Questions!

[PufferLover1]

Hello! So my last thread I had was bout the f8 puffer. But this is what happened:
-I went to my LFS.
-I realized they had f8s AND dwarf puffers!
-The people there seemed to think that brackish was hard and should not be attempted for beginners, even if we knew people who could help,
-I got instant fear of brackish...
-My parents offered to buy me a 30Gallon tank!
So long story short, I am getting a 30-gallon tank but have decided that Brackish is not for me (yet) because I have school and many other requirements I have to meet. I obviously understand that any fish tank is going to be work but I don't think it's best for me to be getting a puffer that will require salt. (I can still change the tank as much as needed).
But that leaves me with a 30gallon tank and nothing but ideas.
So, my questions!
How many dwarf puffers in a 30-gallon tank???
Any other fish recommendations??
Thanks in advance,

 

[Colin_T]

Why is brackish meant to be hard?
All you do is add some salt to a freshwater tank.

 

[PufferLover1]

The way they made it sound was that they needed to have the water checked like every other day to keep it at good salinity otherwise the puffer would be upset... I don't know it just sounds like something that is going to go wrong and I could only be able to check it every week. (I could do feedings and water changing but I couldn't be checking salinity every five seconds.)

 

[Colin_T]

When water evaporates out of a tank, it leaves the salt behind. All you need to do is use a felt pen (permanent marker) to put a line on the tank where the water level is, then top up the tank with freshwater to that line. If you have coverglass on the tank, you probably won't even lose water to evaporation.

Then once a week, you do a water change using brackish water you make up the day before.

You can buy hydrometers to measure the salinity (salt level) yourself. They are pretty cheap.

If you live near a clean beach, you can use sea water and mix it 50/50 with freshwater and use that.

 

[PufferLover1]

Ok! Thanks! Not 100% sure whether I wanna do brackish or fresh but thank you!!!
Do you think F8s or GSPs are better??
Thanks!

 

[Colin_T]

no idea, never kept either and I don't like puffers

 

[PufferLover1]

I don't like puffers

Oh my god...! How could you not love the cute little faces of puffers

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Ok! Thanks! Not 100% sure whether I wanna do brackish or fresh but thank you!!!
Do you think F8s or GSPs are better??
Thanks!

Assuming F8 means figure eight, I personally prefer figure 8s. Used to work in a fish shop where we had some, and they were lovely. Very interactive fish and quite curious. They're fatties though, and love eating. Frozen food is a must, and live food is good too, but I assume you knew that already. Got no experience with GSPs unfortunately, so I can only speak for figure eights.

As for dwarf puffers, from what I've read in passing a group of around 5 would be good in a 30g tank. They're quite territorial and aggressive - as are F8s too - and shouldn't be kept with fish similar to them in size. Be wary of keeping shrimp with them too, as they are known to attack or eat them. Someone online claims to have had success with keeping them with ghost shrimp, but found that the puffers ate their amano shrimp in the past. All I can say for this is to be aware of the risks if you wanted to keep them with different species.

If anyone else has advice or input please add on. Hope this helps.

 

[FriendlyGeek]

I have kept a GSP in the past, they are great little puffers with bags of personality!

Be aware though that they don't stay in brackish water forever, that's only when they are juvenile and will need to be in full salt (marine) when they are matured.

You probably already know this if you love puffers but they must be fed foods that have shells to keep their teeth down - snails or clams in the shell are ideal, we used to feed ours live shrimp too sometimes and she loved them but we couldn't always get hold of them at our LFS so they were more of a treat.

 

[PufferLover1]

Assuming F8 means figure eight, I personally prefer figure 8s. Used to work in a fish shop where we had some, and they were lovely. Very interactive fish and quite curious. They're fatties though, and love eating. Frozen food is a must, and live food is good too, but I assume you knew that already. Got no experience with GSPs unfortunately, so I can only speak for figure eights.

As for dwarf puffers, from what I've read in passing a group of around 5 would be good in a 30g tank. They're quite territorial and aggressive - as are F8s too - and shouldn't be kept with fish similar to them in size. Be wary of keeping shrimp with them too, as they are known to attack or eat them. Someone online claims to have had success with keeping them with ghost shrimp, but found that the puffers ate their amano shrimp in the past. All I can say for this is to be aware of the risks if you wanted to keep them with different species.

If anyone else has advice or input please add on. Hope this helps.

Ok, Thank you! I do know live/frozen food is a must! If I got a Figure 8, It would just be him in a 30G.
Thanks!

I have kept a GSP in the past, they are great little puffers with bags of personality!

Be aware though that they don't stay in brackish water forever, that's only when they are juvenile and will need to be in full salt (marine) when they are matured.

You probably already know this if you love puffers but they must be fed foods that have shells to keep their teeth down - snails or clams in the shell are ideal, we used to feed ours live shrimp too sometimes and she loved them but we couldn't always get hold of them at our LFS so they were more of a treat.

Thank You for the information!! I do know they require live-shelled food. I did not know that GSPs would eventually need full marine water. I think I will do F8s just so I can leave it at brackish. Thanks!!!


Hi, so this may sound weird but had anyone ever put "toys" in their puffers tank? I just read an article about glass surfacing and would hate to have a bored puffer. I looked it up and some people use hamster tunnels. Is this real/ would the puffer like it? My LFS uses clear glass/ plastic tubes I think.

Thanks in advance for answers!

 

[FriendlyGeek]

Ok, Thank you! I do know live/frozen food is a must! If I got a Figure 8, It would just be him in a 30G.
Thanks!

Thank You for the information!! I do know they require live-shelled food. I did not know that GSPs would eventually need full marine water. I think I will do F8s just so I can leave it at brackish. Thanks!!!


Hi, so this may sound weird but had anyone ever put "toys" in their puffers tank? I just read an article about glass surfacing and would hate to have a bored puffer. I looked it up and some people use hamster tunnels. Is this real/ would the puffer like it? My LFS uses clear glass/ plastic tubes I think.

Thanks in advance for answers!

We used something similar to this

and the GSP loved it - she would hide in amongst the "branches" and act like she was playing hide and seek - sort of peeking out, spotting you there and then going back in again, it was really fun to watch We also added some off cuts of plastic piping from DIY jobs, just sanded the edges smooth and half buried them in the sand substrate. I would say be careful with things like plastic plants because puffers can bite through them pretty easily and I'm not sure if this could cause injury if swallowed?

We also used to be able to hand feed ours, but watch your fingers, they have a very strong bite LOL

 

[PufferLover1]

We used something similar to thisView attachment 150140and the GSP loved it - she would hide in amongst the "branches" and act like she was playing hide and seek - sort of peeking out, spotting you there and then going back in again, it was really fun to watch We also added some off cuts of plastic piping from DIY jobs, just sanded the edges smooth and half buried them in the sand substrate. I would say be careful with things like plastic plants because puffers can bite through them pretty easily and I'm not sure if this could cause injury if swallowed?

We also used to be able to hand feed ours, but watch your fingers, they have a very strong bite LOL

Thank You so much!! This helps a lot!! I think they have something similar at my LFS Out of curiosity though, would a GSP be too large for a 30G??
Thanks for your responses!

 

[FriendlyGeek]

I'm no expert but I would say that 30G may be too small for a puffer because they are very erm.......rotund let's say ha!

It's not just the size of the fish that you need to think about but also space for decoartion because as you say above, they need stimulation from their environment. A couple of small decoartion items just won't be enough - they need to be able to explore. We used to move the decor around periodically to change things up a bit and she seemed to appreciate that

 

[PufferLover1]

I'm no expert but I would say that 30G may be too small for a puffer because they are very erm.......rotund let's say ha!

It's not just the size of the fish that you need to think about but also space for decoartion because as you say above, they need stimulation from their environment. A couple of small decoartion items just won't be enough - they need to be able to explore. We used to move the decor around periodically to change things up a bit and she seemed to appreciate that

Ok, thanks! I think I'm going to go F8 then!

 

[PufferLover1]

Hi! I have some plant questions for the F8 tank!
Does anyone have experience in putting mangrove plants in brackish?? Very pretty and supplies hiding spaces?
Any experience with fake bonsai base w/ java moss on it? Or another plant??
Other Brackish plants???

Thanks!!