acclimating brackish puffers to s.w.

[jeffriryan]

I've been reading up on the figure eight puffer that is commonly sold as brackish in lfs's. I've read about people acclimating them to SW and even heard they are more docile once they are introduced into a marine invironment.
How long do you acclimate them?
Have you had problems with fin nipping?
Do they live a normal lifespan in SW?

[Paul B]

I had a figure eight puffer for 12 years in salt water after I acclimated it to salt. You can acclimate them in a day because they live longer in salt than fresh IMO. I did not notice if they get more docile, I doubt it but they have more food options in salt than fresh. I always keep figure eights in salt water even though they always sell them in fresh. I find that they get more docile as they get older. When mine was about eight or ten years old it would not bother anything and wanted to sleep a lot. Very nice fish.

[Sloth]

Are they reef-safe? Do they eat any corals or cleanup crew inverts?

[jeffriryan]

Wow, 12 years? How did it get before it passed?
Did you have any problems with fin nipping?

[jamal-188]

Wow, so can any brackish fish be acclimated to SW? I would like put a couple spotted puffers in my FO tank.

[Paul B]

Puffers are not reef safe. They do not eat coral but they will eat anything else, clams, shrimp, snails, crabs (forgetaboutit) and they will take bites out of fish even big fish.. Mine stayed small even at twelve years old, maybe a little bigger than two inches. Any of the brackish fish can live in salt water. Scats, monos, archerfish, puffers Thats all I can remember. When my figure eight puffer was about two years old it developed a large tumor on it's side. I removed the tumor using iodine and an exacto knife and expected to find the puffer dead the next day but he was still living so I hand fed it for a while and in a week he was back to normal and lived to a ripe old age.

[jeffriryan]

Good to know. Guess I'll leave that idea alone.

[jamal-188]

I guess my 4" porcupine would tear apart little 2" spottd puffers? I think I may try putting my 4" columbian shark in with the porcupine puffer?

[fishinchick]

I had two green spot puffers that my daughter acclimated to saltwater. They were what got me back into this hobby. We kept them in a fish only system since they go after shrimp, snails, worms, etc.
She did have soft corals in the tank and a couple of euphillia sps and it never bothered those. They did get in occasional spats with the bi-color psuedo but it was mostly over food.
I read that brackish puffers will live longer in saltwater than fresh. We acclimated them over a course of a week so we wouldnt shock their systems. They lived a very long time and have gone to a new home.
I did not notice any difference in their behavior after switching to salt water though. They did still nip fins when they felt snotty and ate like pigs.

[Mike4284m]

Paul B-

How big was your f8 when you acclimated to SW? I have a youngster now in BW. I think that most of the brackish fishes may return to SW to reproduce. So maybe it would be ok to put an adult f8 in SW but maybe not a juvie? I dunno.

Mike

[Paul B]

Mike it was a long time ago that I kept that particular figure 8 puffer but I think it was about an inch long when I got him. They are one of my favorite fish. All puffers have a personality. I only have a reef now so I really cant keep one but whenever I see one I miss mine. I am happy he lived to 12 years old, thats probably about as long as they live.

[Mike4284m]

There is a guy that had one for 18 yrs and towards the end it was barely active. Besides that I've only heard of them living about 5 yrs., so yours must have done amazing. My f8 is my favorite fish b/c of those great personalities. They are almost like dogs.

[Mekong]

http://puffer.proboards2.com/index.cgi?board=brack&action=display&num=1057420439

F8 puffers do best in brackish.

[SaltFishMD]

I have a green spotted puffer that I've had for the last 6 months. My only acclimation for this fish was taking it out of the brackish water and dumping it in my tank. It's done great since then, it eats chopped up clam and shrimp right out of my hand. I have a cleaner shrimp in my tank that it has never bothered. It has even survived through a couple 10 day vacations that I've been on in the past few months. When I first had it, it tried nipping at the fins of some of the other fish I have in my tank (ocellaris clown, sixline wrasse, coral beauty, flame angel) but now he just leaves them alone.

The reason I didn't bother with a long acclimation period was because I figured that in the normal brackish water that they live in, they experience fluctuations in salinity all the time depending on which way the tide is going.

One other thing to consider is that when I first had my LFS order me a puffer, they got maybe a dozen or so all at once, the first batch I decided to wait a week before picking one out. They all died in less than a week, many of them had torn fins and tails, they get very nippy with each other in close confines. With the second batch that came in the following week, I decided to not wait out a week. I went to the LFS the next day and just picked out the most active/healthy looking fish in the tank. His tail was a little shredded, but it grew back in a couple weeks. Since then he's done great in my tank. Just make sure to watch how much they eat. They will eat until they are full, and then keep on eating.

[Sloth]

Didn't he eat your corals or inverts?