Finally Have Figure Eights

[crackmonkey]

They were sold as Figure Eights, but some people on here are saying they're Ceylons. If they are ceylons can I keep them in the same salt level I was planning on keeping the Figure Eights in?

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

They look lovely... well done!
They will, as you said, need to be slowly introduced to brackish conditions. They need the salinity to be 1.008 SG. I'm not sure how long you should take raising the SG. I would be inclined to raise it gradually over the next month or so.

 

[Rocker]

raise the salinity very gradually by 0.002 per week.

 

[crackmonkey]

raise the salinity very gradually by 0.002 per week.

Roughly how many tablespoons is that?

 

[Rocker]

Do you have a hydrometer?

 

[crackmonkey]

Do you have a hydrometer?

Not yet, but im ordering one off ebay that starts at a low SG.

 

[Mr.September15]

Are all puffers saltwater?

 

[Little Fish]

After two months I finally found some, but the shop kept them in freshwater so how much salt should I add now to slowly acclimatise them? Or are they okay in freshwater until they get older?

Congratulations, they are beautiful. Take your time to raise the SG...unless you have ich emergencies (like I did). My F8s was in freshwater when I got them. I took months to raise the SG to 1.005. I think it would be OK to raise the SG by 0.001 to 0.002 each week but I took my time.

 

[crackmonkey]

After two months I finally found some, but the shop kept them in freshwater so how much salt should I add now to slowly acclimatise them? Or are they okay in freshwater until they get older?

Congratulations, they are beautiful. Take your time to raise the SG...unless you have ich emergencies (like I did). My F8s was in freshwater when I got them. I took months to raise the SG to 1.005. I think it would be OK to raise the SG by 0.001 to 0.002 each week but I took my time.

How many tablespoons is 0.001 to 0.002

 

[Little Fish]

How many tablespoons is 0.001 to 0.002

Different brand of sea salt mix have different salt contents. If I have to "guesstimate" for the brand of salt mix (Crystal Ocean) I used:

1 cup of Crystal Ocean salt mix makes 4 gallon of salt water at SG 1.023
1/23 cup of the same salt mix makes 4 gallon of salt water at 0.001
1/92 cup salt mix makes 1 gallon of salt water at 0.001
1 cup = 48 teaspoons
0.52 teaspoons makes 1 gallon of salt water at SG 0.001

These are extremely rough estimate to get a feel of how much salt you want to buy and stock. Don't use them as a means of measurement. You can't just add the salt into the tank directly anyway. You will need to melt the salt at a higher level first and pump the salt water back to the tank diluting it when doing water changes. You definitely want to wait for the hydrometer before you start to raise the SG for your tank.

 

[crackmonkey]

I have my external filter media trays filled with crushed coral to buffer their Ph, and it left no room for biomax so I put it right in the bottom of the filter, is this safe or will the biomax be colonized with harmful bacteria since thats were all the crap stays.

 

[Little Fish]

I have my external filter media trays filled with crushed coral to buffer their Ph, and it left no room for biomax so I put it right in the bottom of the filter, is this safe or will the biomax be colonized with harmful bacteria since thats were all the crap stays.

I'm not an expert in filtration but it doesn't sound right. If the water flow in your canister is just like mine, the un-filtered water reaches the bottom of the filter before it is pushed up to the media trays. Putting the biomax in front of a sponge might not be a good idea. It would clog the pores of the bio-media and greatly reduces its capacity.

On the other hand, depending on the bio-load and other medium you have in your tank, you might not need the biomax at all. Bacteria grow on everything in your tank, it's just that the biomax is designed to house more colonies than other media of the same volume. It doesn't mean that you will really need it. Your crushed coral, sponge, and substrate are also breeding ground for bacteria. I suggest doing water test to make sure your tank's bio-load can be sustained without additional bio-media. If everything is fine, I won't bother with the biomax. I don't have any bio-media in my filter at all for my brackish tank. The sponge in my filter and the sand substrate provide enough bio-filtering already. For my freshwater tank with big fishes, I use almost everything: ceramic rings, polymer stars, undergravel, and fluidized sand. More bio-filtering material is not always better though. You cannot grow more filtering bacteria than the bio-load of your tank would allow. The colonies simply run out of food and stop growing. The key is to strike a balance. Again, water test is the only way to tell.

 

[Dave Legacy]

Those don't look like figure-eights! Seems to me that you have Ceylon Puffers that look very similar but get much larger. See the spots on the rear flanks. On a figure-eight they don't have those, just small amounts of spots but mostly squiggly lines. If they are Ceylons the good news is I've heard of success keeping them in all types of salinity from full fresh to full marine. Also have heard that Ceylons aren't very nippy towards eachother where Figure-Eights will peck eachother to death.

Compare some pics and decide for yourself what you think you have. A lot of fish stores sell their Ceylons as Figure-Eights because they don't know better. But it's 3" Max vs. 7" Max. BTW, I'm comparing your Puffers to my F8 while I type this.

 

[crackmonkey]

For ####s sake, looks like they're ceylon puffers Ceylon Puffer

 

[penguinpimp1990]

sorry to tell ya but i agree with Dave, they dont really look like 8's to me. But depending on your tank size id keep one or two and return the rest to the lfs, or just return them all and go to another lfs to get some real 8's.