My neighbor made me take his pufferfish from him today. He said he was going to kill it if I didn't take it so I had no choice. I tried taking it to the LFS but they would not take it! Petsmart and petco won't take it either so I put it in my 5 gallon betta tank and put my betta in my 10 gallon for now. I have no idea how to take care of a pufferfish can somebody please help me? The puffer is a figure 8 puffer by the way.
New here, please help!!!
- Thread starter I found Nemo
- Start date
He needs to be aclimated to brackish water specificly for figure 8's 1.008 is good. You should raise the level of salt by .002 a week so that the nitrifying bacteria can convert. You will also need a tank of 15 gallons or more idealy.
^^^ Yep I agree. 5 gallons is too small. You could probably get away with 10 gallons. But you would have to overfilter it and perform extra maintenance, so a 15 would be easier.
I don't know if you already know this, but to make brackish water you will need marine salt (not aquarium salt) and a hygrometer to measur salinity.
I don't know if you already know this, but to make brackish water you will need marine salt (not aquarium salt) and a hygrometer to measur salinity.
I think you could keep it in a 10G fine as long as he's the only fish, but a 20G is the best setup and gives your room for other small BW fish.
what are you going to do with him while you get him a new tank?
what are you going to do with him while you get him a new tank?
Thanks for the help. All my 10 gallon tank has in it is 2 african dwarf frogs, so if I put them in the 5 gallon with my betta is that OK? Then the puffer will have the 10 gallon all alone.
So when I change to brackinsh how do I do that?
So when I change to brackinsh how do I do that?
that willl be fine. make sure your betta doesn't outcompete them for food.I found Nemo said:
move him to the new tank, and then buy a hydrometer and some marine aquarium salt and slowy increase the salinity over a period of 2 -3 days (not sure on that, thought. might be shorter or longer) until the specific gravity of the tank is 1.008-1.010.
2 or 3 days is probably good. If you have any doubts it won't hurt to take longer. Just don't change over too quick. I changed mine over in about 2 weeks.
Increase the saltinity over 4-5 weeks by .002 a week and when you add the salt make sure it is marine salt and that it is fully disolved in water first then add it slowly over a couple hours so you dont shock the fish. The nitrifying bacteria in freshwater are diffrent then salt water and will die off as you increase the salt but the salt water bacteria will start to clonize so if you do it slowly then you will have no ammonia nitrite issues.
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