The Puffer Forum

so maybe a dumb question but here goes...

most of the fish i own are wild caught, first thing done with any of them is quarantine with treatment for IP's.

I picked up a baby fahaka(2") the other day he is currently in quarantine and I was wondering if anyone here ever used prazi-pro for ip treatment on a puffer? I have used it on all my other fish with good results.

since I know the normal questions... the tank was not cycled, I took 1 of the filters off a running/established 55 and put it on the 20 gal quarantine tank, instant cycle. yes I know he needs a large tank, he will move from the quarantine to an established 75 which will get him by for up to 1 year if needed until I find the 120-180 for his final home. He has been eating like a pig, in 2 days he has eaten 2 baby crays(about 1 1/2" each), 1 ghost shrimp, and about 10 pond snails. There are currently 2 ghost shrimp and 5-6 snails in his tank if he gets hungry.

Sounds like a good plan. Congrats on your new fahaka!

Yep, PraziPro is very popular and is effective. The instructions don't mention treating the food, though - that's important. Mix a little water and a little medicine and soak some frozen/thawed or freshly killed food in that for several minutes. If your fish won't eat the medicated food, you can disguise the taste by adding fresh garlic juice (or a garlic product intended for fish food, like Garlic Extreme) to the mixture.

I also have a new bottle of prazipro intended for a future fahaka puffer.

Why not skip the 75 and jump straight to the 120? You won't regret it as it saves you moving him twice

i could be wrong, but i think i read somewhere here that they can average growing 1 inch per month for the first year so it would be very quickly grown out of the 75. +1 going full size asap. it will be worth it. moving an 8+ inch fish, especially a puffer wont be easy since you will have to lure him into a container and not a net

Mine was 12 inch after approx 1 year of living. Moving a 75 out to put a 120 in it's place seems like hard work. I wish I had gone bigger straight away. Will have to wait as I will be moving very soon, in a 5x2 at mo gonna get a 6x3 min

I'm sure some will take this the wrong way, I wish they wouldn't but...
This is the type of stuff i personally hate about this forum, people ask a question and get all kinds of responses other than an answer. That is why I explained what is going to happen with this fish so it wouldn't have to happen.
Moving a 8-10 inch fish is not that big of a deal, I have to use a container for most of my fish all 6"-10" as they will bite through a net in seconds(usually before its even out of the water). The 75 is what is available at the moment(already on hand and cycled, that fish is moving to a 125). with 13 tanks up and running anything is a pain when it comes to replacing tanks, hell even my weekly waterchanges take up to 5.5hours. Even if the fish grows an inch per month, which by the way I am expecting to happen, a 12" fish is still ok in a 75 gal tank, thats still 6" more width than he is long leaving plenty of turning room. I am more concerned with getting him a 180 than a 120 for the swimming length.

Back to the question... has anyone here ever used prazi-pro on a puffer? I have used it on all my other fish but none of them are scaleless.

Jeni said your plan was good, and I told you lots of people use it. You got your answer. Once a question is answered, particularly on a friendly, chatty forum like this, we tend to discuss related topics. That's just how it goes. You brought up related info in your post, so we talked about it. Forums are for discussion, not just Q-and-A!

ok I can accept that, it's just one of my little pet peeves i see happen a lot here. Like I said I don't mean to offend anyone with that last response, there is some good puffer knowledge here, much better than i have seen other places. I actually did think about putting him into the 125 right out of QT but a 2" fish in that big ole 6' tank just seems wrong when I have an 8"er just waiting for more swimming room and realizing that even a 125 will probably be too small someday.

I wasn't getting on your back, just saying what I would do. Mine bit through a bag at about 1" which put my wife into panic and me into rally mode lol. Lucky I didn't get arrested. Just saying what I would do, sorry if I got your back up

I wish I could afford to have all my fish in their forever homes from the get go, but with 8 fish that can grow up to anywhere between 16"-24" that would be a huge chunk of change all at once. I won't get a fish if i think for any reason I can't move it to a correct size home before it needs it. If life throws some sort of nasty crap at me and it somehow can't happen, then I would find said fish a proper home, plain and simple.

In 2 years, I started with a 1" fahaka in a 15g, moved to a 29g, 40g, 55g & 125g at 10". I have lots of tanks.

We can't really recommend that tho pp. If left in too small for too long stunting will occur. I know you moved him with plenty of time but others may not know when to move. Mine quarantined in a 10g hex. Has spent all his time in a 5x2 will very soon be in a 6x3 . Within 6mths, 18 mths old and 14 ins long

Pufferpunk wrote:In 2 years, I started with a 1" fahaka in a 15g, moved to a 29g, 40g, 55g & 125g at 10". I have lots of tanks.

geez your puff moves more times than a gypsy !!