and died. The other, Grün, is in good health and happy. I just moved him into a 44 gallon corner tank less than a week ago. I had that lfs order some Bumblebee gobies to put in that tank also, they should be here in a week or two.

So as of yesterday morning, there was just Grün in that big ol' tank. He's about 1.5 inches now. Maybe a little less, it's hard to tell with him swimming all the time. So I was a bit worried that he wasn't producing enough waste to keep the biofilter alive, dumb I guess, but y'know. I wasn't planning on adding anything until the BBGs arrived and that was all I was planning on.

But then I saw that little F8. They had him in with some danios, and I knew from before that the only put aquarium salt in rather than marine. He was so thin, but he kept buzzing about the tank and coming up to the glass when he saw me. He was picking at the gravel looking for food too. I asked what they fed him, and they said frozen brine shrimp and "sometimes they'll eat the flake food too." I remembered seeing 3 in that tank last week, and one was gorged with food while the other two were very skinny. I figured that the fat one was eating all the food before the other two could get to it. Plus the brine shrimp aren't that nutritious. I couldn't help it, I had to take him! He was so good looking other than the thinness. He was awful light colored too, but mine got that way when I changed tanks the first time.

I brought him home, and I floated him in the tank and gradually added tank water to the bag over like 4 hours or more. The tank water I have is 1.006 with marine salt, so I was a bit worried about his reaction even though I knew they put a high amount of aquarium salt in their tank. The SG for them is 1.003 or 1.004, but it is with aquarium salt so I didn't know how he'd react. I also fed him bloodworms while he was in the bag. He ate a bunch of the bloodworms (I added Garlic Extreme, just in case).

Once I released him into the tank, Grün investigated him and followed him about while the new guy cruised the tank. Grün made no moves to beat him up or nip him, he just seemed curious. I know that I should have quarantined him, but that tank is taken up by my fantail goldfish, and I was pretty sure there would be problems there. The goldfish is fine, he's just waiting for his new pond home to be installed and set up. Anyway, I'm 99% sure that the new guy's problem is just a bad diet and underfeeding. The new guy did darken quite a bit to darken than the normal coloring, and his pattern is very unique. I'll try to get a picture. I fed them mysis shrimp this morning soaked in Garlic Extreme and Gel-Tek parasite treatment just in case.

Well good luck with him!! I want more fish but I don't have any more tanks or room for anymore. I love the f8s but I find that my lfs had many bad stocks of them and all the ones I had died. So I now have gsp and I love them I have 2 and the one I saved he was so skinny and very beat up and now he is happy and healthy!!

This is the new tank.

Ahhhh this story has warmed my cockles

Good luck with your new little F8! I hope he does well under your care and gets on well with Grun

I named him Gabria. It's airbag spelled backwards. I was going to go with Luftsack, German for airbag, but my hubby came up with Gabria.

Thats cute I just a new f8 and I don't know what it name him, he is just a baby and so pretty. I love the tank!

My bbgs came in last Friday, and thank goodness I happened to be working that day so that I could pick them upright away! My lfs doesn't normally carry them because they are incompatible with the fish they normally carry. Plus I was really eager to see them! I'd never seen them in person, just pics on the internet. I got 5, but they ordered extra because they had to order a minimum amount. I may pick up a couple more on Tuesday if the puffers continue to leave them alone. Yay! They look so good, and it seems they are getting enough food too. I've been watching carefully after I feed to make sure the puffers aren't hogging all the food. Fortunately, with the placement of the bubble curtain and filter, the water moves around quite a bit and pushes the shrimp or bloodworms around a lot so the bbgs see it and attack it well.

So I got another few gobies. I now have 8 bbgs. That's it no more fish for this tank. I have a question about my new F8 though.This isn't a very good pic. I'll try to get better ones. The patter on his back doesn't look like those on the F8s I've seen before. I just want to make sure that he is indeed a F8 so that I'm caring for him properly. I know that sometimes it is difficult to say for a certainty that it is one breed or another, so I just wanted some thoughts. I'm reasonably certain that he is a F8.

That's a figure 8. The pattern is telling, but as the scientific name reveals, the paired eyespots, clear in that picture, are present.

That's what I was figuring. I'd never seen the "eyespots" on any other puffer, but then again I don't have much experience with puffers. I believe I read somewhere that the patterns on F8 puffer get more complex as they grow older. Perhaps that is why this one looks different to me. His pattern seems very open. He is a little smaller than Grün. He looks to be about 1.5 to 1.75 inches, while Grün is about 2 inches.