New Puffs :d
- Thread starter DarkEntity
- Start date
OP
OP
DarkEntity
Eater Of The Fishies!!!
well...ive had the Puffers for a few weeks now so decided to get them some company....
Bumblebee Gobies
We bought 4 of them and 2 died in transit but i know the shop owner and he knows me so gave me 2 replacements and i bought 2 more so there are 6 tiny Bumblebee's
Bumblebee Gobies
We bought 4 of them and 2 died in transit
but i know the shop owner and he knows me so gave me 2 replacements and i bought 2 more so there are 6 tiny Bumblebee's
Danno
Fish Herder
Since i'm guessing you are in the UK look at this: Link
Refractometers are cheap nowadays and are SOOOOO much easier to use then hydrometers. I used to use a hydrometer for my salt tank and tought it was ok; then I got a refractometer and it was like a whole new worlds. I would highly recommend.
Refractometers are cheap nowadays and are SOOOOO much easier to use then hydrometers. I used to use a hydrometer for my salt tank and tought it was ok; then I got a refractometer and it was like a whole new worlds. I would highly recommend.
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I wouldnt call $50 "cheap" and you really dont need one for a figure 8/ BBG tank. there just isnt a need for super accurate salinity readings with these fish. a $10 Instant Ocean hydrometer is sufficient.
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Danno
Fish Herder
It was just mearly a suggestion. They are lovely little tools to have.
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
Ah, the old chestnut -- hydrometer versus refractometer!
There was a great thread over at Reef Central about the accuracy of refractometers. When compared against known salinities many users get inaccurate results. It's important to bear in mind that accurate (i.e., scientific-grade) refractometers cost $1000+. Anything small and going for $50 is a compromise at best, and not going to be very accurate. If it was, why would labs be spending $1000s on proper table-top refractometers.
Refractometers are nice to play with, but you mustn't think that because they have lots of decimal points on them that they actually measure that accurately.
Hydrometers are plenty accurate enough for brackish water fish. Most people thing they are inaccurate because they use them wrong. A common mistake is to stick them in the aquarium, where ambient water currents cause them to bob around. You have to put water in a measuring jar of some sort (like pint glass or pickle jar) and when the water is static, *then* add the hydrometer.
I don't like the swing-arm type myself, though they can be good if well-maintained. But they do need to be cleaned after each use, or lime and salt build up around the pivot.
No brackish water fish cares about the exact salinity anyway. For a figure-8 puffer, anything from 1.000 to 1.010 is going to be fine for basic life support, and while the optimal value is around 1.005, whether it's 1.003 one week and 1.006 the next couldn't make any difference at all. Even the filter bacteria don't care about small changes, and there's some situations where varying the salinity each week actually helps, e.g., if you're trying to get the fish to spawn.
Some degree of accuracy may be important when keeping plants (where anything about 1.005 is often a problem) or high-end brackish fish (where too-low a salinity might be harmful) but beyond that, use whatever SG measuring tool you want. If you want a neat toy, get a refractometer. If you want something cheap and effective, get a floating hydrometer calibrated to the temperature in question and learn how to use it properly.
Cheers, Neale
There was a great thread over at Reef Central about the accuracy of refractometers. When compared against known salinities many users get inaccurate results. It's important to bear in mind that accurate (i.e., scientific-grade) refractometers cost $1000+. Anything small and going for $50 is a compromise at best, and not going to be very accurate. If it was, why would labs be spending $1000s on proper table-top refractometers.
Refractometers are nice to play with, but you mustn't think that because they have lots of decimal points on them that they actually measure that accurately.
Hydrometers are plenty accurate enough for brackish water fish. Most people thing they are inaccurate because they use them wrong. A common mistake is to stick them in the aquarium, where ambient water currents cause them to bob around. You have to put water in a measuring jar of some sort (like pint glass or pickle jar) and when the water is static, *then* add the hydrometer.
I don't like the swing-arm type myself, though they can be good if well-maintained. But they do need to be cleaned after each use, or lime and salt build up around the pivot.
No brackish water fish cares about the exact salinity anyway. For a figure-8 puffer, anything from 1.000 to 1.010 is going to be fine for basic life support, and while the optimal value is around 1.005, whether it's 1.003 one week and 1.006 the next couldn't make any difference at all. Even the filter bacteria don't care about small changes, and there's some situations where varying the salinity each week actually helps, e.g., if you're trying to get the fish to spawn.
Some degree of accuracy may be important when keeping plants (where anything about 1.005 is often a problem) or high-end brackish fish (where too-low a salinity might be harmful) but beyond that, use whatever SG measuring tool you want. If you want a neat toy, get a refractometer. If you want something cheap and effective, get a floating hydrometer calibrated to the temperature in question and learn how to use it properly.
Cheers, Neale
OP
OP
DarkEntity
Eater Of The Fishies!!!
Im currently using an instant ocean hydrometer, but do have a plan to buy a refractometer in the near future (and the book by Mr Monks above) Im starting to love oddballs more and more, not just Puffers mind you, and i do fancy a marine tank in the future so its a worthy investment imo.
kpintheshed
Fish Herder
nice puffs
liz2
Fish Aficionado
i love figure of 8 puffers...are they complicated to keep? The lfs said they should be separate no mention of brackish water. Do they grow big? What is minimum size tank I could put one in? 
nmonks
A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from
Figure-8 puffers are one of the very few exceptions where a fish does better in different conditions in captivity that they seem to experience in the wild. By all accounts, figure-8s are freshwater fish in the wild. I have yet to read anything that says they live in brackish water habitats. However, there is no doubt at all that they do better in slightly brackish water in captivity. Whether they need the salt itself, or some side-effect such as nitrate detoxification I cannot say. But when kept in straight freshwater conditions they are more sickly and live half as long as they do in brackish water. So like mollies and bumblebee gobies, whatever their habitats *in the wild*, in captivity, they're brackish water fish.
They are very easy to keep. All the commonly traded puffers are fairly straightforward animals. You have to watch water quality, particularly nitrate, but in that respect they're no more difficult than, say, Tanganyikan cichlids. They're certainly much easier than things like spiny eels or mormyrids.
Figure-8 puffers are small. Around 7-8 cm seems average. In terms of an aquarium, I'm not wild about "minimum size" concepts and would sooner people focused on *a good size* for the fish being kept. That said, a "long" 20 gallon tank would strike me as a good starting point, giving you space for swimming plus some area for decorating with plants and rocks. You'd also have a bit of space for adding gobies and nerite snails if you want to go that route.
Cheers, Neale
They are very easy to keep. All the commonly traded puffers are fairly straightforward animals. You have to watch water quality, particularly nitrate, but in that respect they're no more difficult than, say, Tanganyikan cichlids. They're certainly much easier than things like spiny eels or mormyrids.
Figure-8 puffers are small. Around 7-8 cm seems average. In terms of an aquarium, I'm not wild about "minimum size" concepts and would sooner people focused on *a good size* for the fish being kept. That said, a "long" 20 gallon tank would strike me as a good starting point, giving you space for swimming plus some area for decorating with plants and rocks. You'd also have a bit of space for adding gobies and nerite snails if you want to go that route.
Cheers, Neale
i love figure of 8 puffers...are they complicated to keep? The lfs said they should be separate no mention of brackish water. Do they grow big? What is minimum size tank I could put one in?
liz2
Fish Aficionado
I mustnt be tempted I am a betta girl. They are giving me grief at the moment though my bettas they look sickly hubby says it is probably as most of them were bought at same time and are same age... 
OP
OP
DarkEntity
Eater Of The Fishies!!!
Ive found them remarkably easy to keep, easier than expected. Just one thing that needs done is the pre mixing of the water a night before so the salt is totally absorbed evenly through the water. Also something that i didnt know, which Neale mentioned when i was asking about Fig8's was salt water's SG is variable by the water temp.
So when mixing your brackish water you need to keep it oxygenated and at the tank temperature when testing the SG so you get an accurate reading of what it will be when adding to the tank...hope that makes sense
Neale also has a great little Brackish Calculator which you set the tank water temp and the SG you want and it tells you how much marine salt per litre of water to add to your mixing bucket
So when mixing your brackish water you need to keep it oxygenated and at the tank temperature when testing the SG so you get an accurate reading of what it will be when adding to the tank...hope that makes sense
Neale also has a great little Brackish Calculator which you set the tank water temp and the SG you want and it tells you how much marine salt per litre of water to add to your mixing bucket
pandacichlid
Fish Fanatic
lovely looking guy! that's exactly how one of my colomesus gets when eating hahaWell...went into my local place for Apistos, Killies and a pair of Nanochromis Nudiceps....and as per bloody usual came home with something completly different.
A Pair of Fig8 Puffers
Now i was advised they were in fresh water, but later found them to have been in Brackish! So i raised the tank in the house from fresh to Brackish over 5 hours and this morning its sitting at 1.005/1.006 which is fine. The Puffers are in the tank and zooming about the tank like nutters.
Im hoping i havent killed my filter bacteria...fingers crossed. My main question is whats the easiest and quickest way to measure the marine salt to give a 1.005 SG as last night while mixing in the buckets it was sorta guess work.
anyway onto a couple of pics
OP
OP
DarkEntity
Eater Of The Fishies!!!
They have doubled in size since then. I dont feed them that much at all anymore. That was their first feed after i bought them, as they were a bit skinny. They get fed every 2nd day.
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