|
They are often sold as fresh water puffers, which really isn't true. They will grow larger, have brighter coloration, suffer less disease and live longer in higher salinity. Born in FW, they migrate through river estuaries from FW lakes to the ocean, to live out their adult lives in saltwater. So depending on where in the life cycle they are they may be considered fresh, brackish, or saltwater fish. Optimum water conditions are an SG anywhere from 1.010 for juveniles to 1.022 for adults. The PH is also better at around 8.0 which is typically high for a FW tank.
As stated above they are not a good community fish as they will nip and generally torrrize most FW community fish. They are also tough to feed. Puffers eat crustaceans in the wild. Foods for smaller puffers are frozen/freeze-dried krill/plankton, gut-loaded ghost shrimp, glass worms, crickets, worms and small snails (the size of their eye). Snails are an essential food to a puffer's diet, especially when small.
Very cool fishes, but unfortunatly another animal that is sold without proper instructions on how to care for them.
|
