Figure 8 Puffers

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JardiniBoy

JardiniBoy

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Oct 29, 2005
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I recently got two of these cute little guys, one 4cm for my 55G planted and one 2cm for my 12G planted. They're doing great so far and all the little "bad" snails in my tanks have disappeared ;) Also, they haven't been bothering any of my fish at all.

The guy at the LFS said that they were freshwater and grew up to about 5-6cm. He also said that they would eat my cleaner shrimps before they started nipping on my fish.

I have been doing some research online and there is a lot of conflicting information. Some people say that they're completely freshwater, but can tolerate salt or brackish. Some say they should only be in marine or brackish setups. The maximum size is listed from 5cm to 20cm! The maximum life span is listed from 4 to 15 years. Some people say they're peaceful community fish and others that they're nippy and should be kept alone :confused:

Does anyone have any experience with them ... diet? ... max size/age? ... tankmates? setup?

Thanks :thumbsup:

JB
 
most experts believe (as do I though I am far from an expert) that figure 8's will be much healthier and live longer if kept in mildly brackish (SG of ~1.008 to 1.010). when kept in slight brackish they've been known to live up to 18 years whereas the longest I've heard of one living in freshwater is around 3 to 4 years.

they are not nearly as aggressive as some other puffers like GSP's but they can be nippy. I've heard the rule of thumb is that you can keep one per 10 gallons, so if you have a 20 gallon tank you could probably keep 2 and if you had a 30 gallon you could keep 3 together etc. if you keep them well fed they shouldn't bother other fish too much, but if there are any type of shrimp in the tank they will most likely make a quick meal of them. :)

oh and most of the research I've done on them indicates they'll grow up to 3-4" max. other information claiming they grow larger may be about another species that looks similar to the fig 8 which is the ceylon puffer (Tetraodon fluviatilis) which does grow larger (~7" or so) but looks rather similar. so whatever source said they grow larger may have gotten the species mixed up. :)
 
Jason_S said,".... if you keep them well fed they shouldn't bother other fish too much...."

If you want some advice, buy a auto feeder. You would be surprised at what they will try to bit if you forget to feed them. Mine killed my crab :cry: (I forgot to feed him for 2 days. 2 days man 2 F ing days :swear: )
 
mini crabs, fiddler crabs, ghost shrimp, small crayfish (more suitable for adult fig 8's), frozen and/or freeze dried krill, live fish (make sure there are no diseases), brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, live bloodworms or blackworms. :thumbsup:
 
yeah feed them snails and shellfish as much as possible to wear down their teeth. you can keep them in freshwater but i would recomend the brackish enviornment. i have three in a 55gal. planted tank. you just have to acclimated your plants to brackish water. easy.
 
nick h said:
you just have to acclimated your plants to brackish water. easy.
Click to expand...

How would I go about doing this? For tankmates I have cardinals, cory cats, platies and SAEs..

Thanks! :thumbsup:

JB
 
chomp chomp chomp
 
oriolesdt09 said:
those guys will be gone in no time
Click to expand...

I've read that might happen ... but I'm not so sure cos at the moment they're all much faster than the figure 8. They also out-compete him for food (except for the cleaner shrimp which he eats all by himself).

None of the fish are really small (all above 2cm) so I think it will be okay..

nick h ... still waiting for your ideas on converting my planted setup to brackish and thoughts on how they would affect the tankmates (cories?). I haven't done it yet as I thought salt would kill my plants.

Thanks!

JB
 
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