The Puffer Forum

Hi all

I live in Durban, South Africa, so I'm literally on the beach. I was wondering if it would be safe to use actual sea water and make a mix of the correct salinity from this instead of buying marine mix. My brother in law has marine tanks and he says he uses the sea water from a deserted beach where the water is cleaner than where people swim/fish. I know that f8's are a little more sensitive to water conditions than some other marine fish and I wanted to find out from you guys first before I made a huge mistake and kill these little guys I have.

Thanks in advance

I sit on the fence on this one.

If I were keeping local biotops than certainly yes. If they were VERY far removed than also yes.

Since F8's are very low brackish, it would only take a little sea water mixed with a lot of fresh to make the tank acceptable.

If unwanted bacteria and the parasites can handle the change... and we all know how much harder it is to kill unwanted bacteria vs. beneficial bacteria.

Maybe filtered via a good UV light first?

Back in the dark ages, collected sea water was generally stored in glass carboys in the dark for six weeks or more prior to use. If sub-micron filtered (modern technology) it could be used immediately, but the equipment and handling costs would be close to the cost of marine mix. Such water is best collected either very deep if near-shore, or at least 5 miles out.

For light BW fish such as F-8s, marine mix is cheaper and far safer.

ok, thanks a bunch. I guess my brother in law's fish are a little more tolerant.

They are more at risk from both pollution and disease introduction. Puffers tend to be long lived fish when well tended, and as they are scaleles are rater sensituve to water issues. Imagine how you would feel if you introduced problems to a tank with a 10-15 year old fish and killed it?

I have shown that F-8s can average ~15 years in captivity when well tended. and that was some time back. I am confident that than average figure could be closer to 20 these days from minor improvements in the standard care used.