The Puffer Forum

i have a f8 puffer living in a freshwater tank at the moment. I havent had him long, hes only about an inch and a half long.
He was living in freshwater where i got him.

Im planning on setting up a brackish tank for him, so this will be a totally seperate tank from the freshwater one.
Whats the best way to go about this and changing him over

You shoudl be aiming for around 1.005 sg. The best way to measure this is with a hydrometer/refractometer. You should raise no more than 0.002 per week in order not to kill the bacteria. Remember to use marine salt, not aquarium salt.

Probably the best way for you is to set your new tank up as freshwater, cycle it and put the F8 in. Then begin to raise the SG each week when you do a water change. Pre-mixing the water with marine salt prior to the water change will ensure its fuly dissolved. Repeat this for a few weeks, raising the SG a bit more each time until you reach 1.005 and job done.

would i be able to use 50% of the water from my cycled freshwater tank to set up the new tank. will this help cycle the tank.

No, water does not carry the bacteria you need for an established tank. The bacteria live on surfaces. Read the article on Fishless Cycling in our Library.

Why are you starting a new tank for the puffer? Are you upgrading to a larger size?

hi there,
im starting a new tank because he is currently living in a freshwater community tank. As far as i know he should be living in a brackish tank. is this right?

Yep he will do better in brackish than in freshwater. There is an article on the library on how to do a fishless cycle.

However if you dont feel confident about doing a fishless cycle, another option would be to leave the F8 where he is for now and add the new tank filter to your current community tank, run it on that for a few weeks to let a good bacteria colony build up and then shift newly seeded filter and puffer over at the same time.

What filter do you currently have on your community tank and what size tank are you thinking of setting up for your F8?

the commmunity tank is a jewel rio 125. I am thinking of moving him to a 70 litre jewel aquarium. I like the idea of running a filter in the tank for a few weeks, thats a good idea. how would the filter attach, i think the one that came with the 125 aquarium is already attached. would this be the case with the one i get with the new tank. or do u mean buy a seperate filter, and just move the sponges over to the new tank after a few weeks. that makes more sense i guess.

70 litres is 15 gallons which is about right for 1 F8. If you got an internal filter like a Fluval2 or 3 plus and shoved that in your established community tank for a few weeks to seed and then moved it over with when you shifted the puffer that should do the trick. You could run it along with the Juwel internal filter as overfiltration is always a good thing when it comes to puffers. For their size they produce a lot of waste.

how many could live in 30 gallons?

2 would go in a 30g

2 *might* go in a 30 gal - depending on aggression, which could even change with time. The F8 I chose was very dominant in his fish store tank and I chose to keep him alone in a 30 long. He might be fine with a tankmate, but I choose not to risk it.

I'll make this comment: I've never lost any filtration capacity at all going from SG 1.000 to 1.005. Above 1.005 is when the filter bacteria begin to die/change into marine bacteria. Until that point, all you have to do is not put them into shock.

I'd suggest making 20% water changes once a week, adding SG 1.005 water each time. Over time, that'll raise the salinity nicely without stressing the bacteria in the least (not in my experience anyway). Certainly, do a nitrite test a day or two after the water change just to check, and obviously if there are problems don't raise the salinity for a week or two extra until things have settled down.

Cheers,

Neale