Homer8
Aquarium Advice FINatic
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2011
- Messages
- 688
Hey Ivan you can post your pictures here so that we don't fill up the other topic.
I was at Petco today and they are having a sale and they are selling a 10 gallon kit for $40. So all you will need is salt and a cheap hydrometer.
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So what are your plans for the puffer? Do you think you will get the extra tank? If you do, this is is how you should set it up.
Fill the tank with water and place the filter cartridge from one of your established tanks in the new tanks filter(this will add the bacteria you need to the tank. let me know if you dont know about the nitrogen cycle) after a day place the molly/mollies in this tank. They will help keep the bacteria alive. after a week do a 50% water change and add a little bit of salt. you dont need a hydrometer but you will want to make sure your measurements are close. you will be aiming for a 1.001-1.002 specific gravity. then in about a week you can transfer your puffer into the tank if all your water parameters look good. Mollies are also brackish and as long as they dont attack the puffer or vice versa you will be fine. then in a few weeks or a month you can add a little more salt to get the final specific gravity(SG) to 1.003-1.004 SG. then you will be all set. Dont add the salt directly to the tank. Add the salt to whatever you use for water changes.
My parents made the decision of not doing the 10 gallon idea and they said it's fine to keep it in fresh even though they don't know much about fish but how long would u estimate the puffer to live in straight up freshwater
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It really depends. Also your puffer may become aggressive to its tank mates. F8s can have up to a 15 year lifespan and yours looks pretty young like a year or 2 old (from what i can tell from the blurry picture). In the conditions he is in right now, I give him a max of 6 months. He could also be gone in a week. F8s need salt. They do go into fresh looking for food but they live in brackish water. I hope you can get a tank up and running.