Puffer advice

[Donewiththisplace]

Trying to add a Puffer to my 125 fowlr...started with a valentini only to have him crap out after 9 days...few months later I tried a blue spot and he lasted 5 days.

Both were swimming and eating pretty normally the day before they expired. Although I will say their appetites were not ferocious and somewhat picky. A variety of frozen was offered but they were very picky and would not eat with any aggressiveness...just kinda picked.

Is anyone keeping a Puffer of this type? Any problems or issues you had?

 

[marrone]

Puffer are pretty hardy, they shouldn't carp out in such a short time. Were any fish picking on them or stressing them out? As for what to feed them try pieces of clam, shrimp or silver sides. The Valentini and Blue Spot aren't as strong as say the Porcupine puffer or some of the dog face ones so you may want to try one of those instead.

 

[Donewiththisplace]

Thanks...from what I could see there wasnt any aggression going on in the tank.

I was thinking it's a dietary issue since they were eating, but kinda sparingly. Just seemed whatever I fed wasnt interesting them that much. More spitting food out than ingesting. It was eating the pe calanus copepods..but the dam things are so small hed have to eat 1000 of them to fill up.

I'd like to stick to the smaller puffers, dont want something that's gonna possibly outgrow my tank. Just want something to live more than a week.

Water parameters dont indicate anything alarming..very frustrating to have mystery deaths.

Guess I'll do some more homework and try again.

 

[thedragoneel]

I?ve kept both those puffers for about 2 -3 years each. They are incredibly hardy. I lost mine because eventually their teeth get overgrown to the point they starve. Even though I have 120lbs of live rock to chomp on. They just don?t ground down their beaks in captivity naturally like in the wild. That?s why I won?t keep those size puffers anymore. They need constant hard shell food which destroys water quality.

No reason for those puffs to die in that short amount of time unless sick or just stressed to death.


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[Donewiththisplace]

Both were bought from a very reputable place, so being sick although it's still possible, is probably unlikely.

Stressed is more likely the problem..but it's weird because up until the day they die are swimming all about the tank, not hiding in the back and although sparingly they are eating.

When I get the nerve enough up to try again I'm going to extend out the acclimation process longer and try transferring with a container vs the net. I've read that netting them induces alot of stress.

As far as diet I've offered just about every frozen type my lfs has. Now I know their slower and more methodical swimmers..but the just aren't showing that real interest in eating. I did notice the blue spot would wait until the feeding frenzy was over before he attempted to chase any food..maybe I'll try spot feeding too. More personalized feeding so to speak.

 

[Reef lover24]

I have kept valentini's and feel they are relatively low matienance.. the key is keeping them well fed and every now and then giving them a clam to gobble on. This helps with their teeth as well. they re relatively hardy so not sure why they did not last long.. one thing I did notice Is that I fed other fish first and then dropped some food in his vicinity, as they are slow and do not fight for the food. There were times he was in the frenzy but not often. they are beautiful little fish though

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Hmm, in regards to keeping their teeth trimmed, (not that I plan on keeping puffers) seems to me they need crunchier foods than shrimps. perhaps foods like blue crab legs or mussels? I just throw out the crab legs anyway, but seems easy enough to salvage the legs and freeze them before I boil the crabs. Also with crab legs, there would be no competition from other fish, since they cant bite though them. Mussels would have to be the little ones I usually collect by the piers, something bite sized.