Information on figure eight spotted puffers?

Question

Just bought one yesterday it is about 1 inch and courious,i have him in a 10 gallon by himself, if he lives i will put him in a bigger tank,i have crushed up river rock as substrate is this ok,and how much should i feed him a day,i have took bloodworms,alage waffers and baby shrimp ground them up and mixed them and froze them into little cubes,any help will be appreciated

Answer 1

I own one figure eight puffer about 1inch as well, he lives in a 14 gallon tank w/ 2 otos and 2 african dwarf frogs. Ive done TONS of research and im happy to share it w/ a fellow puffer owner:

SUBSTRATE:The only real concern about having the crushed up river rock is that puffer''s belly are sensitive and sharp edges can be pretty harsh on them. Puffers are bottom dwellers so having appropriate substrate is a good idea.I have smooth gravel in mine.

FEEDING: The bloodworms and shrimp is a good idea but they dont eat algae and it be better if you didnt grind them up. It be best if you feed him frozen bloodworms( just let them thaw out first) and live shrimp ( ghost shrimp is a favorite of my little puffer and its fun to watch them hunt them down). Puffers have teeth that are constantly growing so you must feed him at least one snail per week, the snails shell will help w/ wearing down his teeth so they dont overgrow, puffers teeth can actually overgrow so much that they can no longer eat and eventually starve to death. Make sure there pond snails b/c some snails shells are TOO hard for the puffers teeth and can break them. You could actually probably get some pond snails from your local pet store, most of the time they come in w/ theyre shipment of live plants as pests. My local Petco gave me some for free, i actually have my own 1 gallon tank so i can breed them and keep a constant supply of snails for my puffer.

Figure eight puffers are low end brackish fish which means they need some salt in their water. You can use marine salt or aquarium salt, i use aquarium salt b/c you dont have to dilute it and because not many live plants and other fish can survive in brackish water. Just buy some aquarium salt from the pet store or walmart and add 1 TABLESPOON of salt for every 5 gallons of water.

TANKMATES: if you do find the urge to get him a tankmate, i would recommend a fish that doesnt swim around too much and NO LONG fins b/c puffers are horrible fin nippers! my puffer lives w/ 2 cute oto catfish, theyre small and theyre algae eaters so they stay suctioned to plants and the glass most of the time so they dont draw any attention to themselves. 2 cory catfish might work too but they swim around a bit more than otos so id keep a close eye on them if you try it.

Oh and whats ur puffers name? My puffers name is Ninja heres a pic of him in case you wanna see, u can look thro the other fish pics too if you want:

http://s343.photobucket.com/albums/o477/...

I hope you found this helpful, Good Luck w/ your new Puffer!! :)