Found this on Figure Eight Puffers.......

[Mooch28]

Aggie, this is straight from the Texas A&M fish database at the Galveston Campus.

Figure-eight Puffer, Circle-eight Puffer
Tetraodon biocellus
PD: A stocky fish with a broad forehead and protruding eyes. The dorsal and anal fins are rounded and located opposite each other. The caudal fin is fan-shaped. The skin is leathery and covered with small spines. When inflated these spines stick out; rendering the fish un-swallowable. The colors vary based on the age and the habitat of the specimen. The belly is white in color or dark gray while the upperparts are light to dark gray. The upperparts are covered in various green to yellow patterns, ranging from lines to circles, dots to stripes. Each fish has its own unique pattern. The fins are gray. The iris ranges from yellow to blue in color.
SIZE: To 8" (20 cm)
HAB: In coastal fresh and brackish waters in Southeast Asia; Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, and Sumatra.
TANK: A 32" (80 cm) or 30 gallon (114 L) tank is adequate for fish up to 5" (13 cm) in length. The substrate should be fine gravel or, preferably sand. The tank should be well-planted along the sides and rear and an open swimming area should be left. The plants used must be tough to withstand this Pufferâs pugnacious behavior, and must be able to tolerate brackish water. Use rocks and wood to create refuges.
SB: Young individuals are usually peaceful. Older specimens are territorial and aggressive. All ages are aggressive towards their own species. Best kept alone, but if kept in a community tank, combine with hardy fish of similar sizes. Will attack plants and may nip fins of other fish.
SC: Tetraodon, Monodactylus, Scatophagus, Arius, Datnioides
WATER: pH 6.8-8 (7.3), 8-20 dH (10), 75-84°F (24-30°C). A 1 to 1.5% addition of salt is suggested. Add 7.5-11 TSP. of salt to every 10 gallons (10-15 g/10 L)
FOOD: Live; snails, Tubifex, crustaceans, insect larvae, earthworms; occasionally tablets
BP: 10. There are no reports of successful aquarium spawns.
REMARKS: This species has lived up to 10 years in captivity. This species can not live in pure salt water for long periods.
DC: 6. This aggressive species requires live foods, brackish water, and frequent partial water changes.

It's from another thread on a different site. It's actually information from Texas A&M fish database at the Galveston Campus. Having read this, i have decided to make my tank Brakish and fresh (alternating), as it seems to be the prefered way by most Puffer owners. Now in this article above, they reccommend 7.5-11 TSP. of salt to every 10 gallons. would it be ok to go by this rule?

Having a 20 gallon, 15-22 TSP would make sense. Now lets say you do a 20% water change, you would replace 4.4 TSP of salt as replacement, right? (22 * 20%)

Now since they can tollerate different levels of salt in their water, im guessing being a tad high or low would be ok, and the need for a TDS meter would be nill. The article points out that they can NOT live in pure saltwater, so im guessing go from brakish to fresh would be a good idea?

Now, one other question. They are currently in a freshwater set-up (just got them today). Should i build up the level over a month, by lets say adding 5 TSP per week (plus additional for make-up of water change) to eventually get it to 20 tsp of salt concentration?

Finally, would it be possible to use regular aquarium salt, or is sea salt completely different?

Any feed back would be very appreciated.

NOTE: I only have puffers in this tank, and no other mates, so the change should not be harmful from salt to fresh........

 

[ingo_1978]

No you must use marine salt not aquarium salt and I suggest you buy a cheap arm hydrometer to measure the salinity as the density of the various makes of marine salt can vary. Plus the salinty in the tank will increase with evapouration, so you need to measure regularly.

You should raise the salinity by a maximum of 1.002 a week or else you risk killing off all the nitrifying bacteria as well as stressing the fish. F8s prefer an SG of around 1.005 and I doubt you will ever see one reach 8" in captivity.

 

[Puffernewbee]

I agree with ingo exept one small edit. You want to raise the salinity .002 a week (not 1.002) to not shock the fish since he is in fresh water at this time. I understood what ingo meant I just wanted to make sure you did.

I have never heard of a figure-8 getting up to 8 inches. The largest I have ever heard about is around 4 inches. I hate to question info that was provided by such a well respected and great University (I may be a tad biased) but 8" seems kind of large.

I have one in a ten gallon and I must say, he is my favorite fish. You will need to find a source for snails or start raising your own. They need these little crunchies to keep their teeth worn down. If they do no get enough hard foods their teeth will grow to a point where they cannot open their mouths and they will starve unless you clip their teeth yourself. I have read the procedure and I think I would be to nervous to try to pull it off.

I will probably get attacked by someone for this but I have yet to buy a hydrometer. The salesperson I bought mine from has several F-8's that she has had for over 3 years. She uses 1 cup (16 tablespoons) of Instant Ocean to 5 gallons of water. She tops off her tank with freshwater when the tank lowers due to evaporation. When she cleans her tank she replaces the siphoned water with the salt water mixture. This is what I do and I appear to have a happy healthy fish. Hers have been alive for over three years so her procedure must no be all that bad.

 

[Mooch28]

ok thanks guys!

I have heard of them reaching 8 inch actually, but only in full out brakish conditions.

Another thing, Hagen makes a Hydrometer that looks like a themometer. It stays in the water consitently, and gives you a reading. Would you guys reccommend this one.....

http://www.bigalsonline.ca/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19481;category_id=1569

One other thing. How long does a 50 pound bag such as this.......

http://www.bigalsonline.ca/catalog/product.xml?product_id=27961;category_id=3417;pcid1=2231;pcid2=

Last for a 20 gallon tank on avg?

 

[RTR]

First off, the name given is incorrect. The fish is Tetraodon biocellatus

Second, the largest wild-caught museum collection specimen is 8 cm TL, or about 3 1/6". The largest captive live specimens known run close to 4". Reports of larger F-8s are confusion with GSPs (T. nigroviridis) or more often Ceylons (T. fluviatilis). Both of those fish exceed 6". The eyespots are the defining feature visible in the living specimen, one on the caudal peduncle, one just below the dorsal. If the fish has these, it is an F-8. If it does not, it is not. Taxanomically it is not quite that clear-cut, but short of sacrificing the fish for full exam, that is the defining characteristic of the hobby fish.

What you do with the water is your personal choice, but the selection should be based on what you want and expect from your fish. The F-8 is commonly listed as FW, but experienced fishkeepers have found that the fish lives longest and healthiest in light BW. In FW the lifespan will be a few years. In light BW the lifespan will be in the mid to upper teens. Light BW for me is 1.005, if you want variations in density, 1.003-1.008 is an acceptable range.

A diet high in crunch is required for these fish in captivity. Snails and other small mollusks, small shell-on shrimp, small crabs, crayfish, etc will serve, but emphasis should be on snails and other mollusks. Some specimens will take green food at times (peas, zucchini, etc.), and if yours does it is beneficial. Otherwise you just rely on gut-loading your feed animals.

Brackish water must be made with marine mix, not with table salt, nor with seasalt from evaporation of brines. Volume measures of marine mix are kidding yourself. Volume measures can get you very roughly near the level desired, only a hydrometer or refractomer can give you acceptable levels of accuracy. Marine mix is avidly hydroscopic, and the are also large variations in how fine the material is milled between brands. Repeat: Volume measures are kidding yourself.

Your fish, your tanks, your choice.

HTH

 

[Mooch28]

First off, the name given is incorrect. The fish is Tetraodon biocellatus

Second, the largest wild-caught museum collection specimen is 8 cm TL, or about 3 1/6". The largest captive live specimens known run close to 4". Reports of larger F-8s are confusion with GSPs (T. nigroviridis) or more often Ceylons (T. fluviatilis). Both of those fish exceed 6". The eyespots are the defining feature visible in the living specimen, one on the caudal peduncle, one just below the dorsal. If the fish has these, it is an F-8. If it does not, it is not. Taxanomically it is not quite that clear-cut, but short of sacrificing the fish for full exam, that is the defining characteristic of the hobby fish.

What you do with the water is your personal choice, but the selection should be based on what you want and expect from your fish. The F-8 is commonly listed as FW, but experienced fishkeepers have found that the fish lives longest and healthiest in light BW. In FW the lifespan will be a few years. In light BW the lifespan will be in the mid to upper teens. Light BW for me is 1.005, if you want variations in density, 1.003-1.008 is an acceptable range.

A diet high in crunch is required for these fish in captivity. Snails and other small mollusks, small shell-on shrimp, small crabs, crayfish, etc will serve, but emphasis should be on snails and other mollusks. Some specimens will take green food at times (peas, zucchini, etc.), and if yours does it is beneficial. Otherwise you just rely on gut-loading your feed animals.

Brackish water must be made with marine mix, not with table salt, nor with seasalt from evaporation of brines. Volume measures of marine mix are kidding yourself. Volume measures can get you very roughly near the level desired, only a hydrometer or refractomer can give you acceptable levels of accuracy. Marine mix is avidly hydroscopic, and the are also large variations in how fine the material is milled between brands. Repeat: Volume measures are kidding yourself.

Your fish, your tanks, your choice.

HTH

Thansk RTR. After some more research, it seems most people have had less disease, and more success with BW, kept somwhere in the range you reccommend. Now having said that, would the hydrometer, and sea salt above work out just fine?

 

[Jayhawk]

Just make sure you get a hydrometer that reads down to 1.000. Some hydrometers don't have measuring marks until 1.004 (Instant Ocean's hydrometer goes all the way down). Also, as already mentioned don't change your water parameters more than .002 each week or you will kill off more of your nitrifying bacteria than you'd like and start a mini-cycle (not the kind you ride, and puffers are really sensitive to ammonia and nitrite).

Volume measure of salt is only a starting point, you have to measure after the salt is dissolved to be sure what the SG really is and always add the salt in the bucket not directly into the tank.

Eric

 

[brackishdude]

Also, a little long-term advice, be wary of any info coming from an Aggie.

I've had friends go off to College Station as intelligent, stable, promising young high school grads, only to return 4 years later with the intellect of a, well, aggie. :thud:

Woe is he whose brain-trust is filled with aggies.

Geaux Tigers!! :laugh:

 

[Puffernewbee]

Also, a little long-term advice, be wary of any info coming from an Aggie.

I've had friends go off to College Station as intelligent, stable, promising young high school grads, only to return 4 years later with the intellect of a, well, aggie. :thud:

Woe is he whose brain-trust is filled with aggies.

Geaux Tigers!! :laugh:

I would say be wary of advice from someone who cannot spell "Go".
Geaux?? :huh:

Sorry Brackishdude, but I must defend Aggieland.

 

[brackishdude]

I would expect no less. My friends who went to aTm had the same flaw.

I can only hope to see a renewed rivalry between our schools. I saw some great (and not so great) games at Kyle. Hopefully not too much bad blood. . .