The Puffer Forum

Just curious if anyone has ever tried keeping figure 8s with Florida flag fish? I thought they might do a little clean up on messy bits of what the puffer was eating, and also might munch on some algae.

Eric

I wouldn't house an F8 with any other fish appart from another F8 providing you have a large enough tank.

Flagfish are actually FW I would not look on trying to convert them. Best bet to eat algea is a magnet scraper and an algae pad...

Are florida flagfish really FW? I've seen everything from soft water to hard water to brackish (Fishbase lists FW and BW, but I do realize the limitations of Fishbase).

I'm an algae magnet wizard...but when soaking and scrubbing silk plants the other day it struck me that flag fish might like this algae.

Eric

Nope, they are true FW. Best thing to find for algae control would be gobies. Some will rasp on the longer algaes.

I'll probaly just stick with the algae magnet...my LFS had flagfish and I'm too lazy to actually have to hunt down any tankmates for my Figure 8.

Thanks for letting my know they're true FW.

Eric

NP. I was debating picking some of them up today but... I had to resist. Got tons of plants instead.

Try mollies... they are not bad at cleanup and handle brackish very well. I've got a pair of black mollies in with my F8 and BB gobies... they get along great.

Plus your puff gets home grown food (molly fry.)

I'd stay away from sailfins though--bullied my F8s.

I actually felt bad for the molly fry and so I just have a pair of females in with my F8. I enjoyed breeding mollies... these two females were raised from fry. When "Momma Molly" finally died, I gave away all but these two.

So maybe I will try a few mollies (not sailfins - but either black or one of the non-sailfinned ones that seem to come in a myriad of colors).

Would either 2 females or 2 males be OK? Or would 2 males fight? I've not kept any live bearers other than endlers and variatus platys (several years ago), so I have no idea about molly personality.

I'm thinking of putting in 2 mollies along with Hoover (my figure in my 20 long. If my 30 long I'm leak testing makes it a week, I may move the three fish into the bigger tank (unless they seem to be doing fine in the 20 long). Hoover once had a knight goby as a tankmate and never was aggressive with him (in fact, the knight left be cause he was a right little bugger).

Thanks for the advice,

Eric

I think two males without females would be fine or you could go with a couple of girls. IME, mollies can be rambunctious and spirited, but are not usually agressive in a bad way... I let several generations live in the same tank and besides some of the tiny fry disappearing from time to time, they all got on well together. Males only got pushy when trying to breed.

However, they will try to eat anything they can get in their mouths

Most stuff I've read on mollies does recommend at least a 30 gallon for small groups... they do grow up into good sized fish. My pair are doing great with my F8 and a few BB gobies in a 29.

I also had a knight that started to pick on my F8... the ferret lives with my big ceylon puffer now. Since the ceylon is a good 5 inches, the knight keeps to himself and hides in a cave most of the time.

I think I'll try a couple of males (since I know they're smaller). So far, the 30 gallon is on day 3 with no leaks...but I'm going to be a bit paranoid and keep it up for a full week before using it.

I'll try to hunt down some smaller mollies today.

Eric

There are godeide (spelling?) species that can also live brackish/marine aswell. Also a livebearer that will eat algea.