The Puffer Forum

Hi all!

As title states I'm new and an accidental owner of a Figure 8.

This is a long post so my apologies in advance.

I have a 2" Figure 8 housed in a 20 gallon dechlorinated freshwater tank with 5 cardinal tetras and a lone survivor feeder ghost shrimp that has survived two tank changes somehow. Its become a" pet" now.

Questions and concerns I have.

My Figure 8 always placed the right side of my tank up and down. Been doing so about a week now. I'm not certain if its because my right side faces a tv console that has mirrors or otherwise. Or if it's because of a waterfall sprout that gently expels water from a hanging filter. Anyway I've noticed that he also bumps himself there and this morning saw a wound of some kind on his" nose". Any opinion or advice?

Feeding. He doesn't seem interested in snails. I have got 6 different snails in the tank. All really small. He just ignores them all the time. I tried frozen ghost shrimp as well but he just takes a nibble and moves off. What he does take and sruff himself with is frozen bloodworms. He goes mental when I drop them in. I'm concerned as I know his teeth need to be worn down but if he doesn't take the snails or shrimp am pretty sure dentistry is on the way at some point. How do I train him to take the snails or the ghost shrimp?

Tank. I'll try to post a picture after resizing. Would like any advice anyone can give on set up. Its simple with some rocks, an old lobster cave and one large and one small driftwood. No plants and would love to get some but not sure if I should get live or fake ones. Have sandy substrate at the bottom.

Water. Eventually I have to convert the tank to brackish and would like to know the safest method of doing so without harming the tank occupants.

Thanks all and sorry of the post was too long!

Hello Vickyboi,
Your current water chemistry may not be compatible with your Figure 8 and the pacing could mean that he/she is trying to escape. If your Tetras are thriving then your puffer will be struggling because Tetras require soft acidic water and your puffer requires hard alkaline water.

What is your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, temperature measurements?

Turning your tank brackish is easy to do but it will be to the detriment of your Tetras. You just add marine salt to your dechlorinated water when you carry out a water change and change the salinity in the tank by no more than SG0.002 each time. You need to make a decision on whether you want to keep the puffer or the tetras in the tank though because they require completely different water parameters.

Iliveinazoo wrote: ↑Tue Feb 07, 2017 10:21 am Hello Vickyboi,
Your current water chemistry may not be compatible with your Figure 8 and the pacing could mean that he/she is trying to escape. If your Tetras are thriving then your puffer will be struggling because Tetras require soft acidic water and your puffer requires hard alkaline water.

What is your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, temperature measurements?

Turning your tank brackish is easy to do but it will be to the detriment of your Tetras. You just add marine salt to your dechlorinated water when you carry out a water change and change the salinity in the tank by no more than SG0.002 each time. You need to make a decision on whether you want to keep the puffer or the tetras in the tank though because they require completely different water parameters.

Hey. Thanks for the advice. I'm actually transitioning to a brackish tank soon. This weekend starts tthe process.

I read somewhere that cardinals tetras can survive in brackish water unless I'm wrong.

I realised why my figure 8 paces so much. Its waiting to be fed. But only bloodworms. That's where I'm having problems. I want him to eat the frozen ghost shrimps but he doesnt. Are there ways to train him?

There are suggestions that hunger forces the issue. Should I really attempt it. Seems cruel.

I'm pretty sure that Cardinals require more acidic conditions so pH 6-7 rather than what your puffer will want - more pH 7-8.

Your puffer will be fine for a few days without food, if I'm going away for 4-5 days then I'll just feed well on the day that I leave and he won't be fed again until I get back so you could try the starving method. Also if you try feeding a mixture of things then he will probably be more likely to try new things. I alternate between frozen foods: bloodworms, Mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, krill and cockle. In the summer months I will throw in the odd snail from my shallow pond (glorified drinking hole for my Tortoises).

I found when I fed larger frozen shrimps that I had to cut them up into more manageable chunks so that he didn't just peck at the whole shrimp and swim off.

Maybe try defrosting a small piece of shrimp with the bloodworms? The puff might go for it and realize he likes it

From Singapore as well! got 2 dwarfs in a regular dispenser jar now with a few prawns and an air stone, a plant and a barrel deco piece from Daiso. Not really the best, but it's what I can provide at the moment.
They've been with me for almost a week now! One's Sinky and one's Foody. Foody is smaller in size (I guess, younger?) and loves to follow Sinky around. Not as adventurous as Sinky, as I realised that Foody only go munch on food that's in Sinky's mouth haha.

Will definitely be moving them into a bigger tank, hopefully soon~