The Puffer Forum

are figure 8 puffers fresh water or brackish? are they a puffer that can be a community fish and how big do they grow in a tank? thanks

Flutter wrote:ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Biocellatus/

oh
because i keep finding acticles like this
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/other ... puffer.htm
do they always like in low end brackish and wont ever need moving up to marine?

low BW never marine. Ask the writer on About.com how long his / hers have lived for...

J-P wrote:low BW never marine. Ask the writer on About.com how long his / hers have lived for...

thanks, i am going to get these instead of gsp as are smaller and wont need a full marine set up, so saves my some £££ and is easier.
how many could i have in a 150L tank?

did you read the link flutter gave you?

J-P wrote:did you read the link flutter gave you?

yes, and it says minimum 50l per fish, but i read on google 30l aquariums are good for this fish as they only grow a max of 3", so i thaught i would double check, so i shall keep 3 in my tank then, thanks

haha I just did a quick search .. everything from 15- 30gals is there.

TPF has some resident experts on the subject and through the years that is how the Puffer Pedia was built (so I am told). These ppl are some of the most trusted in their field.

Unfortunately there are lots of resources on the internet that promote individual experiences or circumstantial evidence as fact.

F8 puffers live most of their lives in low-end brackish water. Although they are sometimes found in FW in the wild I believe this is probably a breeding or feeding behavior.....not their 'ideal' environment.

Like J-P said,....the info on TPF comes from VERY experienced fish-keepers, years and years of direct experience and a community of shared knowledge. I would trust the info here before any other source.

HTH
Blaine

Better link: library/puffers-in-focus/fig8/

daffydase wrote: i am going to get these instead of gsp as are smaller and wont need a full marine set up, so saves my some £££ and is easier.
how many could i have in a 150L tank?

daffydase I thought your 150L was already set up marine with your blue spotted puffer? You do know that tanks have to be cycled before adding any fish?

The information here on F-8 puffers is pragmatic. I really do not care what water they inhabit in the wild or in what water they are caught, or how many months an F-8 can survive in a mixed-fish tank of FW. What I do care about is how I can I maximize the lifespan and health of F-8 puffers in my tanks.

The answer to that is that in light BW (1.003 - 1.005 specific gravity) the f-8s will average 15 years or more in my care in captivity. In higher BW that figure drops back to ~10 years. In FW it drops back ever more unless extreme water modifications are done [increasing the KH (carbonate-bicarbonate hardness) of the water significantly and maintaining soluble carbonate/bicarbonate materials in high flow situations to constant-flow situations].

Coupled with that is a good tank upkeep habit and proper feeding. The diet I use is 90-95% home-raised FW common pond and/or ramshorn snails, with treats of other live or frozen/thawed/rinsed foods making up the balance. Upkeep should keep the nitrates best below 10 ppm, but okay up to 20 ppm if the tap water has measurable nitrate levels.

Quite frankly I am unaware of anyone else in the hobby that can show any better results with these fish. If you know someone who can, please invite them here and we can discuss their techniques.

HTH

daffydase wrote:

Flutter wrote:ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Biocellatus/

oh
because i keep finding acticles like this
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/other ... puffer.htm
do they always like in low end brackish and wont ever need moving up to marine?

Lifespan 5 years!!!!!!!!
daffydase, you really don't need to keep looking for more info other than what you find on this forum. We can all keep looking until we find something that we like the sound of, or that suits our requirements, but ultimately, its the fish that pays the price for bad advice. (Ooo, that rhymes!)

bigfatfish wrote:ou really don't need to keep looking for more info other than what you find on this forum. We can all keep looking until we find something that we like the sound of, or that suits our requirements, but ultimately, its the fish that pays the price for bad advice.

+1!

The web can be a wonderful resource. but there is more poor to bad information out there than there is good. Th trick is to know the difference.

On puffers in captivity, the info here cannot be beaten.

Always remember that captivity is not the same as the wild. We can learn a lot about fish-keeping by studying the wild, but in the end there will always be massive differences between captivity and the wild. Only trial and error will teach us what is valuable and valid in captivity versus what is actively harmful.

We have learned a lot in the last two generations about puffers in captivity, including the ability to breed several of them. Unfortunately, F-8s are not among the fish which can yet be captive bred. But we now do enough to keep them alive and healthy in tanks well into their teens. The next generation should learn how to manage breeding a lot more species in captivity.