Figure 8 Puffer Profile

[Terrance]

Submitted by Terrance

Synonyms: Tetraodon Biocellatus

Common Names: F8 Puffer

Category: Puffer

Family: Tetraodontidae

Origin: S.E. Asia & India

Main Ecosystem: Brackish estuaries and streams

Salinity: 1.003-1.008

Temperment: Active and loves hunting. Recommend species only tankmates due to aggressive and territorial nature. Other species has a high chance of getting nipped. Each F8 has its own personality. Some may accept other species as tankmates, but other F8 may attack anything on sight. It has been reported that bumblebee goby has been kept with F8 for a few years as long as the tank is heavily decorated, but the F8 can change their mind at any time and attack.

Diet: Carinivore. Should be fed hard shelled crustaceans or snails to trim teeth. Ok to treat them to live worms, blood worms, krill, gut loaded shrimps, and raw wild seafood from grocery store (prawns, mussel, crab legs, etc). It is very easy to overfeed F8, so be careful. They will eat until their stomach explode. Overfeeding will also shorten their lifespan.

Care: If teeth are not maintained by feeding them hard shelled food, then you will be required to manually cut the F8's teeth yourself. They also need fully cycled tanks since puffers are scaleless and are very sensitive to traces of ammonia or nitrite. This is an active puffer, so they need a lot of decor to keep them interested. If they start to swim up and down along the tank glass, then it means they are bored. From time to time, switch the tank's decor around to keep them interested. Owners are required to perform at least 50% water change per week and have strong filtration because puffers are messy eaters and release a lot of waste!

Tank size: 15 gallons of swimming room. Recommended 20 gallons for extra space for decor and substrate.

pH: 7.8-8.3

Temperature: 76-84F or 24-28C

Potential size: 3in or 8cm

Water Region: Bottom to mid levels of your tank

Activity: F8 will eventually recognize their owner and beg for food constantly. When owner is not around, the F8 will go back to hunting and protecting their territory. Sometime they will sleep with their tails curled on top of decor or substrate.

Lifespan: Approximately 15 years in captivity

Sexing: Unable to differentiate gender with eyes

Acclimation: Most F8 at LFS will be in freshwater. If acclimating, add no more than .001 SG per week. If you find your puffer already in a brackish setting at your LFS, then match your SG with their SG. Matching or raising SG should be a slow process, and the beneficial bacteria need 1 week to acclimate to each .001 SG increase.

Comments: Message me if you have questions about care. I would like to add more to this post if you have some useful information.

Sources: 100+ hours of reading about puffers online at various puffer websites. I use to keep F8 too.

*Photos to come - will ask from members of AA"

 

[Metalheadx]

( not quite adult size yet )

 

[Metalheadx]

Here is the same puffer will add the bigger guys pic when he learns not to be so camera shy !

 

[Homer8]

This is great information and after all the research i have done this perfectly sums it up. This should become a sticky.

Metalhead that figure 8 is beautiful. It has awesome patterns and coloring. I dont always like their patterns but yours is the ideal one that i am hoping to get.

 

[Terrance]

I would like to add:

Do not use aquarium salt. Marine salt is required because it contains traces of elements/minerals that the F8 need to thrive.

Best to make a snail breeder tank, red cherry shrimp breeder tank, or marbled crayfish breeding tank. Snails can breed anywhere under any kind of water condition. You can do a 5 gallon or even a salad bowl with air bubbles, but please treat it like any other fish. Add the water conditioner and change its water weekly too.

As for the shrimps, use a 15+ gallon tank. I say 15+ gallon tank because nano tanks are harder to maintain. With a 15+ tank, you can also breed the snails with the shrimps. When you feed your puff, it will need around 5-10 of these shrimps. So its good to have an unlimited amount of shrimps. Before feeding, gut load your shrimps with blood worms or other nutritious food. Keep a ball of java moss in your tank with a sponge at the filter intake to keep the baby shrimps alive. You will need to trade RCS with other breeders every few months to keep a strong batch of shrimps. If keep the same shrimps, then the newer generations will become weak and brittle due to inbreeding.

Then you have marbled crayfish. There are only female crayfish, so you only need 1 to start a population inside a 15+ gallon tank. They grow to about 3inches big, but you could also feed the smaller ones to your puff before they are full grown. These are very prolific crayfish and you won't find them at LFS. Try ebay or aquabid. You can also add snails to this crayfish tank. I am trying to set up a 15 gal tall tank and stack a bunch of PVC pipes on top of each other. Each crayfish will have a lovely home in each of the pipe. I'm prepared to throw away some crayfish if my tank gets overrun. You could also freeze the crayfish for future meal time. These gals will have no inbreeding problems like the RCS, but will need more tank space.

For both shrimps and crayfish, you need to feed them a variety of food to keep it healthy and nutritious for your puffer. That shouldn't be hard though.

There is one more food source that you can breed: worms. These are a very juicy food source. Your puff may go absolutely crazy for worms. Get some red wriggler worm. You're suppose to use a combination of newspaper and compost. I have very little knowledge about worms, but I do try to breed worm. I just throw in a banana peel every once in a while, and remove it when it starts to get really stinky (you don't want to stink up your home) and throw in a new food source for the worms.
Edit: worms should be given every 1 or 2 week. Its not part of their daily meal in the wild.


When I said "have strong filtration because puffers are messy eaters and release a lot of waste!", I mean having a filter that can turn the water 10x the amount of the water volume. So if you have a 20 gallon, you want a filter of at least 200 gph.

As far as the personalities of the puffer, I've always thought having more puffers will bring out more of their personality. After doing much research, I've been told that having only 1 puffer will bring out the most of its personality. Almost all puffers are territorial (only exception is south american puffers), so they don't like tank mates. Like I said earlier in this thread, they protect their territory when you're not around. They don't need friends or a tank buddy because 1 puffer will not get lonely.

As far as teeth overgrowth, you will definitely know it when you see it. Here's a video that I recorded at my LFS:

When you trim teeth, you will be required to take the puffer out of the tank, sedate the puffer with clove oil, and hold the puffer in your hand while cutting the teeth with a nail trimming device. If you do this the right way, then it will be definitely harmless for your puffers. If you're one of those people who will get scared of holding your puffer in your hand, then you really need to make sure you feed your F8 properly.

Edit: Long tanks is strongly recommended. If you are trying to buy a 20 gallon aquarium as recommended for 1 F8, then make sure its a long tank and not a standard sized. Almost all puffer expert will advise against tall tanks. Basically, ALL puffers need to be in a 20 gallon long or anything longer (I encourage this for the tiny dwarf puffer). This all have to do with their territorial behavior and waste level. A 20 long or longer will be its permanent home for the rest of its 10+ year life.

 

[Homer8]

I would like to add:

Do not use aquarium salt. Marine salt is required because it contains traces of elements/minerals that the F8 need to thrive.

Best to make a snail breeder tank, red cherry shrimp breeder tank, or marbled crayfish breeding tank. Snails can breed anywhere under any kind of water condition. You can do a 5 gallon or even a salad bowl with air bubbles, but please treat it like any

Yep that is smart to add. Its amazing how many people dont know that. i have a 2.5 gallon snail tank. i would get a shrimp tank but im in college and the apartment has no room for it. Next year when i graduate i will have one.

 

[Terrance]

I don't understand why this thread got relocated from Fish or Plant Profiles to General Discussions.

 

[Metalheadx]

I don't understand why this thread got relocated from Fish or Plant Profiles to General Discussions.

Ya I notice that and as the snail tank goes you can also feed clams , mine get clams for there teeth about every month or so . Mine go ape over ghost shrimp. I treat them to them once a week to some. Also I called ya about a question I had did you get it?!

 

[George9]

Figure 8 puffers are really cool! I've always wanted one but I don't have the room.

 

[alLexX]

i now want a figure 8 puffer,great profile

 

[Homer8]

i think the hardest thing with figure 8s is feeding them because you need spare tanks and other things of that nature. I have a small snail tank but i dont have enough room for a shrimp tank. so my future puffer will be getting raw shrimp from the super market. Im also going to get a worm culture.

 

[Terrance]

Raw shrimp is a crustacean, so it goes into my my puff's tummy every other day.

The live feeder tanks is just a really nice stimulation for these puffers. It puts them in the role of a predator just like they are in the wild. I don't think they are necessary, but many puffers lovers enjoy seeing their natural behavior. I live 0.5 mile away from Petsmart, so I can get some free snail on the way home from work whenever I want :d.

 

[Metalheadx]

I do the same with raw shrimp, brine shrimp, frozen and freeze dried krill, ghost shrimp, ... On the snails I don't feed snails but maybe once and awhile , I feed frozen claims in place. I think after I upgraded there tank ill use this tall tank for breeding ghost shrimp so it saves me some money that way ! Also like I said before mine go completely ape over ghost shrimp and brine shrimp.

 

[Homer8]

what are your exact weekly feeding schedules. what foods do you guys feed, how much do you feed them and on what days do you feed them that food per puffer.

 

[Terrance]

what are your exact weekly feeding schedules. what foods do you guys feed, how much do you feed them and on what days do you feed them that food per puffer.

Feed your F8 until its belly is slightly rounded. Here's a video of an overfed puffer:
Puffer puffed up - YouTube

Its important that the belly is slightly rounded in order to maximize their life span. It should be less than half the size of the belly in the video. Pay attention to feeding since its very easy to overfeed.

Better to feed 2-3 small meals per day rather than one big meal per day. This is impossible for most people due to work or school, so we just feed them one big meal per day.

Think of crustaceans when you feed. If I still had my F8, then the feeding should look like this:

Monday: Raw Shrimp
Tuesday: Raw Cockle
Wednesday: Raw shrimp
Thursday: blood worms and a snail; or live worms; or crayfis
Friday: Raw Mussel
Saturday: Raw Shrimp
Sunday: Live RCS or small crayfish
The following week would be something different on the menu.

The meals would change every week just like humans vary their food every day of every week. Its ok to miss a meal one day out of a week when your puff is a full sized.

 

[Metalheadx]

Feed your F8 until its belly is slightly rounded. Here's a video of an overfed puffer:
Puffer puffed up - YouTube

Its important that the belly is slightly rounded in order to maximize their life span. It should be less than half the size of the belly in the video. Pay attention to feeding since its very easy to overfeed.

Better to feed 2-3 small meals per day rather than one big meal per day. This is impossible for most people due to work or school, so we just feed them one big meal per day.

Think of crustaceans when you feed. If I still had my F8, then the feeding should look like this:

Monday: Raw Shrimp
Tuesday: Raw Cockle
Wednesday: Raw shrimp
Thursday: blood worms and a snail; or live worms; or crayfis
Friday: Raw Mussel
Saturday: Raw Shrimp
Sunday: Live RCS or small crayfish
The following week would be something different on the menu.

The meals would change every week just like humans vary their food every day of every week. Its ok to miss a meal one day out of a week when your puff is a full sized.

Well said Terrance , like I said I feed my ghost shrimp instead of cherry. I alternate foods weekly also . They got there ghost shrimp today and were so happy! Terrance can you hit me up one more time , cause I'm going to get them a new tank maybe next week when the sale at Petco goes on, and want your opinion on a tank.

 

[Homer8]

im going to get my f8 tomorrow in Harrisburg about an hour and a half away. im gonna pick up some ghost shrimp while im there to attempt to breed for him. he should be fine for an hour and a half right?

 

[George9]

They'll be fine for an hour and a half. Just acclimate them right when you get home.

 

[Terrance]

im going to get my f8 tomorrow in Harrisburg about an hour and a half away. im gonna pick up some ghost shrimp while im there to attempt to breed for him. he should be fine for an hour and a half right?

Oh thats cool. Try to get the smallest (but healthiest) looking F8. Its fun watching them grow

 

[Metalheadx]

For sure I'm getting mine a bigger tank next week!!!