The Puffer Forum

Ok, so after using the search function, I found that the consensus seems to be the more decorations the merrier. Am I right?

One of my puffers is already pacing the glass. The other one seems to be happy exploring still. I am still getting used to the whole fake tank. My reef has absolutely zero fake plants/rocks/etc. And when I had my Arothron nigropunctatus, it was in a FOWLR. No fake stuff. I feel kind of clueless as far as what would be good entertaining ideas. I just want my little F8's to be happy

Should I just put more plastic plants and rocks in there? Or is there a magical secret "puffer-topia" that I have not heard about...

Honestly, having "fake" decorations doesn't mean the tank has to look unnatural. The trick is just to hunt around for things that are already natural looking. I was a bit fan of slate rock, and then I bought some other plants that looked almost real (take a look at silk plants).

Also, with an F8 tank, your salinity is pretty low (around 1.004 SG, I believe), so you can likely grow brackish plants (I believe there is a sticky in the Brackish Tank forum), and you might even be able to use real driftwood at that salinity without it melting.

Plants are a good idea. Thanks. I will look into them.

Also, I love the look of driftwood, but like you said, I thought there was a chance that with BW the wood doesn't hold up.

I guess it is time to go hit the search button again. Thanks!

I believe the wood can tolerate SOME salt. I could be wrong, though.

I have heard that brackish water and salt water degrade driftwood faster - so I am doing an experiment where I have a piece of driftwood in my full saltwater GSP tank. So far not degrading much about a year in.

Oh i love natural looking tanks. I cant stand having fake plants, decor in them. Show us a pic of you tank

Yes, the more decor the better. My F8 loves exploring everything in my tank. I've got fake plants, lava rock with a hole in it, coral (dead), rocks, shells, two "caves" that are a couple rocks leaning together. As long as it can swim through it, my F8 likes it.

Thanks alot everybody! I really appreciate it!

Update on the F8 tank: I decked out the tank with some fake plants, and one of my hideout logs from an old terrarium (I cleaned it very well first). I tried to provide alot of cover areas and just kind of put the plants where they created the best interupption. The tank looks alot better now, much more natural. It really looks like an area of a lake or river, rather than a cheap setup from wal-mar or something like that.