A am intrigued by figure 8 puffers and have began to research them although brackish/fresh isn't quite saltwater i decided to ask if any one here has kept any and what their personal experience is with tank mates. I don't think i have ever done such contradictory research. Some say never with themselves, species specific, only with larger, only other puffers. I planned on trying tiger barbs, but decided to look here for anecdotal info before I possibly end up with swiss barbs.
Edit. I also see about a 50/50 split in people that say fresh/brackish i will probably keep them in freshwater (Oh how i love all the consistency the only thing they all agree on is that they are not suitable for dry land it seems)
Last edited by liquid wind; 02-06-2008 at 11:42 PM.
Reason: forgot to mention a few things
LOL, they may do OK in a gerbil cage if only you had the right accessories! Seriously I don't have any experience you just tickled my funny bone with the dry land comment.
Put simply brackish environments are far more sterile that fresh only in an enclosed system. 1 line answer to solve all your worries, how was that! lol
I used to keep em, fun little guys... and yes it's way annoying to read the constant contradictions. The reality is a naturaly brackish environment will transition from near fresh to near salt throughout the seasons so brackish fish tend to tolerate odd environments. If you want them to thrive... stay brackish!
As far as how many you can keep it depends on tank size, variety of hiding places and unfortunately demeanor of fish. I've had luck keeping 8 in a tank with each other and I've had instances where I could only keep two cause they were just way too into picking on each other. Just like any semi aggressive fish its easier to add them all at once rather than one at a time as well. population density is pretty much a crapshoot from what I've seen.
All in all though they're one of the coolest fish I've ever had, lots of personality!
its cause every puffer has its own personality. its really interesting. almost like a human. or a small puppy...haha
my gf set up a teeny tiny 2.5g brackish and housed little dwarf puffers in it...she had two of them until they decided to go exploring near the filter intake.....
we can all guess how that ended. =[
she had them for about 2 months until it happened. they were pretty cute though.
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