Puffers

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komodo182

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 5, 2009
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New Brunswick, Canada
Hello everyone,
I have a 10 gallon tank sitting around, it has been running for about a year (since I had it and it was running before then) or so and it is empty now. I was thinking about getting a small puffer for it. Probably a figure 8 since they are most common. It is cycled ( i believe since its been running for over a year and I cycled it before I set it up with a filter cartridge from another tank).

It is currently running with a stringray filter (15G ) and or course a heater,lol.

I am wondering, other than a hydrometer ( i believe that is what it is called. it measures the specific gravity of the water) is tehre anything else I need?
I do have a guppy tank that produces lots of guppies. I have lots of frozen and canned food ( shrimps and what not) as well as live crickets ( i don;t know if they would eat them or not since I can't find taht online yet).

I need to find where I can get a puffer and how much first since I am a student.
I am just planning ahead and thought I would post this on here while I check out some spots online.
I never want to be one of those people that buys a fish and knows nothing about it,lol.
Thanks to anyone who helps.
 
Also,
I heard figure eights are not brackish. Some sites say they are and some don't. So if I could have a clear answer that woudl be great too. I am hoping for not brackish hahaha. Save money on the salt and hydrometer,lol.

Thanks
 
i think you would need a bigger tank for a figure 8. i think 20g would be a better size... you could do a 10g, but you would have to watch your parameters like a hawk, as puffers are really messy fish, and as a result have massive bioloads for thier size. they are also really active fish and need loads of swimming space.

you could keep one in that tank for a while, and then upgrade to a 20-30gal. you might be able to have tankmates then.

i think regular 20% water changes every week would need to be done. and also think about breeding snails too, or finding a steady supply. you need to feed puffers hard shelled foods to wear down thier teeth. you could also try shrimp (live or dead with the shell on), or crickets. as well as other shelled foods. stay away from malaysian trumpet snails though, theyre too tough for the puffers teeth, and can break them.

figure 8 puffers arent actually brackish fish. but they do better in aquaria if they have a small amount of salt. an SG around 1.005 will be ideal.

if you definately arent going to upgrade. there are a few smaller FW puffers you could try.

i'd google... Indian Dwarf Puffers - Dwarf Puffers - Malabar Puffers
and also Red Tail Red Eye Puffers - Bournio Puffers - Red Eye Puffers

both stay small and are easy to keep.
 
http://www.**************.com/forum/ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Biocellatus/

go there. any major info you need for them is on there. they ARE brackish water fish. thrive best in a low-mid brackish. can be very aggressive sometimes not so much though depends on the individual puffer. bloodworms, mussell cubes, mysis shrimp, krill occasionally, ghost shrimp to chase around when bored/hungry between feedings. anyone/anywhere it says they are not brackish probably didnt keep theirs for years and years(up in the teens). puffer pedia tells all :) click on the freshwater puffers to check out smaller species of full freshwater you can get for a 10 gallon. plus i had mine in with my GSP at one point from full freshwater into brackish into marine where my SPG peaked at like 1.025 or 1.028 somewhere around there. the F8's stayed in fully marine conditions for 5 or 6 months until i recently gave the F8's their own setup in a tank with the SPG varying from a low-mid brackish from water change to water change to duplicate their environment switches in SPG. im sure you COULD keep it in fresh, it just wouldnt live for as long as they should in the conditions they are suppsed to put them in. there are people mistreating their GSP or F8's all the time without even knowing it. only because they dont research on the internet and then listen to the person at the LFS saying that they are fine in a small tank or that they are freshwater for the life of the fish.
 
I do work at a LFS and no pet store around here sells anything brackish. I even tell customers that mollies do better in brackish waters. I plan on having them in brackish waters. Right now, I have 16 tanks or so, so this 10G is what I have atm. I will upgrade later. Just at the moment I can't.
I will look at this website. Funny that there is no straight answer for the F8's,lol. I know when they are sold aroudn here, they are "freshwater" but I do think it should be brackish going from the opinions. I think I found where I can order from straight fro the supplier and not having to worry about a pet store putting it in freshwater.
 
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