Figure 8 Puffers

[hopesfall]

I love these fish, and have been doing my research online to check out their requirements and temperament. Anyways, from what I have looked up so far, they can live in almost any type of water, from freshwater/almost freshwater to completely marine. Also, most sites list these puffers as the most peaceful of the puffers, much better behaved than their cousin, the green puffer. So, my questions are:
whats the best sized tank to use(would a 30-gallon do?)
can you have more than one in a tank?
what fish are absolutely compatable with the figure 8's?

thanks in advance, hopefully those of you who own figure 8's can lend me a hand?

 

[Erised]

Its a misunderstanding that they can live in all types of water. A figure eight really is classed a brackish water puffer. While young they're fine in freshwater, but once they get older they Will have to be moved to brackish water, that is if you dont wanna shorten their lifespan.

Also, the rule for puffers is, keep them in a species only tank. There are NO other fish you should keep with puffers, some people manage to pull off ottos or a bristlenose, but seeing as the figure 8 should go brackish, this is out of the question as well.

I'm not entirely certain how many figure 8s you can keep in a 30G, perhaps 3 but I wouldnt push it further than 2.

From one of my other posts:

Puffers are aggresive and terretorial, the guideline says you should keep them in a species only tank, coz chances of them killing off all your other fish are high.

Figure eights are brackish fish and for this reason should not be kept in anything smaller than a 15/20G. Keeping a brackish enviroment in smaller will be pretty much impossible. In 1 15G you can keep 1 figure eight, and nothing else. To keep 2 I'd say you need at least a 30G seeing as in brackish water you wont be able to make hiding places as easily as in freshwater tanks seeing as most plants die because of the salt in the water.

For feeding requirements, well, pretty much anything thats alive or frozen and has enough nutricion in it. Live/frozen bloodworms being the main diet, with treats like mysis, brine shrimp, live river shrimp etc. It will be very important to supply snails and other animals that can be eaten and have a hard shall/protection to keep their teeth down. While feeding this you're gonna have to be careful, because if the shell is too hard (like malaysian trumpet snails for example) it will break their teeth, which will be bad for the puffers health.

By reading this informantion, please do not think you know enough and run off to buy some, but do as much research as you can! Keeping puffers can be tricky, very tricky. They require pretty much perfect water to survive, so make sure you'll be able to give them all needed to keep them alive and healthy.

 

[keane]

Sorry to jump on this post... )

only 2 puffers in a 30 gallon tank?

how big do they grow to?

I appreciate they are species only and was hoping to get some form of puffer myself in the future when i get more tanks but didn't realise they grew so big you could only get 2.

Or am i being really daft and is it down to territories??

thanks

tbr

 

[keane]

fair enough......not my post so didn't really deserve a response.

apologies.

will post a new thread when get chance later

tbr

 

[Erised]

Sorry! The no responds is not because of it being asked in this thread, but simply because I wasnt paying attention

The only 2 puffers in a 30G is because of their aggression towards eachother and territories. If the tank is very well planted, and has loads of hiding spaces in it, then you might be able to up it to 3 in 1 tank.

If you're new to puffers , I think you're probably best off getting a smaller tank (Lets say a 15G or 20G) and get some dwarf puffers. They're a Lot smaller but very cute and full or personality. You do however have the aggression in them as well, so I'd advice to not keep more than 3 or 4 in a 20G, small as they are they're very capable of killing eachother And other fish around.

 

[ingo_1978]

Bumble bee gobies are fine to have with f8s as they are mainly bottom dwelling fish and both share the similar sg ranges, just make sure they have lots of small hiding places just in case .

 

[keane]

thanks Erised!

tbr