The Puffer Forum

Hi everyone..

Some days ago I started a conversation with a man who lives in Saigon (Vietnam). He took some pictures of F8 puffers in their natural habitat. So I wrote some messages to him asking about it. So I will post what he answer about the biotope, plants, water chemistry etc. because I deleted the first messages I wrote (only saved the answers), then you’ll have the original messages.

Pierre Siquet said: So you can see about the type of environment.





We caught them just in front of my house in almost fresh water (about less than a gram of salt per liter). pH about 6.8-7, hardness must also be pretty low (KH probably under 4, not checked yet, but my guess must be reliable). Temperature from 27-30º C.

Water has medium current up to about 0.5 meters/second, visibility is extremely low in rainy season (about 3-4 cm) and still low in dry season (50cm). There is also about 2-3.5 meters tides twice a day. No plant, just mud (clay). Very flat. Only when the water is very high it reaches some aerial plants (no water plant around). Only plants in the river are Water hyacinths (99%) and Pistia (1%).

In my tank they have been eating all.... even making many holes in the plants to catch the snails.

Me: So, still talking about tetraodon biocellatus biotope, you just saw them in an almost freshwater river (or wetland?) with some nymphaeas and pistias. Didn't you notice any kind of wood or rocks underwater? Because when you set up a tank for them, you have to provide a complex environment to avoid them getting bored (when they start to pace up and down the glass)... that's why I'm asking you if you saw a complex environment where you saw them? By the way, did you find them in anywhere else?

If you were me, how would you aquascape the tank for them? What kind of rock, sand, gravel, plants, and wood would you use to decorate the tank?

While you have them in front of your house, I pay dearly for them and they only appear once in a while in the local fish stores near me. So I want to offer them the best quality of life as I can. I also love those fish!

PS: Hi Fernando,

It is deadly boring environment. I can even attach an underwater 3D picture from the sonar (ultra sound) of my boat. You see as top view.



Very flat, nearly no object. The object (coconut log on the right) seen on the picture was not there at that time. On the left, they are the trees at high tide. Unless you see the ground, it is desperately flat.

I only found 2 or 3 of them at this place, unless I never found them anywhere else. T. nigroviridis are more common closer to the sea.

For the tank, you will never want to have it looking as the nature (brown water and muddy ground), so when I moved them in my glass tank, they were in a normal wood/rock/plants environment.

Me: Thanks Pierre for that great information... so the only decoration choice we have to offer them is the regular way in aquascaping the tank: using branches, rocks and plants. Tetraodon biocellatus biotope is a big no-no, right?

PS: Well, I do not think you will be happy having mud and muddy water and nothing else in your tank (its biotope here).... so you can use a classic planted tank. They are very curious fish, so I am sure they will enjoy to swim around. They have a very interesting behavior.

Me: Now I'm writting to ask you if I can post our conversation in a forum where people discuss about puffers. I guess they will enjoy it.
This is the link of the forum:
http://www.thepufferforum.com

Pierre Siquet: Hi Fernando,

It is fine for me. You can also add the pictures.

Best

Pierre

Hey, that's neat! I seem to recall that these guys are also found in FW, but do way better in brackish - I guess they just like aquarium life better, huh?

Very interesting, thanks for posting that! Poor puffers--bored to death probably, although they have a lot more hunting choices in the wild. Just remember that's one guy's experiences from 1 little piece of the large "aquarium" out there.

Thats interesting.

Even if Pierre found them in almost freshwater, he said the water had some salt (< 1 g/L). So it proves that they live in freshwater to low-end brackish water in the nature (probably more in low-end brackish water). I never disagree with Robert (a.k.a. RTR), when he says it's better to keep F8 in low-end BW in captivity.

So, when a newbie doubt about F8 living in FW or BW (as I have read in many topics), what Pierre told us is the confirmation.

Cheers.

Very interesting, but, the muddy bare biotype doesnt sound too fun to recreate, although it would be easy to aquascape.
Thanks for posting.

Interesting. That's so cool that they're right in front of his house!!

Lil' Swimz$ wrote:Interesting. That's so cool that they're right in front of his house!!

That would be nice if I had them in front of MY house too.

Ulysees wrote:Very interesting, but, the muddy bare biotype doesnt sound too fun to recreate, although it would be easy to aquascape.
Thanks for posting.

I don't think F8 would be excited in that type of aquascape, probably we'd have much more F8s pacing the glass. I'm still keeping them in a low-end brackish heavily planted tank.

Very interesting. I remember reading that in nature they are usually found in freshwater and sometimes in very low brackish, but that in the aquarium, they do best with low end brackish. I can't remember the exact reason, but I did remember that. Maybe something to do with the closed setup versus the open flow of the rivers, etc.?

One thing we need to remember is that an environment in a tank can never be like the one they have in the free. The reason: in a tank they will have limited space. That's why they will get bored in a tank if it's not set up stimulating enough. In the free they may have less things and plants to explore, but they do have an awful lot more space to move around in, and that will be more stimulating on its own.

That's why I will not set up a biotope tank for them.

I'm also pretty sure that in the wild, Fig8s come across much less glass to pace against.

Talking about pacing... I remember some time ago I had to keep them in a big bucket (smaller than their tank - 53G), and they didn't pace the bucket's wall. I'm concluding a DIY background trying to cover the sides and back of the tank. Hope they stop to pace up and down the glass.

bazil323 wrote:Very interesting. I remember reading that in nature they are usually found in freshwater and sometimes in very low brackish, but that in the aquarium, they do best with low end brackish. I can't remember the exact reason, but I did remember that. Maybe something to do with the closed setup versus the open flow of the rivers, etc.?

Marine salt reduces the toxicity of nitrate, so that's my guess on why they do better in a low brackish setup.

I would love to get the real water hardness data.

Mollies are another fish that is often found in freshwater to low brackish in the wild, yet generally does better in low to mid brackish in captivity. My theory is that it isn't that "Marine salt reduces the toxicity of nitrate", but that "marine salt adds needed minerals to the water". Florida water is likely to have high carbonate hardness, since Florida bedrock is mostly limestone. The Chicago area is on top of a lot of limestone, and our water is definitely very hard. I had mollies do just fine without any salt in their heavily planted tank -- despite warnings that they absolutely needed some salt. I suspect the high hardness levels of my source water contributed to their health.