Porcupine Puffer

[Amanda1]

I have my porcupine puffer for a while now. Everything has be perfect until about a week ago he stopped eating. He looks kinda bloated to me. Idk if that can happen to fish or not. Also I read somewhere that if you feed a lot of krill eventually they will get sick of it and stop eating and wont except anything else because it doesnt taste as good. Does anyone know if that is true or not? I really hope he gets better. He is my favorite fishie and im getting worried about him. Any advice?

 

[seffieuk]

Hi Amanda and to TFF

can you let us have a little more info please?

Tank size
water stats
what else do you have in the tank
and what else are you feeding him?

Seffie x

 

[Amanda1]

Hi Amanda and to TFF

can you let us have a little more info please?

Tank size
water stats
what else do you have in the tank
and what else are you feeding him?

Seffie x

I have a 75g tank. I am planing to upgrade once he gets bigger but now he is only a couple inches long. I actually bought a 150g for him but it was defective and it broke. The defect wasnt included in the warranty so that was a horrible mishap. haha. He lives with a baby snowflake eel, yellow tang, three striped damsel fish, and a green mandarin. They all get along great. The puffer and tang actually sleep together in the same cave. I was feeding him frozen krill, prawn, and salad shrimp. I tried giving him squid but i dont think his teeth are strong enough to chew it cause he always spits it out eventually. He wont eat any of my clean up crew. I dont think he knows what live food is. Nitrates are a little higher then they should be but I am working on fixing that at the moment by throwing in 2 water changes a month instead of just one. Nitrite, ammonium is at zero and ph is 8.3. Temp is set to 80%F

 

[seffieuk]

Nitrates shouldn't be the problem unless they are very high.

Have you got a photo of him before and now?

I'm just wondering if when you bought him he might have been skinny and now he has fattened up - puffers can become quite rotund when eating well

Another thought, krill isn't the best food to be giving him all the time - he needs to be having food to help keep his beak down, so needs prawns still in their shells and cockles (just break the shell a bit), that sort of thing

Seffie x

 

[Amanda1]

Nitrates shouldn't be the problem unless they are very high.

Have you got a photo of him before and now?

I'm just wondering if when you bought him he might have been skinny and now he has fattened up - puffers can become quite rotund when eating well

Another thought, krill isn't the best food to be giving him all the time - he needs to be having food to help keep his beak down, so needs prawns still in their shells and cockles (just break the shell a bit), that sort of thing

Seffie x

Hmm. The LFS that I got him at doesnt sell stuff in the shell. Thats kinda weird considering half their tanks are puffers. I'll have to be on the look out for something like that. I think he looks the same as when i got him just a lil bigger. I cant figure out how to post pics on here. He actually came out to say hi to me for a min and to get his picture taken today. He loves the attention. The past couple days he was just hiding in all my rock work. Still wont eat though.

 

[seffieuk]

Hmm. The LFS that I got him at doesnt sell stuff in the shell. Thats kinda weird considering half their tanks are puffers.

Have you asked them, usually lfs keep bags of cockles

I'll have to be on the look out for something like that. I think he looks the same as when i got him just a lil bigger.

Could his beak be overgrown?

I cant figure out how to post pics on here.

Get yourself a photbucket account, its free, upload your photos and then just copy and paster the img link under the photo into here

He actually came out to say hi to me for a min and to get his picture taken today.

look forward to seeing that

He loves the attention. The past couple days he was just hiding in all my rock work. Still wont eat though.

ah bless, you haven't put a new fish in have you?

Seffie x

 

[Amanda1]

So turns out my lil guy was just constipated. Apparently you can burp a fish. lol. Didnt end up having to do that but thought that was interesting. He is perfectly fine now. Took me a while to update. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[seffieuk]

Thats great, did you feed him peas?

You only burp a puffer if he has inflated and can't deflat - amazingly scary I would think!

Seffie x

ps can we have a photo and what is his name?