Figure 8 Puffers

[Socrates]

I have successfully kept a flourishing community tank (15 years ago) and unsuccessfully not-so-kept a salt water tank before that.

Fast forward and I am looking itno starting the tank back up. My son is enamored with everything pufferfish, and I have tried to play them down to him, but he's persistent. I just need some info to decide if I'm better off talking him out of it or building the tank stock around some puffer or other.

I have looked around and found that *if* I do them it should probably be figure 8's, but there is a lot of conflicting info. Is all the sweet talk about these puffers getting along fine in largish community tanks just spin, or can it be done? (Lets say a tank with some neons or locahes or Gold Rams or somethings like that?)

Can fig-8's or can't they be fed dried bloodworm and how much do they eat a month?

Are fig-8's really fresh or brackish? (This is the info I found most conflicted with people in their accounts oftheir fish and tanks making pretty stern claims one way or the other.)

I don't want to get into a full-time job over a 3 or 4 inch fish. So if they can be kept on a regular feeding of dried food and trusted not to shred their tankmates, I'd consider it, but I think, based on the conflicitng info on these fish, I just need some clarification.

Thanks.

 

[diVer]

I don't keep figure 8's but I do know that they are brackish and as far as food you need to give them snails to help keep their beaks trimmed down.

 

[Pufferpack]

Hi Socrates

As I'm sure you've found already, there is a lot of conflicting info and strong opinions about puffer out there. I think one of the reasons for confusion over water conditions the Fig 8 in particular is because for years they were wild caught in the upper parts of rivers where the water is fresh, so folks determined that they were FW. It came to light later that more mature Fig 8's were being found closer to the river mouth in BW. I believe the general concensus is that although they can live in FW, they will be subject to more illness and have a shorter life span (5 or so years), while keeping them in BW they are overall healther and can live for 15 + years.

Puffers in general should be kept in a species only tank, their personalities can range from Wuss to Psycho. If you want to attempt a community tank that includes puffers your best bet would probably be South American puffers (Colomesus asellus), they are about the mellowest species of puffer for the most part and would have a chance of working in a community setting. They are a very active little puffer that don't seem to nip their tankmates like most of their cousins (the middle pic in my signature is a South American puffer).
Most puffers will not touch flake or pellet foods, preferring Live foods, but will usually accept (or be trained to accept) frozen foods. For my little guys I feed frozen bloodworms, frozen brineshrimp, frozen mysis shrimp, Live blackworms, and of course live snails. Snails and other "crunchy" shelled foods are a necessity for all puffers, as their teeth (really 4 bony plates) grow constantly throughout their lives (like beavers or other rodents) and need to be worn away (or clipped if they are too long)