The Puffer Forum

Hi guys! If you guys recognize me, my DPS are still alive, plump, and doing well (my female likes head scratches???)

A few months ago, I went to my LFS, and saw these super plump, super awesome figure eight puffers. Each one was about an inch and a half, with bright markings. I was screaming inside, telling myself to get one before they sold out. HOWEVER. I didn't get one, due to the fact that i knew nothing about them, and didn't have my tank ready. Now, i'm waiting for them to restock on these awesome puffers, and preparing for them!

SO, i'd love it if you guys could rate me on my "readiness" for my figure eight puffer. Ive been preparing for one for about three months now, along with a cycled tank, and snails! :* I really appreciate the help/crits!

My tank size is a nice 20gal
As of right now, my tank salinity is 1.008, with marine salt.

Ive researched quite a bit, and found that a lot of plants "die off" in brackish water? However, I have quite a few plants in my aquarium that are still doing okay (knock on wood @_@), and so, lots of hiding spots. Will my plants die off eventually? Or did i just do a good job of acclimating them? haha

I am using carib-sea eco complete as my substrate, as well as a fine white sand for the "hiding spot" I created for the puffer. I plan to put a few more rocks near the opening of the hiding cave, to close it up a bit and provide some privacy, but I've yet to find a nice rock again (I'm picky about rocks? 8|)

I have my freezer stocked with some shrimp, mysis shrimp, hikari jumbo bloodworms, hikari regular bloodworms, and brine shrimp. As for live foods, i have about two dozen feeder shrimps, and a heck ton of snails breeding in a large white bucket with a sponge filter and air pump….and some java moss.

What else…I do have some Opae Ula shrimps in the main tank, as they're a brackish water shrimp…However, would it be okay for my figure eight to consume them? They're a bit small, so they probably wouldn't be more than a bite for the puffer…?

Ammonia is 0. GH is a bit high? at 120-180 (I'm using API 5 in 1 test strips here) PH is 6.5, and Nitrite is 0.5? or 0 (its hard to tell the difference) and Nitrate is 0-20 (again, hard to tell the difference @_@

I had three guppies in here for a while, to help cycle the tank. They did well for a week, then i removed them and moved them back to their original home, where they are still alive.
I also put in half of a catappa leaf in there, as all my fish seem to do really well with those leaves. O-o

If I'm missing anything, please let me know. I am just planning to get one puffer, nothing else. ^^ Im hoping that they'll be in this week, but i don't want to get my hopes up due to the fact that i AM in hawaii, and its very rare to get these fish in. >.>

Thanks for any advice/help guys!! Puff on!


The tank

That's great you're moving up to BW! Get yourself a liquid test kit. Strips are garbage. pH of 6.5 is much too low for BW SG of 1.008. something's very wrong there.

You really only need SG of 1.003-5. No need to waste $alt. What are you using to test SG? Has it been calibrated? The fact that your FW plants are doing so well in such high SG, makes me suspicious that your testing is incorrect.

If you've removed the guppies, then there's nothing to keep this tank cycled. Add them back in or add ammonia to the tank, following the Fishless Cycling article in our Library.

Dang okay, i'll get a liquid kit as soon as i get my next paycheck; those things are expensive haha @_@
What should my PH be?

Im using a Instant Ocean Hydrometer to test out the salinity; again, i'd buy a refractometer, but they're pricy!

I used Tetra Safe Start before i added the guppies in; Do i need to add more since i took them out?


Thanks a lot puffer punk! :*

Do you think i should be purchasing a freshwater liquid test kit? Or a saltwater? @_@

I'm in Hawaii too! Where did you see F8 puffers? I've seen GSP a few times when doing an around island fish hunt in all the lps and lfs.

AsterTea wrote:I'm in Hawaii too! Where did you see F8 puffers? I've seen GSP a few times when doing an around island fish hunt in all the lps and lfs.

I saw two once at Aquascapes! They have awesome fish there, if you haven't gone, you definitely should go. :*
Otherwise, pet land and petco have some, though they always go out fast and are slow to return..@_@
however, i don't like going to pet land cause their service is terrible and their fish…don't seem to have the greatest personalities if you know what i mean.
I only go to pet land for plants, which are okay there. 8|

You should aim for a high pH anywhere between 7.6-8.2. Anything in that range that remains stable would be fine. I think you will likely get a higher reading when you try a liquid test kit, those strips are cheap and nasty. If you still get a quite low pH it would be a good idea to switch out your substrate to either coral sand or pure aragonite substrate. This should help raise your pH and keep it stable. Other than that, your setup seems good. Also, I agree with PP, with how you don't need a salinity over 1.005 sg. It is just a huge waste of salt ($) over time.

Good on you for researching and taking your time to do it right. That will be a great spacious home for a F8!

Can't wait for you to update w/ pics when you can bring ur little dude home. They are suuuuch cute little fish!

Blinkey wrote:You should aim for a high pH anywhere between 7.6-8.2. Anything in that range that remains stable would be fine. I think you will likely get a higher reading when you try a liquid test kit, those strips are cheap and nasty. If you still get a quite low pH it would be a good idea to switch out your substrate to either coral sand or pure aragonite substrate. This should help raise your pH and keep it stable. Other than that, your setup seems good. Also, I agree with PP, with how you don't need a salinity over 1.005 sg. It is just a huge waste of salt ($) over time.

Hmm, okay, thats good to know that i can use coral sand, thank you!! I know where i can actually get that here haha.
I actually ordered a refractometer through amazon, so i'll be able to really check my salinity…I heard that the hydrometers aren't very reliable, so perhaps it isn't that high. @_@ hopefully anyway.
I'll also be buying the liquid kits as soon as i can, i only bought the strips cause they were cheap and I'm broke haha. @_@ But thank you for the advice!! ^^

TheStig wrote:Good on you for researching and taking your time to do it right. That will be a great spacious home for a F8!

Can't wait for you to update w/ pics when you can bring ur little dude home. They are suuuuch cute little fish!

Thats great to know!! I even have another small cave on the way (to put on top of that flat rock maybe…?) so they can hide in
I'll definitely update asap, I'm so excited!! Unfortunately, they didn't have any last week wednesday so heres hoping they'll have some this week. *crosses fingers* Cant wait to see their fat little faces again!! ;D

Thanks for the kind words as well :* I really appreciate it!

Hopefully you get him/her soon... I had to wait 6 months till my store finally re-stocked on them. I am from NZ and we have very little variety and infrequent supply. Fig8s are considered pretty rare to come across over here. Funnily enough, GSPs are highly common.
* Also you cannot make requests, it is all based on a nation-wide list of 'potential' incoming stock.

Blinkey wrote:Hopefully you get him/her soon... I had to wait 6 months till my store finally re-stocked on them. I am from NZ and we have very little variety and infrequent supply. Fig8s are considered pretty rare to come across over here. Funnily enough, GSPs are highly common.
* Also you cannot make requests, it is all based on a nation-wide list of 'potential' incoming stock.

oh my god, 6 months? Id cry. I kinda am crying already its taking so long haha
I feel you, hawaii gets really infrequent supplies too. We get the leftovers from the mainland. 8|

Dang….@_@ Its okay, we can't order fish online, we have to get a license for one fish. 8| We can't really request either. UGH haha

I actually ordered a refractometer through amazon

Did it come with calibration solution?

….oooh. Um
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZ1 ... ge_o01_s00
Its this one here, and it said i could calibrate with distilled water? @_@

I guess distilled water is good enough for BW. I wouldn't trust it to marine though: http://blog.captive-aquatics.com/captiv ... -rodi.html

Pufferpunk wrote:I guess distilled water is good enough for BW. I wouldn't trust it to marine though: http://blog.captive-aquatics.com/captiv ... -rodi.html

…yikes! Well i'll see how the refractometer works with distilled, i can always compare it with my LFS's one i suppose…
I'll get the solution as soon as i get my paycheck haha. D8 Thanks again for the awesome advice Pufferpunk!