Puffer questions

Ok I was at tankgirls house last weekend for the meeting and her figure 8 puffer just amazed me. The info I know on them is little to none except the info tankgirl shared, of course I thought of more questions once we left lol. So snail feeding is a must since they have that tooth that needs to be trimmed. So what kinds of snails should be used and would be easy to breed/attain. I plan on keeping one in a 20g long and the snails in a 10 or another 20g long. So I have read a bit on the water for these guys and I have seen arguments or debates over the water. Some say brackish some say fresh, so those of you with them which do you use? If you do use brackish and thats what I will do but I will need help in that department because I know freshwater only. Ph? Aquascaping ? I filter all my tanks 10x over so unless they like slow dirty water then I'm fine there. All in all I just would like to know more on these interesting fish.

get the saddle puffer : P

I have to do a bit more research on the diffrent types.

I have been a fan of Puffers for a while. We just went to wally world and they had green spot puffers. (half the fish were dead in their tanks...) But the puffers looked cool. THeir card said they need Brackish water, but they have them in the tank with Blood Parrots.... Gotta love WalMart!

I want to get a 16 or 32g Bow Front and make it a Puffer tank. Just need a spot in the house!

I have 2 20 longs and a 28 bowfront I could use ,just don't know which puffer yet.

What has worked for me is relative hard, alkaline water (my regular tap water), with sand (harder for bits of snail and shell to fall down and be trapped out of reach) and definitely decor to create interest for the puffer. They get bored and need to explore and have tunnels and structures to poke around. There are quite a few brackish-tolerant plants but I have never had any luck with them, except for Java moss. You may have better luck.

You'll need some sort of hydrometer to measure specific gravity. Since we are talking about brackish, I find that the type that is a floating glass thermometer with a hydrometer on the top is the simplest - just leave it in the tank and monitor it. As the float rises and falls you read the marks on the side to determine salinity.

I do water changes with fresh water, and keep a 5-gal plastic water jug made up with 100% marine SW mixture. I use the little pouches of mix that is meant for exactly 5 gals of marine water, since there is no way to wrap up a container of marine salt and expect it not to be clumpy and lumpy when you open it up. I've tried vacuum sealing it and everything, and it is a pain to get to dissolve after opening.

I use a portion of that marine water added to the FW during water changes to achieve the SG I'm after - 1.08 - 1.10. That is all I do, and it is pretty simple. Don't use aquarium salt, but mix intended for SW setups.

Keep in mind that the bacterial colonies you have in your FW tanks won't survive in brackish, and you'll nee to cycle this brackish tank like it was brand new, even if you start with seed media. You can use mollies for this, since they enjoy brackish conditions too. I'd avoid cycling the tank with the puffer.

Maintain good filtration, because these are messy tanks. It is literally a bloodbath in there at every feeding, and all this stays in the water column. It is easy for the nitrates to get high, so of course regular PWCs is a must. I am using an AC70 on the 20-long.

Mine eats pretty much any kind of frozen prepared fish food, plus food-grade shrimp or clams, earthworms, live brine shrimp, and, primarily, ramshorn snails. You can easily breed ramshorns in a small aquarium, as well as the common pond snail that often comes in on aquarium plants.

Thepufferforum.com is a wonderful resource for information - there are many articles on all kinds of puffers and specifics about their care. I've known Pufferpunk for years on the forums and she is definitely an expert on puffers.

Thanks for all the great info tank girl. Looks like I am going to have to wait a bit longer. I did not know i would have to re cycle the tank.

Flippercon wrote:

.... I did not know i would have to re cycle the tank.

Well..... if you get a brackish puffer that is currently being kept by the dealer in fresh you could cycle the tank with the puffer, I'd imagine, as long as you were putting him into a cycled FW tank to begin with. Then sloooooowwwwllllly over a period of months gradually increase the salinity, and during that time you will acclimate the fish to brackish and also develop the brackish biobugs you need.

Many puffers are sold in FW because it is too much of a pain for a dealer to keep a brackish setup for a fish that can manage in FW for a while without harm.

Sounds to me like you are golden!

Is it possible to go fishless with brackish? I would imagine so, I would rather dose pure ammonia and then cycle that way. I was also curious about the figure 8 living permanently in fresh water. I have read a few articles online about this.

I have a abei puffer..

his name is matt.

he loves trout worms.. and I give him those snails that are a pain in the butt for plants... you know those small snails..

but I have clone crawfish ... that I feed him.. the shell will help with his tooth..


he does not like brackish water.. however ... I use tap water that i have sit out side for 3 days.. I add on tea spoon of aquarium salt to 20 gallons..

he loves it..


he is very happy and he greets me to say hi each time I am in the room.. he watches me every where I walk.. and he boops and splashes when i talk to him.. wise to have a cover for this boy..

no special water treatments... but he does like his water to be about 78 in temp..
and I use a marineland filter .. that has a bio wheel..

try not to clean his tank to much... he is very picky on water change.. so just do 10% at a time..


he likes sand.. not good for filter.. now I use rounded pebbles.. do not use the other stuff.. his skin is soft and tears..


I only feed him every other day... he is a piggy.. and don't turn the light on suddenly .. matt is a puffer for crist sake... it take forever for him to get his shape back after he gets scared..

but what ever you do... add lots of color to his tank.. he does not like to be bored..
he will pull up live plants.. so matt is grounded and now we have very colorful plastic stuff.. but guess what???? he love it..


next.. I will introduce you to

Sissy she is a Mbu Puffer, Giant Puffer fresh water..
she likes water that is the reverse water osmosos .. .no salt for this big girl.
she likes crawfish.. snails.. live fish ....ok.. any thing that fits in her mouth..

she loves real plants.. she lives with a eel and a huge ob peacock . sailfin placo
she is very social and does not like to be by herself in the tank.. however she does fight the ob peacock for food .. who has the biggest mouth.. lmao ..

a women of course..

any how.. she never puffed up so she does not scare easy... she does not even care if your in the room... but she does care about her tank buddies.. if you try to net her buddies she will bite the net..

she like her temp of her tank to be 75 temp.. semi hard water
and lots of air bubbles.. she loves to play in the bubbles..


as you can see.. they are like night and day...

it all depends on what kind of puffer you get..


wooooo.. why does my fingers hurt???

hugs..
Juliet

Thanks for all the info Juliet! It'd much appreciated.

and don't turn the light on suddenly .. matt is a puffer for crist sake... it take forever for him to get his shape back after he gets scared..

hahahah....yea I know I shouldn't laugh.... - JT