The Puffer Forum

ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Biocellatus/

BW ...

There are enough people keeping F8 on here long term to trust them including a few scientists

BTW .. Welcome to the forum!!

I've read through this article several times before and it wasn't until looking for it to post here now did I realize who the author was.

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles ... e84.html#3

And don't forget to check the other articles at the bottom of the page.

Hey Sarah!

library/puffers-in-focus/fig8/

I think you will find there's all sorts of bad information out there, maybe given with well-meaning, but the best bet is to talk to true puffer keepers, then you will get some good information that won't steer you wrong.

I second all the above comments. F-8s will live for a time, perhaps extended time for some hobbyists who think that a fish that lives 2-3 years in captivity is fine (There are lots of those in the hobby, but I am not one of them). But if you want F-8s to average 15 years in captivity, you should keep them in at least 1.003 specific gravity water using marine mix to increase the specific gravity, keep the tank and water clean, and feed them high-crunch foods. Low specific gravity is enough for them if you keep the KH high.

HTH

PS: A personal note: Please do not use colored typefaces, especially red. It makes it almost impossible for some of to read such, and requires the time-consuming effort of exporting the page into special programs to modify the typeface to black for reading. I usually do not bother.

How high KH are we talking? Mine is at 5 with a PH of 8.0 and SG of 1.005. Should I increase the SG a little to make up for a lower KH? Or would I be better off doing something to increase the KH? I'm currently using pool filter sand but I could switch that out on down the road as the fish will inherit a larger tank in a few months.

IMHO, changing the specific gravity to modify the KH is all wrong. Fix the problem, not the symptom. Change the substrate to aragonite, or load a dedicated filter with aragonite in a mesh bag. Pre-filter that unit if possible to reduce mulm build up, or rinse it weekly. With a pre-filter which you can rinse weekly, you likely will not need to open and rinse more than monthly.

I suspect that F-8s need the KH more than the rest of the mineral content, but cannot show it definitively. If I lived in the SW, I would play with it more, but I hate making up water from scratch.

HTH

^
Thank!

Looks like another great use for the ever versatile AQ filter.