Figure 8 puffer questions

[TheHighestCrew]

Haha oh man... I have been doing a lot of reading on puffers lately and decided I must have one. Currently I have a 40b natural planted tank, it is not heavily stocked. I have a couple of other tanks on stand by if things get out of hand. I was at Extreme fish and pets and found some figure 8 puffers I really like. So I pulled the trigger on 2 very healthy looking figure 8 puffers. I know they are listed as brackish fish on the lower SG end. I have however read reports of them being kept safely in freshwater. I decided to go the freshwater route. If it becomes an issue I have another tank that can be dedicated to them if need be.

1. Those of you keeping figure 8 puffers on the forum, what do you keep them in? FW or brackish? If so what SG do you maintain?

2. Have you housed them with other fish? If so what were the results? Did they kill all the other fish?

So far they are one of the most interesting fish I have ever owned. They have very interesting behavior. I have been feeding them freeze dried blood worms. I was giving them half a cube in the morning and other half later in the day. They seem to be very happy. I had an infestation of baby pond snails and they went to town on them!

Any other tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[mnemenoi]

Figure 8's are a great choice and I applaud you on choosing a reasonably sized and managable puffer! That being said your tank is certainly good sized for them and they should get along well. They do prefer a lower end brackish system as they grow. One aspect many do not realize is that with our extremely hard water here in Houston, many 'difficult' hard water fishes love it. I would probably warm to the idea of eventually shifting and adding marine salt to raise the SG to 1.003-1.004. Many plants can take that slight a shift if done over the span of a few months. There are a few that might not do well, but it is actually not very saline at that point. I'd imagine most would accomadate that range. If you could list what you have in the tank I can try and spot any 'problem' plants that may need to be considered. Are you using CO2 in the tank? I assume not, as it will acidify and lower the Ph which the puffers will certainly not enjoy.

Tankmates are always hit and miss with puffers. They each have their own personality and each fiah can be an angel or devil. Figure 8's are an easy going species so you should have a wider range of choices. Rainbowfish, Halfbeaks, Monos, and larger gobies (knight gobies), Flounders, Chromides, most Livebearers could all work in a puffer set up like yours. Most would do well in lower end brackish and should be able to hold their own against any unwanted attention from their fellow tankmates. I'd avoid the tankbuster Scats and Shark catfish usually seen in many pet stores. Many normal fish can also tolerate some lower end brackish conditions, such as banjo catfish, some plecos, many Central American fish, and even natives.

Meaty foods with a shell are preferred when feeding them. Shrimp, Clams, Crawfish, Crab that you buy in the grocery store are quickly devoured. Many puffers in captivity are not given a 'balanced' diet so the addition of soaking their food while it is thawing in garlic and Vita-Chem is an easy manner to target them specifically and get them added vitamin and mineral content they need to exhibit the best color, behavior, and health.

[mnemenoi]

Somehow I overlooked a companion I think is all too often overlooked in lower end brackish set ups and that is Glassfish. They are somewhat tough to locate in their undyed forms, but even dyed specimens will lose it over time and can become a truly stunning school of uncommen and terrific looking fish. Be wary of the humphead glassfish as it is truly a freshwater species from Myanmar and should be avoided in even low end brackish systems.

[troy tucker]

We keep our Fig8 puffers in freshwater. they are a couple years old. Lemon & Lime are their names. They love live food like snails and shrimp. My wife hand feeds them frozen brine shrimp every nigh. they even let her pet them. They have had a few tank mate but for now share their 40g hex with a female blue ram and a female ABN pleco. They all get along very well. There is a post with video Lemon and Lime is the name on it.

But there is one word that fits puffers... It's Personality...

[TheHighestCrew]

Awesome thanks for the replies guys! So far so good they seem super happy and go to town on the blood worms I feed them. I am going to start breeding brine shrimp for them.

[troy tucker]

You would need a brackish tank for brine shrimp and the nutietion of brine shrimp is not enough. That is a lot of work to do and still need to feed something else.
I buy frozen with Vitamines added and breed red cheery shrimp and snails for them. The shells are good for the up keep of their teeth and they love to hunt them.
Just saying

[TheHighestCrew]

Yeah but I found a pretty good tech for breeding them in plastic containers out back. Here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KeGIF7oY7E

Not gonna invest a lot of money in it or anything but I will give it a try. I also will be going the cherry shrimp and snail route. The brine shrimp are more of an experiment.

[troy tucker]

I under stand. I have home made brineshrimp hatcheries. I never grow them. I just use fresh hatched for fry.
But I am sure We would all like to see pictures of the little guys.

[TheHighestCrew]

I tried snapping a few with my phone and they are terrible. Need to bust out the camera. My driftwood just got a bloom of the white algae so it is looking pretty ugly. Puffers seem to be happy as hell. I tried holding the blood worm cube in my hand and they eat right out of it. They get vicious when they eat, surprisingly strong fish.

[mistahoo]

As an alternative to BBS, why not get the frozen ones? Frozen blood worms is also good. They're already gut loaded and way more nutritious than live BBS. You could also raise up a culture of white worms or even black worms and they'd be more nutrient packed.

[TheHighestCrew]

That is what I feed Hikari frozen blood worms. They go to town on them. I posted my tank in another thread with some photos http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforum...144#post667144. The puffers are harder to photograph than I imagined. Most of them came out blurry.

[troy tucker]

They are. We always take picture at feeding time but sometimes video comes out better...

[TheHighestCrew]

Yeah I need to take a short video of them for youtube. Man they are cool. I want to do a Fahaka in his own tank eventually. I also would love to do a dwarf puffer tank or maybe incorporate them into a natural planted tank as the main inhabitants.

[TheHighestCrew]

I finally picked a name for my two figure 8 puffers...

The big one is Majin Buu
The smaller one is Kirby

I feel these are good names for the little fatties

[TheHighestCrew]

I have not updated this in a while but I wanted to say that unfortunately one of my puffers died when I moved. Majin Buu my big boy died. I dunno what exactly happened because it did not cause any other fish in the tank to die or get ill. He stopped eating and I knew it was gonna be bleak. He was a voracious eater before he got sick. He died a day or two after he stopped eating. Kirby is still happy as ever and eating like a pig. I feed hikari blood worms, rosy reds, and pond snails. I want to get some more figure 8s to keep Kirby company. RIP Majin Buu