Figure Eight Puffers. Anyone own them?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I

IWork@Costco

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 10, 2008
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USA - CA
Just picked up two for my 29 gallon. I have read a HORRENDOUS amount of mixed information regarding whether or not they are brackish or fresh. Two very reputable sites that I have trusted for awhile say they do better in pure fresh.

Was wondering if anyone owned any here and had personal experience with them. What types of food did you use? Im going to start out with ghost shrimp and ram snails.

Also, is to the max I can have in a 29? They are only 2.99 at the LFS so if I could get more I would love to. They freakin rock.

*ya sorry....they aren't monsters. But they act like they are!*
 
Ive owned them in a fresh 55g
I never had to add any salt
and they ate my hikari pellets
They lived for 2 years before I sold them

But make sure they have hiding places
Some are pretty skiddish
 
http://www.**************.com/forum/ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Biocellatus/

This is a great source for everything puffers.

These puffers can live in fresh water and are noramlly sold that way.

However they are a low end brackish fish.

I have kept them both in fresh and brackish and they seemed to do well in both, however I would recomend placing them in brackish if you can.

Even if you decide not to go the brackish route it may not be a bad idea to have some salt and add a little bit for the fish.

You may be able to do three in that size tank, but nothing else.

The food you have is great.

I feed my puffers gut loaded ghosts, krill, snails, worms, and brine shrimp.

Since the brine shrimp is frozen and it comes in bulk thats what they normally eat, along with snails that I have in a seperate tank growing for all of my puffers.

I dont know how big the crab is, but once the puffers get bigger they may try to eat him if he is in there with them.

I know all of my puffers love to snack on them.

Water quality is probably the most important thing. If thats great then you can probably go either way.
 
I've been using the same Figure-8 puffer (Eightball) for snail disposal for over two years. If anyone has a pond snail infestation in their planted tank, it's a great excuse for setting up a 10g fig8 tank.
 
Awesome thanks for the info guys. Well I will be getting rid of my pleco soon so I may try and go brackish. Will that hurt the red claw crab? Also, he is about 2 inches big and has stood up to and lived through A jack dempsey, blood parrot and fire mouth. So I think he may be alright since he is bigger than the puffers. Lets hope.
 
oh also, IF the third one I added was a green spotted puffer (i know they get six inches) do you think they would be alright for awhile?
 
GSPs are alot more aggressive than the figure eights. Mixing the two is generally a bad idea, unless the fish are similarly sized. The GSP will definitely pick at the crab, and eventually, the figure eights will eat his legs, one by one.
 
srikamaraja;2530969; said:
GSPs are alot more aggressive than the figure eights. Mixing the two is generally a bad idea, unless the fish are similarly sized. The GSP will definitely pick at the crab, and eventually, the figure eights will eat his legs, one by one.
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ya they are the same size. I decided to pick up one GSP and he actually has WAAAY more personality and eats more than the others. He actually may be a little smaller but pretty much the same. ya the crab will be getting out of there soon. Its my wives so I cant just get rid of it even though I would like to :(. I need to find a 5 gallon or something!

Well hopefully this works out. I read a few things that said people have put them together and they were compatible, I guess it just depends on each individual fish.

thanks for the info!
 
I hope you plan on upgrading. Please read that F8 article & the one on GSPs at that site.
 
Pufferpunk;2531364; said:
I hope you plan on upgrading. Please read that F8 article & the one on GSPs at that site.
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I did. And some other ones I read said that them living together has been successfully done. What would be your concern? the figure 8's rarely get over 3 inches and it takes years for the GSP to reach its max size of 6 inches which is an awfully slow process.

Also, I am going to be going brackish
 
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