Rescued Figure - 8 Puffer

[Liberty802]

I went into my local lfs today, and they had gotten in a new shipment of fish. I was looking through them, and it was the usual assortment, then I saw in one of the 10 gallon tanks 7 nearly full grown figure-8 puffers along with 3 3inch jelly bean parrots. Most of the puffers had no fins, and open wounds, one was dead. Well I saw the smallest one hiding in the very back behind the filter I knew I had to save him, he was the only one who didn't look like he was knocking on deaths door. His top fin is completely gone though, and his tails pretty shredded, but he doesn't have any open wounds and he seems to be swimming ok. Now I have him in a well planted 10 gallon by himself, can upgrade if I need to, but will the 10 gallon be alright for awhile. Secondly what should I feed him, I have frozen brine shrimp and krill in my possesion, but can buy other items if I need to. Now I'm treating his fins with just clean water and some aquarium salt. Anything else I can do? Thanks for the help!!

 

[EvilMonkey666]

Nice save. Some pet stores just sicken me with how they handle their fish. We have one here that threw in some upside down cats with the mexican blind cave fish. I made one hell of a scene. Almost all of them were dead or dying from the swoop attacks...and they couldnt even see what was coming!!....I would definantly use some melafix on him too. It wont hurt and that stuff works wonders.

 

[BiffMalawi]

I agree good save. I wish I had a hundred tanks to save all the fish the LFS are killing.

I think you are on the right track but here's a couple of things.

The standard tank size for F8s are 15g per fish, so your 10 is a little small especially if it is nearly full grown.
That being said with overfiltration, good maintenance(50% WC/week) and lots of plants and decor it will be fine in the short term. Many people quarantine their fish for a month in similar sized tanks.

The food sounds OK but it could use "hard" foods like frozen krill and live snails. Puffers have to have these foods to wear down their teeth. If their teeth grow to long they can't eat. Snails should be pond or ramshorn, defintely not Malaysian Trumpet as their shells are too hard and may result in chipped teeth. Most people set up a snail breeding tank(2g-5g will do). I sometimes just encourage a little snail growth in my other tanks. F8s should be fed enough to have a nice round belly after feeding and only be fed once a day. You should skip one day a week. They suffere from internal parasites alot(especially when stressed) so watch for the sunken belly look and long white stringy poo or any growth from the anus. As a general rule only salty water fish "drink" water so you will need to soak the food in the meds as adding to water doesn't work.


Figure 8s are brackish water fish so you will need a refratometer(or at least a hydrometer) and use marine salt not aquarium salt to gradually bring the fish to 1.005 specific gravity. Up the salinity by .002 a week.

I hope this helps. It is not as complicated as it sounds and more than worth it. Figure 8s are one of the coolest fish out there and can live up to about 10 years with proper care. Good luck.

 

[Liberty802]

Thanks guys... I'm heading to the petstore today to pick up the marine equipment and some frozen krill. I did pick up 3 snails yesterday and plan on setting up a small tank just for them. He seems happy, and is exploring the tank, he took to the frozen brine shrimp right away, so hopefully he won't be a picky eater. I've named him Diablo

 

[Liberty802]

Here are some pictures of Diablo and his home, in one of the pics you can see his torn fins pretty well. Lemme know what you think! Thanks!

Diablos Home

And Diablo

 

[Flumpus]

Wow, he looks big, or long at least. Skinny compared to mine, although mine might be a little fat

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Looks really good, a lot better than I expected from reading your post. Keep an eye on the fin, just make sure it doesn't rot or get fungus and he'll get along just fine.

SLC

 

[SirMinion]

Hurrah!
Well done. We rescued a couple of F8s too but one died.
Mind you, I think they were in a worse state than yours...

One of the is still going stong now though!

original thread:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=103453

 

[harp_s45]

Hi , my first ever post so be gentle with me - I recently purchased a 10G tank, and my love for puffers drew me to the conclusion that I would love some figure 8's . After settling my tank - brakish (as advised by LFS). I decided to purchase the fish I had always wanted . I was advised that It would be ok to have 3 in my 10G tank so I went ahead.
They settled very well and have been in there for 1 month now , they are really lively and are feeding really well on Beef heart, blood worm , brine shrimp and a weekly feast of snails. They are a really good size - about 3" each.
I do a 40-50% water change every week and it has an internal filter.

My major concern is after reading alot more online that a 10G tank isn't big enought ???

What do you think - I have no more room for a bigger tank !

Many Thanks

 

[pica_nuttalli]

yeah... too small for 3 of them really. but (correct me if i'm wrong guys) if you aren't having territorality issues, adding a second filter should help even things out. i think i remember that f8s primarily need more water volume in order to keep waste to a managable amount, not so much because of conspecific aggression.

of course, if your f8s are really ceylons as suspected in the other thread, then you'll need a gigantic tank pretty much ASAP.

 

[harp_s45]

Thanks for the advise (sorry taken ages to get to it my computer has been in the shop), Backed up what I thought !! I am hopefully moving soon so New house new Bigger tank I thinks - other wise I may have to take over my girlfriends large community tank (lots of little fish - should make good food for the puffers - only joking !!! )
Cheers
Ben