I got a call today about picking up some Figure 8 Puffers tank and all.

Kid who has them had them in a semi-aggressive tropical tank and they were aparently fine till they hit two inches. He then went and got another 20 and set them up alone in the 20. His mom doesn't want the two tanks so he asked me to take tank and all.

My only concern is the last time I had puffers here they did poorly. I didn't kill them but I had a hard time getting them to eat. I followed along what is normally quoted for their care and I still had a rough time with them. The first time I had them they were the green puffers though not the Figure 8.

I talked with the kid about what he was doing, and hopefully it will be cool, but if anyone has any tips or more extensive info it would be appreciated.

Nice pick up.
Figure 8 puffers are brackish water fish not freshwater they will also need a slightly larger tank.

Try to feed bloodworms.

They eat live and frozen foods. Start a colony of ramshorn snails if you don't already have one. They love snails.

dirtydawg10 wrote:

They eat live and frozen foods. Start a colony of ramshorn snails if you don't already have one. They love snails.

They need to eat them to keep there teath from growing to long.

He said he was feeding them thawed small shrimp shells and all to keep the teeth down. He didn't have a regular supply of wee snails, and neither do I anymore.

I get the snails in the summer in the outside plant tubs, but I've never had good luck getting them to keep over the winter inside. I guess I'll have to look into what I need to do to get a batch, and to keep 'em alive in a tank.

I knew about the brackish water part, but from what I was reading it says they max out at 3 inches. It had sounded to me like a 20 would be more than enough for the two of them for the long run. Do they get larger than that, or is it an aggression thing?

So far good advice, especially about the snails. Never have had a puffer that passed on snails.

According to Dr. Walter J. Rainboth, in Fishes of the Cambodian Mekong, Tetraodon biocellatus is a freshwater species, not brackish. Considering his experience with southeast Asian fisheries, I'd be hard-pressed to argue the point. First found this out before I bought the ones I had and Baensch said it was a FW species contrary to most other information. Everything that I've read says they do well in brackish, but it's not the necessity it is with some other puffer species. I've kept the species once, for about 3 years until I got tired of it, then gave him away. Kept him in freshwater in a 15 gallon tank by himself. Originally had two, but the one killed the other in a coupla weeks. He then proceeded to terrorize any tankmates I kept him with in a 29 (I decided some giant danios I kept around for dithers would be too fast and would be alright as tankmates), so decided to give him the 15 to himself. The 20 may be alright if ya have a back-up plan in case aggression flares up, but don't count on it. I have seen them kept in pairs or trios, though seriously I wouldn't advise it.

Ya complain about cichlids being evil, Rick...IMO there's nothin' worse than a puffer.

WYite

Oh. Yay. Or something. I wonder why it is most cichlid care sheets at some point basically say OMG EVIL! While everything I've been reading about these puffers so far are "la la la, may like to nip fins"

The two have been good so far, according to the kid who had them they've been fine like that for the last 3 months but I'll definitely be keepin' an eye on them. I'll have to move some stuff around to free up a tank. Right now, there's stuff I don't want to be eaten, and stuff that will eat it.

So is this a thing that can be mitigated some with some more hiding places or dithers I don't care at all about in the tank or is it just a matter of time before one starts beating on the other?

Heavily planted tank will help and lots of hiding spots.

Maybe some PVC as well. Hiding places with an escape route. Break up the view in the tank as much as possible.

WYite

Good thing I ordered some extra plants.

I think I have a few empty clay flower pots around too that I can drill out the backs on, most of the pvc I have sitting around is gigantic 4" and 6" diameter stuff.

I did a lot of research on theses fish for when we got ours, i found that although they can be happily kept in freshwater they will thrive in brackish water. The recommended tank size to keep a pair was 30g because of their aggression.
We keep ours in a 35g tank and although tank mates aren't recommended i have had great success with keeping knight gobys with them.

Interestingly enough, I was reading an article on them last night, (I'll have to find the link or post it later since I'm on my lappy right now) that they will reach their full growing potential in salt water. It was saying they'll actually get closer to 6 inches.

Sounds like some shuffling may soon be in order. For the time being I can trade tanks with the tiny clown loaches I suppose.

Side note: If a puffer is eaten by a larger fish that fish will die in about 30 min. Puffers excreat poison as a defense mechanism and is extreamly toxic. Someone on MFK thought that feeding his oscar a fugure 8 would be a cool idea but little did he know he would end up with 2 dead fish.

Sheesh. Anyone who's seen the Simpsons should know that.

"Poison, poison, poison.. Tasty fish!"

They will be living alone. If the algae gets out of hand, I may put in a snack size pleco to deal with it, but other than that they will be alone.

Am not having any luck on hunting down small snails either. I wonder if ghost shrimp would be crunchy enough.

krytan wrote:

I did a lot of research on theses fish for when we got ours, i found that although they can be happily kept in freshwater they will thrive in brackish water.

I did a lot of research as well, and was pointing out that they are naturally a fresh water species, a fact either you were unaware of or chose to omit in your first post. I didn't dispute that they may be kept successfully in brackish water, however I do know from experience myself they will live perfectly healthy and normal lives in fresh water as well.

saint_felony wrote:

Interestingly enough, I was reading an article on them last night, (I'll have to find the link or post it later since I'm on my lappy right now) that they will reach their full growing potential in salt water. It was saying they'll actually get closer to 6 inches.

I've read that as well, though I can't comment on the veracity of the statement. I've never seen a photo of a six or seven-incher as documentation. It'll be interesting to see if yours grow larger than the norm, saint.

WYite

My pond snails are trying to make a comeback. when I have some to spare I can send ya some.

That's saying I want to keep them in salt water. At 2 inches they may kill each other in the tank they're in now, I don't want to have to tie up two 30s (at least) for them if they get 6+

Right now they're in brackish water since that's what the kid had 'em in.
As far as the freshwater/brackish thing goes, after reading more into what you posted, Wyite I'm thinking I'm going to slowly work them into freshwater. It seems that they can be fine in either, but at very least for the ease of if (or when) I ever have to move them since it's the only real brackish tank I have going right now.

Also, I can't find anything either outside of that one article claiming they get to 6". Maybe the guy who wrote it mixed up the Figure 8s with Mbu?

Everything I've seen points to the fig 8 as maxing out at around 3".

I have also seen them referred to as FW and brackish. I suspect they live at river mouths and travel back and forth from FW to brackish quite often.

saint_felony wrote:

...Also, I can't find anything either outside of that one article claiming they get to 6". Maybe the guy who wrote it mixed up the Figure 8s with Mbu?

Or another species.

WYite

Or that..

I wasn't looking too much into the other types of puffers, just happened to be some mention to the Mbu (which get bigger) on one of the Figure 8 pages I was reading.