The Puffer Forum

Hey all. I have been looking at puffers a long time so when I was in petco last weekend and saw f8's for $2.99 each I had to have some. Luckily I had a 10g tank up and cycled. I bought 5 f8's and added 1 TB of aquarium salt to the tank.

I have been talking to people and reading the articles here and decided to do a light brackish tank. I put 1/4 cup of sea salt (instant ocean) in a gallon of treated water and will slowly add it for a week after small water changes. I need to get a meter so thought this would be the best way to slowly get started. What do you all think?

The puffers are all around 1" now. I would like to have them in a species tank but what size? I was thinking of a 33L? Is that too small? I am aiming at breeding them, well at least set up the tank so that if I am lucky they will breed!

I have very soft water, Ph 6.0. There is a handful of crushed coral in the tank and the salt also adds hardness so I was thinking that would be good. I have common and ramhorn snails but did killed a whole bunch the morning before I bought the puffers. (isn't that always the case) I bought ghost shrimp and did add some today while the rest are in a guppy tank. I will keep them a week from now on before feeding. Puffers are my first fish that eats feeders. I also got some frozen krill and live black worms so am set while the snails replenish.

I am not new to fish. I have 21 tanks up with a bunch empty while I clean out part of our basement for a fish room. I breed bn's, hrp, apistos and guppies. I have angels, corys, rummy noses, different plecos, cardinals, tetras and fancy goldfish. Most are my tanks are planted tanks. As you can see I am new to brackish tanks and have no salt water.

Any ideas on how to keep the puffers happy I would appreciate.

For five F8s, I believe you are going to need an absolute minimum of 55 gallons. I believe the recommended minimum is 15 gallons for the first and 10 for each one after that, but I'd suggest a minimum of 75 gallons for that many. They are tiny now but won't stay so tiny after awhile, and they are territorial and aggressive so they each need plenty of room.

There are care sheets and loads of information in the library. I highly recommend reading them as soon as possible.

And welcome!

First off, 5 figure 8's in a 10 gallon tank is way too many. They generally require around 10-15 gallons each, so you'd probably be looking at something around a 55 gallon tank or so if you keep all of them.

While they are small now, puffers grow very fast, are messy eaters which really pollutes the water and they are very sensitive fish when it comes to polluted water. It doesn't take much to make them sick or stunt their growth, which will give them problems all their lives.

So your best bet right now is to do water changes several times a week until you can get a larger tank, or return all but one of them.

As far as the salt goes, the way you are doing it sounds good, but remember to go very slow so you don't kill the bacteria that is trying to grow. Did you do anything to cycle the tank (use media or decor from your other tanks, etc)? If not, I would reccommend doing that ASAP. If you have any spare live plants, I would move them over if you haven't already. Not much will do "good" in brackish water, but there are a few that will do fine at the low levels figure 8 puffers need. Check out the sticky in the brackish section about them.

Not many people here suggest feeding feeders. For one, they are not a puffer's natural diet, snails and other crustacians are. Second, they are too fatty and not a healthy died. Third, feeders, unless you've bred them yourself, dewormed and quarentined them, are generally full of diseases and parasites, which you certianly don't want to give to your puffers. The ocassional guppy fry is fine as a treat, but not as a main diet.

Good luck with the little guys, a nice big tank with 5 Figure 8 puffers would be stunning.

Hehe, Boxermom and I were typing at the same time.

The 10g is just a q-tank. It was already cycled. I never put fish in a uncycled tank. I know I need a bigger tank, that is why I was asking about sizes. I am doing wc's everyday to everyother day. I have growout tanks right by the q tank so it is no problem. I thought shrimp was their natural diet, that is why I got the ghost shrimp. I will be keeping them in a different tank for over a week before I feed read most of the articles but I find that talking to people who have them a good way for ideas that aren't in the articles. I have a 75 empty, it is waiting for the fish room. Would I be able to put other fish in with them do they need all the whole 75g themselves?
Sorry for all the questions.

With the 75, you'd have enough room for some more fish, but the question is, would the puffers let them live (they can get really agressive as they age)? Depending on decor, you could probably add some brackish gobies, but keep in mind they are territorial so they need lots of rockwork and areas to call their own.