Kinda Got Thrown In To This New Fish, Need Some Help :d

[OldMan47]

A quick explanation. Brackish water is the water that you would see at the mouth of a river where it empties into the ocean. It is somewhere between fresh water and salt water. The salt in brackish water is not table salt, it is the same salt you would use to set up a saltwater aquarium. I keep mollies which some people conside brackish but in their case they live fine in a straight freshwater setup so mine don't get any salt. From what others have said here, you are not in the same situation. If you decide to keep him it looks like you would actually need to create the right degree of brackish (saltiness) in your tank. I have no experience with these fish so I will refrain from specific advice about him. He is a cutie though.

 

[groovitudedude]

Puffers are definately not beginner fish, ESPECIALLY brackish puffers.

 

[calebsmama]

Well, I went and got a testing kit, a temp gage and a small filter.

the nitrate and nitrite are 0.the total hardness is 75, or soft. Chlorine is 0. total alkalinity is 80. ph is somewhere between 7.2 and 7.8(the color on the strip is between the two.)

The ammonia was between 0 and .25, and the take temp was like 90, way to high. I turned off the heater.

The pump is a problem. He is getting drawn to it. Not getting sucked up in to it, just kinda stuck around it. I'm not sure what to do about this...

Also, he is swimming with his face down and tail up. He seems to be looking for food. I put a bit of dried shrimp (got it at petsmart to feed along with small snails) in the tank. He found some, ate it, then like jumped around the tank. I could swear he was happy.....I'm not sure fish can show they are happy in that way? Does him swimming like that mean he is dying?

 

[fourthtimelucky]

I have no experience with puffers (I love them but decided it was waaaayyyy too complicated) but if you are determined to keep this fish I would definitely advise you to try and get some mature filter medium from someone with a mature tank who lives near you. Your tank isn't cycled and he will die unless you sort this out or rehome him.

If you want to limit the flow from your filter whilst he is still tiny, there are instructions in the betta forum (betters like a low current too) for using pop bottles for this.

Have you read the links on cycling at the top of this forum? They are very helpful. Good luck to you and your puffer!