The Puffer Forum

Hi,
I’m kind of new to the whole aquarium lifestyle as my dad got me interested when he
started his Marine tank. I started out with a tropical aquarium with a whole load of fish,
Including 4 clown loach, 1 plecco, 6 guppies (male and female), 4 platys (male and
Female) 1 catfish and 10 neon tetras. The Guppies and Platties went mad for each other and gave birth to a lot of fry. Half of the fry was eaten but alot still survived as i bought a breeding net. I still have all these fish but I’ve moved on to Brackish because I wanted more of a challenge. I cycled my, U.K. 35 gallon tank, for roughly about four months whilst I waited on my order of 6 F8 Puffers! I’ve had my puffers for over a month now and I’ve sadly lost one puffer! I really like the temperament of the F8 Puffers and I am trying my best to give them a really good lifestyle! These are some pictures of my tank!

**Edited by Pufferpunk. Please properly size your pics. It takes too long for these to load & takes up too much bandwith.**

Basicly i am just writing this because i wanted to show my progress with my tank and i would be open to any suggestions you have!
Like what else could i do to my tank?
Any other tankmates that my fig8's wouldnt mind living with? etc

Regards
Luke

Well 6 F8s in a 42 gal tank is too much of a squeeze really. In that size tank you could really only fit 3, maybe 4. To keep 6 you would need a 65 gal unfortunately.

thanks for the reply.
i've read and been told by lots of people the same thing.
i've actually only got 5 fig 8 puffers because i sadly lost one, and its a 35 gallon tank but im looking to buy a sump to go under my tank to increase the amount of water.
they all seem to be happy at the minute but i know that there only babies and will need more space as they grow, so this is why i am going to get a large sump.
the pictures didnt come up in the topic for some reason but if you would like to look at the pics i've put them into the gallary of the forum.
regards
luke

Yeah sorry I was talking about 42 US gals not UK gals. Even though i'm from the UK, everything on the web is in US gals so I have gotten used to that .

The problem is not so much the amount of water in the entire system, it's the fact that the actual tank is too small and it could cause aggression because they are crammed in to a space that's too small. The rule is 15 US gals for one and then 10 more gals for every extra. But I would just get another tank set up so that you can move them over. If they are still very small then there is no huge rush (still get one as soon as you can though), but watch out for any signs of aggression.

Sorry to hear that you lost one.

I know, i've realized that to. lol
Oh right, i didnt know that, i always thought it was the water quantity.
thanks for that.
i think i will get another tank then instead of a sump. either that or just go full out and get a big tank! lol
they dont seem to be too aggressive yet but im sure they will as time goes on. Puffer Nature!
i've read that puffers prefer longer tanks to taller tank so that they can swim! is this true or is it just some crap on the internet?
regards
luke

The bigger the footprint the better. The more room they have to swim the better. The only thing I would do different is add more plants to break up their line of sight. This will cut down on aggression later.

Yeh, thats what i read.
Thanks.
i was thinking of getting more plants but im not sure what plants can put up with the brackish waters!
Do you have any suggestions?
Regards
luke

Big, leafy silk plants work really well as well. If you don't mind fake plants.

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/fish/deco ... ants/14750

java fern, java moss, some types of valesnerias and some cryptocornes will do fine in brackish. I think elodea works to.

Please read the forum rules & make those pics smaller.

cheers for the replys!
sorry Pufferpunk, i'm new to the forum and i dont know how to make the pics smaller!
sorry
regards
luke

Real plants have been a pain for me in my 20g FW tank. They are pretty but a royal pain if you are new to them. Nice tank and fish! You have some good shots in your album. Sorry you lost one of your figure 8's .

I use image shack to share pics. They have a tool to resize.