The Puffer Forum

I currently have a juvenile f8 in a brackish 20 gallon tank. Its just him and he seems to be doing well. I also have an empty 40 gallon tank just waiting to be filled. I was thinking that a larger brackish tank would be great (give him a little extra room to roam) but am unclear if this would actually work. Since the tank would be in my living room I'd like it to have more than 1 puffer. Any thoughts on possible tankmate configurations (I.e monos, gobies, mudskippers: brackish paludarium?)? Has anyone kept f8s with tankmates over the long term? The plan would be to set the tank up add the non puffers then add the f8 a little later.

Thanks,
Chris

Bumblebee gobies are the only long term safe ish tankmate that I have heard of

You could use the 40 gallon for your F8 and then set up your 20 for some dwarf puffers if you have the room for two tanks.

How about 3 F8s?

3 F8s? I didn't even think of that as an option, I didn't think they would get along. But that would be a cool tank, 3 of those guys buzzing around like little blimps.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

-Chris

Where are you planning to get figure 8? I know a few good puffer spots around seattle.

Hi Terrance, I was probably going to get the F8 from the Fish Store. The one I have now came from there. If you have a couple other suggestions I'd like to know. Maybe not to buy, I don't know about anyone else but I just enjoy walking around fish/pet stores especially new ones.

Thanks,
Chris

I spend lots of time strolling round shops, looking for things that may be usefull

I love looking around fish shops, but I generally have to leave because I see them doing a horrible job taking care of their inhabitants, or I hear someone say something I really don't appreciate.

As suggested you could get a couple more figure 8's or some Bumblebee Gobies.

Mudskippers really require higher salinities and when I had to temporarily keep a mudskipper with my F8 the F8 almost beached itself every time I fed the skipper, I also wouldn't put it past the skipper to try to eat the F8 when it gets large enough.
Mono's require higher salinities to marine conditions.
A Knight Goby may be worth a shot but its Dorsal fin may prove too tempting for the puffer to resist.
A couple of Orange Chromides may do OK but if you get a pair they might bully the puffer.

You might want to try livebearers such as Mosquito fish or Platies. The tails of Guppies and Swordtails may prove too tempting.

This page is a good brackish water resource:http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/Projects ... shfaq.html

Puffer723 wrote:Hi Terrance, I was probably going to get the F8 from the Fish Store. The one I have now came from there. If you have a couple other suggestions I'd like to know. Maybe not to buy, I don't know about anyone else but I just enjoy walking around fish/pet stores especially new ones.

Thanks,
Chris

You can try Denny's Pet World in Kirkland. They offer less selection than the Fish Store. If you head down to Renton, then try Sierra fish and pets. They have one in Issaquah, but I never been there. There are many others, but they are pretty far from Redmond. The Fish Store is definitely the best though after Pet Pourri (Everett) is going out of business. There are a lot of puffer selection at Midway Tropical Fish at Des Moines, but the fishes there are usually diseased.

I live near Dennys and work even closer. I usually end up going at least once a week just to walk around. Never been to the Sierra store in Issaquah, the one in Renton is a nice store as well.

I think I'll try a 2 F8s, some BBGs and maybe a 1 or 2 chromides (if I can find them) for a little extra color. If the chromides pick on the F8s I'll just bring them back to the LFS. It'll have sand/aragonite substrate, piles of rock/slate, and anubius, java fern and java moss. I'm pretty excited about it. Once its up I'll try to post some pics.

-Chris

I love doing the circuit of the various aquarium stores in my hometown. I manage to tune out what employees are saying to customers -- it's just not worth getting into it with them. One local store surprises me with new puffers from time to time -- they had palembangs recently. Maybe someday!

Chris: 2 or 3 F8s would indeed be very happy in a 40 gallon tank. Go for it!

I thought I would share my construction of the tank. I'm using a 40 gallon acrylic tank. The substrate is going to be white sand with a rock scape made out of flagstone/slate I find at the local home improvement store and some extra rock. Along with some brackish friendly plants like java fern, java moss and anubius. Inhabitants will probably be 2 F8s, 5+ bbgs, & some chromides.

Here is the empty tank.


After buffing out all the minor scratches and haze I found these scratches/fissures in the acrylic. Does anyone know if these are a bad sign? Is it ok to fill up? When I got this tank off of craigslist I saw it full before buying it.






And my puffers current digs.



-Chris

Be careful of the white sand. People often complain about the difficulties of keeping it looking clean for spectators.