"Freshwater" puffers True or False

[Pamiam]

let me know if they bred....I would like to try my hand at breeding also.

I have no clue which species I have...and it is very hard to tell males/females. I have a few that are larger so I assume they are female. Sometimes a few are more orange...but I think that depends on the mood.

Also...what do you feed them? Mine are only eating blood worms...I have tried brine shrimp...but they only occasionally eat that. I also tried tubiflex but they did not touch those.

 

[Homer8]

I feed mine mostly frozen brine shrimp. Lately I have been feeding them live white worms. Today I set up my brine shrimp hatchery so they will be getting that tomorrow along with another water change.


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[PoseidonCichlid]

They can live in freshwater for a short period of time, but it significantly cuts their life span. It also makes them more prone to diesease. (Never listen to the stores) Even if they know what they're doing, at the end of the day they need to make money and they're going to tell you what you want to hear to make a sale.
Brackish really isn't that difficult and you'll see a change. Long term, they're going to live longer. They should live for years. They will be more active, and you'll see better colors.
It's your decision, but if you'd like to convert them I'd be more than willing to help with getting it started. There's also a lot of information out there on brackish tanks.

For the many readers who are curious like me, can you go ahead and describe the conversion process? I have a school of baby sleeper gobies swimming alongside a school of jet black yucatan mollies, I've put them together in the same tank specifically to make the brackish conversion (both species are great candidates). Of course as the gobies grow they'll most likely consider the mollies a delicious snack so I'll separate them eventually. In the meantime I wanted to add a figure eight puffer which seems suitable for such a conversion as well, he'll be a baby and if (or when) he becomes aggressive he'll get his own tank. I just thought a baby puffer would add more interest to a brackish setup. Plus I've always wanted one!

 

[PoseidonCichlid]

For the many readers who are curious like me, can you go ahead and describe the conversion process? I have a school of baby sleeper gobies swimming alongside a school of jet black yucatan mollies, I've put them together in the same tank specifically to make the brackish conversion (both species are great candidates). Of course as the gobies grow they'll most likely consider the mollies a delicious snack so I'll separate them eventually. In the meantime I wanted to add a figure eight puffer which seems suitable for such a conversion as well, he'll be a baby and if (or when) he becomes aggressive he'll get his own tank. I just thought a baby puffer would add more interest to a brackish setup. Plus I've always wanted one!

Nobody wants to answer this question either even though this is a brackish forum and the information won't only help me but many others, for some reason the saltwater mafia here has been sworn to silence...

 

[Rivers2k]

Nobody wants to answer this question either even though this is a brackish forum and the information won't only help me but many others, for some reason the saltwater mafia here has been sworn to silence...

Please don't take this the wrong way but I think your not getting answers because there is no real secret to it. Add salt gradually until it becomes desired salinity level. If you are changing water mix salt and water in a bucket until you get desired salinity level. Thats it easy peasy as my daughter would say.

I almost left this out as I think it is a no brainier but you never can tell. Use marine salt not table salt.

 

[PoseidonCichlid]

Please don't take this the wrong way but I think your not getting answers because there is no real secret to it. Add salt gradually until it becomes desired salinity level. If you are changing water mix salt and water in a bucket until you get desired salinity level. Thats it easy peasy as my daughter would say.

I almost left this out as I think it is a no brainier but you never can tell. Use marine salt not table salt.

OMG, please read the thread. 1. I myself warned about using table salt. 2. The person I'm quoting OFFERED to go into detail if we wanted him too, I politely said yes, he of course never replied back, LOL! People here love to go on for paragraphs describing screwing in light bulbs and plenty of other seemingly obvious processes (although I disagree with you that changing fish from freshwater to brackish is simply a matter of adding salt and water to a bucket and dumping it in, it's much more complicated) suddenly everybody's gone shy and you're telling me it's because the answer is obvious (yet nobody here can manage to post it)? Give me a break...

 

[treemanone2003]

OMG, please read the thread. 1. I myself warned about using table salt. 2. The person I'm quoting OFFERED to go into detail if we wanted him too, I politely said yes, he of course never replied back, LOL! People here love to go on for paragraphs describing screwing in light bulbs and plenty of other seemingly obvious processes (although I disagree with you that changing fish from freshwater to brackish is simply a matter of adding salt and water to a bucket and dumping it in, it's much more complicated) suddenly everybody's gone shy and you're telling me it's because the answer is obvious (yet nobody here can manage to post it)? Give me a break...

First off, the thread started on 1/21. You have been absent since post 3 and only asked 13 hours ago to supply the info about the conversion process. Did you ever think since you didn't respond in 6 days that perhaps the person that posted to help is either 1) in a different time zone, 2) thought your lack of immediate reply meant you don't want help, 3) figure you lost interest from your lack of a quick response, 4) has a life outside of here ?

Not everything does at the speed you want it to and since Rivers responded quite early in this thread, I'm sure is WELL AWARE without needing to read it again. IMO a bit hasty and rude, as noticed in some of your other threads. Perhaps a forum dedicated to just you would be better ?


Sent from my iPhone that doesn't like me. Or you !!

 

[PoseidonCichlid]

First off, the thread started on 1/21. You have been absent since post 3 and only asked 13 hours ago to supply the info about the conversion process. Did you ever think since you didn't respond in 6 days that perhaps the person that posted to help is either 1) in a different time zone, 2) thought your lack of immediate reply meant you don't want help, 3) figure you lost interest from your lack of a quick response, 4) has a life outside of here ?

Not everything does at the speed you want it to and since Rivers responded quite early in this thread, I'm sure is WELL AWARE without needing to read it again. IMO a bit hasty and rude, as noticed in some of your other threads. Perhaps a forum dedicated to just you would be better ?


Sent from my iPhone that doesn't like me. Or you !!

You suddenly show up in one of my salinity threads not to inform but in order to discuss your hamster using your phone, and now you come in here, once again not to offer any on-topic information but in order to insult me. You are obviously an unamusing troll with a lot of free time on his hands. If my posts bother you so much ignore them, or are you truly that weak? If you actually believed only half of what you wrote, a normal person would never bother responding to me, obviously along with everything else wrong with your character you're also a pathological liar...

 

[Rivers2k]

You suddenly show up in one of my salinity threads not to inform but in order to discuss your hamster using your phone, and now you come in here, once again not to offer any on-topic information but in order to insult me. You are obviously an unamusing troll with a lot of free time on his hands. If my posts bother you so much ignore them, or are you truly that weak? If you actually believed only half of what you wrote, a normal person would never bother responding to me, obviously along with everything else wrong with your character you're also a pathological liar...

1. Nobody understands what you are talking about in your posts. Piece of advice, don't try to sound more intelligent than you are.Example nobody calls SW mixes "fresh water converters" thats laughable.

2. I try to help and you rip me a new one.

Forget you man getting no help from me.

BTW I don't care if you agree with my method. I kept Puffers for more than 10 years and it worked for me.

 

[Brookster123]

And this would be the wrong way to conduct a help thread can't we all just get along? I agree with rivers, no shame in dumming down a rather simple topic. I don't know much about brackish setups, well I "know" but I don't know.. you know?! Anyways.. i added salt cold turkey to a tank once to treat and nobody seemed to care? Not even the otos??

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[ImACoolguy]

And this would be the wrong way to conduct a help thread can't we all just get along? I agree with rivers, no shame in dumming down a rather simple topic. I don't know much about brackish setups, well I "know" but I don't know.. you know?! Anyways.. i added salt cold turkey to a tank once to treat and nobody seemed to care? Not even the otos??

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I agree. This is a fish forum not Facebook. Go inbox each other if you want to fight.


Caleb

Might have a slight obsession with my fish

 

[Pamiam]

This is what I did to get my brackish set up.

First, I have bumble bee gobies that I bought from a local pet shop that had them in freshwater. I knew they needed brackish but could not find any info on the species, let alone how to convert.

So I assumed their (the fish) internal organs would need time to adjust.

These fish are very tiny, less than an inch, so I assumed being tiny might mean adding instant ocean (instant ocean is the proper salt) very slowly over a long period of time.

They are in a 20 gallon long. First week I added 2 tablespoons of instant ocean. I kept increasing it by 2 tablespoons every week. So week 1 = 2 tablespoons, week 2=4 tablespoons, week 3= 6 tablespoons..etc. I did this until I achieved my desired salinity of 1.004.

You Must and I repeat must mix the instant ocean in a bucket until the salt is dissolved, and then add it into the tank. My understanding is if you just add the salt to the tank instead of dissolving the salt in a bucket you can spike the specific gravity and possibly harm the fish.

Note...other people might do things differently but this was my technique...and keep in mind, my fish are very tiny (adults less than an inch) and my tank small 20 gallons.

Below are photos of instant ocean and hydrometer to measure the specific gravity or another term how much salt you have.

 

[PoseidonCichlid]

1. Nobody understands what you are talking about in your posts. Piece of advice, don't try to sound more intelligent than you are.

BTW I don't care if you agree with my method. I kept Puffers for more than 10 years and it worked for me.

Try taking your own advice rivers, I wasn't addressing you, look at the text writer that I was quoting. When did I criticize your puffer method in this thread? Btw, I wouldn't be throwing around comparisons of intelligence or lack thereof to strangers if I was you, you might end up looking a fool and falling flat on your ***, just a friendly warning...

 

[PoseidonCichlid]

This is what I did to get my brackish set up.

Thank you for reading my question Pamiam and giving such a detailed wonderful answer! Cheers!

 

[lindenthaler.9]

For the many readers who are curious like me, can you go ahead and describe the conversion process? I have a school of baby sleeper gobies swimming alongside a school of jet black yucatan mollies, I've put them together in the same tank specifically to make the brackish conversion (both species are great candidates). Of course as the gobies grow they'll most likely consider the mollies a delicious snack so I'll separate them eventually. In the meantime I wanted to add a figure eight puffer which seems suitable for such a conversion as well, he'll be a baby and if (or when) he becomes aggressive he'll get his own tank. I just thought a baby puffer would add more interest to a brackish setup. Plus I've always wanted one!

First I'll apologize, shortly after responding to this I moved into my new house and along very with poor cell service, you can't get Internet here. I haven't been ignoring your question.

First you'll want to determine the level of salinity you want to bring it up to. We started with buying the small boxes of Instant Ocean but have since started buying the buckets. (We also have four brackish tanks running atm) You don't want to raise your salinity more than .002 a week. I know there's a video on YouTube that goes really in depth on this, but I don't have the service to get it.

 

[lindenthaler.9]

First I'll apologize, shortly after responding to this I moved into my new house and along very with poor cell service, you can't get Internet here. I haven't been ignoring your question.

First you'll want to determine the level of salinity you want to bring it up to. We started with buying the small boxes of Instant Ocean but have since started buying the buckets. (We also have four brackish tanks running atm) You don't want to raise your salinity more than .002 a week. I know there's a video on YouTube that goes really in depth on this, but I don't have the service to get it.

This wasn't supposed to post yet, I had help from my son. Like another person said, start gradual and keep adding more salt each week. Fully dissolved of course, dumping salt into a tank that isn't fully dissolved can be very harmful to the fish. (Burns them I believe)
When I said it isn't difficult, I meant it. That's all we've done.
When using the hygrometer make sure you set it on a perfectly level suface. if it's it's off balance you're going to get a different reading than you otherwise would.
Sorry I wasn't faster to respond and I did try to rush my answer so if you still have questions about it, ask. I'll try to watch out for them.

 

[PoseidonCichlid]

First I'll apologize, shortly after responding to this I moved into my new house and along very with poor cell service, you can't get Internet here. I haven't been ignoring your question.

It's quite alright, thanks for the explanation and all the great information! You've convinced me, today I'll rescue a Figure Eight puffer from the LFS and start the conversion process on the aquarium. I was checking out brackish puffer candidate species the other day and of all those available, the Figure 8's have the most striking colors by far, their yellows are almost neon in intensity, beautiful fish!

 

[lindenthaler.9]

It's quite alright, thanks for the explanation and all the great information! You've convinced me, today I'll rescue a Figure Eight puffer from the LFS and start the conversion process on the aquarium. I was checking out brackish puffer candidate species the other day and of all those available, the Figure 8's have the most striking colors by far, their yellows are almost neon in intensity, beautiful fish!

They really are great. I love mine. I'd recommend them over the GSP for someone starting out anyways. The GSP.. well they get bigger (6") and also like high end brackish, preferably saltwater which is what I'm taking my three up to now. The recommendation for one is 30 gallons.

You can house two adult Figure 8s in a 30, maybe 3. I'd suggest planning a upgrade in that case though. And speaking of that, the Figure 8s tend to do better in groups. So if you can get a few of them that would be best. It's hard to pick just one out anyways.

Good luck keeping them!
(They can be addictive, we call it the puffer bug).

 

[PoseidonCichlid]

LOL! Yes, fish are like potato chips!

 

[lindenthaler.9]

One of my Morays. I blame this on my puffers as well. I'm developing a preference for brackish over fresh even.

You said you had some Jade Sleeper Gobies? I'm jealous. I'd like to get some, keep them with Monos maybe. I have a small Mono Sebae with my Figure 8s currently, he's great. But you're right, the Mollies would almost definitely become a good meal for them once they get bigger.