Aquarium salt and plants (want a figure 8 puffer but afraid)

[helicopter]

I really want to get a figure 8 puffer but I hear it requires brack (as well as people claiming he can live in freshwater, but I believe the brackish). I want to have lots of plants in the tank so I am afraid that a figure 8 puffer is not the way to go. I looked at the red eye puffer but it seems smaller and some of its characteristics weren't desirable to me(I want the biggest puffer that will fit in 24 gal nanocube).

Will the amount of aquairum salt required for a figure 8 puffer kill all my plants?

 

[coldmachineUK]

Hi there,
Figure 8 puffers are a great and rewarding fish to keep. It's a bit like having an aquatic puppy

But, first there's some things you need to know:

1. You need marine salt, not aquarium salt, to maintain brackish water conditions.
2. You'll need a refractometer (ideally) or a hydrometer to measure the salinity of the water. F8 puffers do best in 1.005 max. specific gravity (S.G.). Every time you do a water change you'll need to make sure the salinity matches. If your puffer comes from a freshwater tank then you'll need to increase salinity gradually over a period of time otherwise you'll upset him!
3. There are few brackish water tolerant plants unfortunately. I've tried even with brackish tolerant species and they always end up rotting. I prefer plastic/silk plants, or just go with a totally different decor (I used to have plastic plants but now redesigned my tank so it's more marine looking, with rocks and corals and so on).

Your puffer is an unforgiving fish too, unfortunately. They are very sensitive to water conditions and have a very fussy diet. You'll need to make sure you can meet all of his needs before you bring him in to your tank.

Diet:
Bloodworms, and a regular supply of snails (common pond or ramshorns will do). You MUST feed hard-shelled food, to help file down the beak which puffers have. This beak (i.e. teeth, it's a dental plate) grows fairly quickly, but slower than the South American puffer at least. If you don't feed him snails or other molluscs (like, mussels, or cockles, clams etc) which you can buy from a store (make sure they're not coated in dressings or anything!), then you'll need to perform some dentistry and this is one of the most gruesome and stressful jobs in keeping fish that I've ever seen.
How much you feed your puffer depends on how big he is. The smaller, the more regular (once a day). The larger, the less frequent (once every other day). Puffers will not take flake food, and they should not be fed more than once a day. A fat puffer is an unhealthy puffer!

Conditions:
You will need a tank of 15G minimum. Puffers are very active and very intelligent, and get bored easily! The larger the space, the more decor you can put in, and the more your puffer will be able to explore. I would go with a 20G for one F8 puffer.

Tankmates:
Not a great idea. I keep two black mollies with mine, and am looking at some orange chromide cichlids -> all of these are brackish tolerant species. Some people have kept bumblebee gobies (BBGs) in with their F8 puffers, but tbh I would not recommend that. They'd make a nice snack one day, I'm sure. Puffers are aggressive fish, and more than that: they are random about the whole thing. One day your puffer will be best of friends with tankmates, and the next day there may be missing fins, or even whole fish!

 

[yohann976]

I know that many, many people in here will disagree with my method, but I used to use aquarium salt. I had a brackish set up for about three years and all I used was aquarium salt. I kept the specific gravity at around 1.005. I realize that, in estuaries, the salt is from the ocean. So marine salt would be best, but I think that aquarium salt still work fine.

Just to make sure, I compared my fish to the LFS. I purchased all of my fish from the same LFS, but he used marine salt and I did not. About once a month for the three years I kept my brackish fish, I would compare the growth, appearance, behavior, etc. of my fish to his fish and they were basically identical.

All of my fish were very healthy. I kept three goby dragons, two goby knights, three archers, four monos, and a figure 8 puffer. Regularly, all of these fish should not be kept together in one tank, but they were divided up in my tank. My favorite were the archers because they shoot at the krill that they ate. I had to be careful about cleaning because when I was above the tank, they would shoot a stream of water in my eyes.

Note: One mistake that I did make was keeping that many fish in my tank. They grew way too big even for a large tank. Eventually, I gave them away so that I could create a planted tank. On last note, I would listen to what many of the people in this forum say. Many have a heck of a lot more experience than I, and they can give you great reasons as to why you should use marine salt. My success with aquarium salt may be due to my tap water conditions. Marine salt should be a sure fire way for you to keep a healthy figure 8 puffer.

 

[coldmachineUK]

Aquarium salt is pure NaCl (sodium chloride), whereas marine salt contains literally hundreds of beneficial elements such as magnesium and calcium which mirror those found in natural saline environments.
For a fish which lives in conditions containing these elements, it would be unhelpful to remove them from their aquarium environment.

I should also add that marine salt is a pH buffer which will help maintain the correct pH levels for your brackish puffers. Aquarium salt will not do this, so you better be sure your tap water is good enough if you go with it, or opt for a buffering substrate like crushed coral...

Really, you're best sticking with marine salt. Aquarium salt is a tonic salt, used primarily in treatment plans for ich and so on, and to reduce stress among fish undergoing transportation.

It is also worth bearing in mind that puffer fish are very long lived if given the right conditions: 15 years has been reported in some cases. If you want your puffer to be healthy and happy then you'll need the proper equipment and marine salt features in this.

 

[Gillie]

Also if you want plants they say java fern is the only plant that will tolerate brackish enviroment, I have no idea how true it is though.

 

[coldmachineUK]

A list of brackish adaptable plants:
http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_list.php?category=8

But, as I say I've never had much luck personally. And to acclimatise plants to the brackish environment takes months...