The Puffer Forum

Hi guys.. Well, I recently lost my very young pair of jack dempseys (no idea what happened, they were doing fine for months then stopped eating, then died within a few days of each other! no amm, no nitrite, low nitrates, pH stable...), so I now have a big, empty, 75 gallon tank. Its going to need a complete disinfecting, etc before I do anything with it, but I'm sure you can imagine the thoughts running through my head right now at the prospect of stocking it.

Now, if I do a little creative rearranging of my plecos, I could make this a brackish F8 tank. I was thinking 5 F8's, running two Filstar XP3 filters both aimed down the length of the tank (one set up halfway) for some pretty decent current, tons of driftwood and some live plants *if* I can convince them to live, if not, plastics/silk. I already have the driftwood and appropriate plants, and would set the tank up, let everything get settled, then start raising the salinity and keep an eye on the plants to see how they do before adding the puffs... My lighting is limited to 2.2 wpg, but I think that's pretty sufficient for Onion Plant, java fern, etc, I have these same plants going at 1 wpg in my goldfish tank at the moment.

Any comments or suggestions? Anyone tried keeping 5 F8's together before, and what were their results? I know driftwood isn't recommened due to softening water, but this stuff is pretty well leeched out and my water (well water) is around 8.2 pH and pretty dang high GH and KH, though i don't remember off the top of my head the exact readings. I'd probably still add some argonite sand for buffering, just in case... With the amount of driftwood I have on hand, and some added plants, this would be a very visually complex tank.

Otherwise, I'll end up putting my larger rainbowfish in it I suppose...

I have 4 F-8's in a 40 gallon at the moment...I know...but it just sorta happened.

They range in size from about 3" to perhaps 1", and get along for the most part - some roughhousing at meal times, but other than that, no major issues.

I think in a 75 you could do it with no problems at all. I would try and get them all at the same time and about the same size to minimize any bullying.

I have tried driftwood in BW and just found that it made my water a murky brown colour. This was old, previously used driftwood - not anything new - so I just took it out and haven't tried to rinse it or anything, as I'm assuming it was well used before I got it.

I don't use driftwood in my BW tanks now. But perhaps others have had better experiences with it.

I agree w/crazyfor puffs on the driftwood. I don't use the real stuff in BW anymore. It looks great, but it rots much faster in BW and the higher the salinity the faster it goes. Even at F-8 levels, I consider it an upkeep/pollution problem. The artificial stuff is $$, but safer. For me, the same for the plants.

I would love to have the 75 set with F-8s - they are still my favorite puffer.

Thanks guys. I didn't realize the driftwood would rot as well as leech.

Well, maybe I'll just stick with putting my rainbows in the tank then and keeping it freshwater. I'd be worried about keeping sight lines complex without the driftwood, and I'm not a huge fan of rock formations.

Try a school of dwarfs or SAPs. Theres no issues with driftwood or plants there.

I already have dwarfs and an SAP.. If I get more puffs its gonna be either a Fahaka or Figure 8's.

What makes me a bit upset.. if I had gone with my original plan and got the dempseys a 110 instead of the 75, I could go with a Fahaka right now. But with remodeling this house, we just didn't have time to build a stand and the 75 was a good deal with the stand and everything... Oh well...

why not try selling the 75 and using some of those funds for a 125 for a Fahaka? They're awesome, I love mine.

what are saps?

Good call LL thats pure genious!

But if you still wanted figure 8's I'd look into ordering some mangrove.

SAPs= South American Puffers.

AKA a sometimes pain in the posterior if you get the uber active ones (though its hard not to since thats a high characteristic of these fellas)

why would an active one be a pain?

SAP's are very active and when they get board of their enviroment they do the ever popular glass pacing, which can be un-healthy when they make their muzzle sore form the constant pacing. I had 2 tanks setup to hop them around when they got board and after I hopped them I would change the setup completly. Thats the only thing I didn't like. Also beak trimming isn't that fun, these guys need it pretty often compared to other puffs (this still includes when your feeding them shelled foods)

Oh I see. I've never had SAP's...just wondering. About teeth trimming, I cringe at the thought of doing that to my 13" Fahaka...*shutter*..hopefully I'll never have to!

haha no doubt P_A!...actually, I just bought a diamond wheel for cutting marble for mine, guess I could use that!