The Puffer Forum

Hello everyone, and thanks for all the great info I've read already.

I've always kept FW tanks, and I want to start a BW tank for either F8 or GSP's.

I was wondering, since puffers are sort of sensitive, what fish should I use for the initial cycling process? Mollies, maybe? I don't know if they would work. What have you guys /gals been successful with when starting a BW tank from scratch?

Again, thanks for all the terrific info you've all posted. This is a great place to learn.

-Mike

We do not approve of, and discourage the practice of, using fish to cycle a tank as it is inhumane and needlessly puts the fishes' health and/or lives at risk. If you are in the United States, you can get BioSpira to "instant" cycle the tank within days. If not, then we recommend fishless cycling using ammonia, flake food, store bought shrimp, etc. There are articles in our library regarding fishless cycling.

I will go ahead and locate and read those articles. I never knew the instant cycle stuff was any good. Just never really trusted it for some reason, but then again, have never had to try it. I cycled one tank in my life, years ago, and used gravel or filters to instantly cycle all my other tanks. I know that trick is not going to work going from FW to BW.

Thanks.

BioSpira is the only instant cycle product that works. Don't buy any of the stuff in bottles on shelves like Cycle, Stress Zyme, etc. Those are useless. Its BioSpira or nothing.

Cool... good article on fishless cycling by Rocker. Informative and interesting. It answered my one major concern about how to keep the tank ready for a time before adding fish.

Very good.

Thanks for the reference.

I think I will use the ammonia method, as "Cycle" seems to be the only thing I have seen around here. I'm thankful that you differentiated between BioSpira and the others, because I might have gone out and bought the other stuff, with disappointing results.

You might have to ask the clerks for BioSpira, as it can't sit on the shelves and must be kept refrigerated so the live bacteria won't die. All the other products have dead and useless bacteria.

I've had good results with Stress Zyme. I would never use it as an instant cycle, but when problems have arisen I've used it in conjunction with water changes. I also use it while I'm I cycle my tanks. The last two tanks I've cycled (fishless) were a 30 gallon and a 46 gallon and each of them took less than two weeks.

I was a total beginner and found the process of fishless cycling with ammonia and shrimp in a bag really straight forward!

I think it was also alot quicker than using fish (around 2 weeks for me but I've heard of it cycling a tank as early as 10 days).

Good luck!

Oh, you might want to check with your lfs if their F8's or GSPs come already in brackish. When I bought my F8's they were in fresh.

I cycled the tank as fresh water then raised the salinity for them slowly with weekly water changes.

I was a total beginner and found the process of fishless cycling with ammonia and shrimp in a bag really straight forward!

That's such a good idea putting the shrimp in a bag we just tossed in a few cubes of marine mix our new tank and there is stuff everywhere [/code]

Oh, you might want to check with your lfs if their F8's or GSPs come already in brackish. When I bought my F8's they were in fresh.

When I asked the manager at the LFS about the specifics of their BW tanks, for the purpose of matching, the guy said to me, "Just keep dumping salt in until the PH gets above 8." He said that they didn't use a hydrometer, or anything.

Now, I'll admit, I'm a TOTAL rookie to the brackish water thing, but this sounds totally reckless to me. This can't possibly be a reliable way to do things, is it?

I'm figuring I'll set my tank up to the parameters mentioned here, then, when I bring the fish home, I'll test the bag water properly, and adjust my tank to match the conditions of the bag water. If it's way off the recommended readings, over the course of the following days, I'll slowly make adjustments to get it back to the recommended parameters.

Does this sound viable, or am I asking for trouble?

Also, in case I decide to avoid my LFS altogether (which I would like to), has anyone had experience having puffers shipped through the mail, like from Aquabid, or anything? The shipping option is very appealing because it opens up the varieties of fish you have access to, BUT it seems very dangerous to the fish. I've never had a living animal shipped to me before.

Any feedback?

Also, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with me, Spoot, Ting, Sstimac, and Boxermom!

It's appreciated!

Redgoalie wrote:
When I asked the manager at the LFS about the specifics of their BW tanks, for the purpose of matching, the guy said to me, "Just keep dumping salt in until the PH gets above 8." He said that they didn't use a hydrometer, or anything.

Now, I'll admit, I'm a TOTAL rookie to the brackish water thing, but this sounds totally reckless to me. This can't possibly be a reliable way to do things, is it?

This is typical of too many LFS. The basis is understandable - minimum effort and cost expenditure for the shop. But the attitude is depressing. If all of our fish cost what SW fish do, we could expect and demand a bit better handling (although too many of the SW critters are not handled much better).

Redgoalie wrote:
I'm figuring I'll set my tank up to the parameters mentioned here, then, when I bring the fish home, I'll test the bag water properly, and adjust my tank to match the conditions of the bag water. If it's way off the recommended readings, over the course of the following days, I'll slowly make adjustments to get it back to the recommended parameters.

Does this sound viable, or am I asking for trouble?

To me it is aboout the best you can do.

I've ordered many fish online all with good results.

With puffers, I prefer to see the actual fish in person, since they are wild caught (usually) and tend to have internal parasites, I like to see their condition. Also to verifiy the species.