Brackish Water

T

Terrance

Registered Member
Dec 5, 2005
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Hi, I have recently started making a brackish tank for one future figure 8 puffer. its a 10gal and want an air pump for it. can anyone recommend a good pump for me? I'll consider getting live plants in 2-3 months.

cycling- how do you know when your tank is fully cycled? :confused:
 
First are you using Marine mix salt or Salt for a Freshwater Aquarium. You need somwething liek Instant Ocean (there are different brands) and you need a Hydrometer to measure Specific Gravity. But assuming you have all that on to the question of cycling.

How are you cycling right now? Are you adding a food source for bacteria to live off of? The best suggestion is a fishless cycle using pure ammonia or else some sort of rotting food source liek coctail shrimp (that is used a lot in marine tanks). You let the ammonia levels build up to 5 ppm (checked with a test kit) then eventually the ammonia eating bacteria will convert it into nitrite. As the nitrite climbs keep the ammonia levels up (though they can stay as low as 3ppm at this point). Eventually the nitrite eating bacteria will arrive and convert the nitrite into nitrate. Once the ammonia levels and nitrite levels have spiked and dropped to 0 ppm and the nitrate levels are climbing you have a cycled tank and can add fish safely.

So my big advice is to get some test kits.
 
Figure 8's will need bigger then a 10 gallon aquarium. Also, I could be wrong but it sounds like you might be new to the hobby, just a suggestion but you might want to try freshwater first. Brackish is more difficult to keep due to the added salt in the water. Water changes are harder, etc...

There are several freshwater puffers that would do great.
 
Brackish is tricky but if you are willing to learn it isn't that hard. It is more costly then freshwater at its most basic level though. (of course any fish tank could drain you of money if you let it).

But dwarf puffers are a good choice.

Since you have not started yet I would suggest you setup a separate tank to start growing snails in. Pond snails are a great choice and breed fast. You will need these as a food source for any puffer.
 
the f8s are on sale and less than 1in long so the 10gal is just a temporary tank. ill buy a 20+gal once it get close to 2in. till then i think im gonna experiment with live plants in bw :p:

i also got another 10gal with 3 dwarfs, some java moss, and a couple of java ferns. had them for almost 2 months already. its not that hard keepin them once ya get use to it. theres 2 lps in my area that needs to get rid of their snails so i can get free snails any time :dance2:

i used marine salt and got a hygrometer. still need the test kits. coctail shrimp? im not sure where to get that and the ammonia

thx for the help guys/gals :thm:
 
I have a F8 and he is quite happy in his 10 gallon tank. He is about 2 inches long. I have read many post and been told by an individual that keeps F8's that a F8 will be fine in a 10 gallon tank by itself. In all honesty the only time he really moves around the tank is when he sees me and wants me to feed him. Otherwise he is sitting under his rock or under the heater.
They can be a bit of a pain to maintain since he eats anything that goes in the tank with him which removes the chances of any kind of algae eating tankmate. I have not heard of a brackish algae eating fish which leaves snails which are eaten the minute they touch the tank. Because of this, my tank gets algae groing pretty quickly and the only critter that can clean the tank is me.
I have a Penguin Mini and a heater on my tank. I do not know why you would need a pump.
You can get ammonia at ACE Hardware stores.
 
If you want information on brackish plants, WWM (Wet Web Media) has a good article on them here.

F8s can do ok in 10gal tanks but idealy you want 15-20 gals for one.

There are a few brackish snails that are available, the gulf snail or something like it which grows native in Florida.

If you want a good source for all things puffer go to The Puffer Forum.
 
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