The Puffer Forum

Well guys after a huge two year break from puffers I have returned. I took a break after I lost poor Ratchet (T. lineatus), tried my hand at s. american cichlids and did fine but just not the same. Sold the 120 and decided to get out of the fish hobby only to purchase a 40 breeder reef two months la...

Thanks guys for all your replies. It means a lot.

I haven't had the heart to post this for quite some time but I wanted to let you guys know. If you remember me during the spring I had Ratchet my fahaka puffer. He went on a 5 month feeding strike eating just barely enough to survive. We went through three bouts of severe bacterial infection and a p...

Well a quick update. We are back to the drawing board. He's still not wanting to eat. I think this tuesday will officially make a month of this fiasco. He acts hungry. He dances for the shirmp, he lunges at the shrimp, he take a bite of the shrimp.....then hastily backs away opens and closes his mou...

Wow he is gorgeous! I really think a fahaka needs at least 135gallon to grow appropriately. What it comes down to really is the depth of the tank for me. I think a fish needs enough turning space to even hope to be a able to reach max size.

I don't ever use carbon in my filters either PP

He just looks stressed to me, normal for a fish just moved. Hope he improves for you.

Thanks all for the replies and support. Yeah PP I have learned that he is quite the moody fellow. I have to move in the fall and I am now most definitely not looking forward to the temper tantrum that is going to follow. He's still eating ghost shrimp and swimming around. I think he might be picking...

He all. I was really sick over the weekend so I wasn't able to post. Ratchet is improving although he is not back to himself quite yet. He is eating the ghost shrimp and he's been swimming around his tank more often. Last night I fixed his market shrimp and he actually came out to the front of the g...

Thanks that really means a lot to me

Yeah they grow like little weeds. My mom came over a few weeks back and wouldn't believe he was the same fish she had seen before lol. Thanks for asking, but nope still not eating. :( He acts like a completely different fish. Tomorrow I'm going to go pick him up some more ghost shrimp. I can't tell ...

awwww he's adorable!

Ah sorry for the confusion eieio. I see what you are saying. I still can't remove them as I have no where for them to go. I have a 10gallon but the heater is crapping out and I don't want to risk it. I feel so bad knowning this is all my fault. If he dies i'm going to be beside myself. PP that's a g...

Well operation shrimp on a string was not a success. He just ran away from it. So I left it in the tank and turned his light off. I'll remover it in the morning and try another earth worm. It does seem some of the ghost shrimp are missing so he might have eaten them, they won't do him much good thou...

Sorry haven't been on. It's day 14 of the hunger strike and no obvious improvement. He lunged at a ghost shrimp but missed and lost interest. I'm going to try tying a piece of string to a shrimp piece and dangling it in his face again. I kind of wish he'd just get mad and then bite it and remember t...

From my experience (and you might want to wait for someone who knows more than me) it is most certainly possible, as long as the tank is cycled. Its the bacteria that take so long to accliimate to changes in salinity. The fish are more than capable of handling it. Just drip acclimate the one you cho...