Intro From New Zealand Newbie...
Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 1:16 pm
Hey guys,
Great to have joined this forum and hope to learn alot of useful information on caring for puffers!
I recently bought my first 2 puffers without a clue in the world, and was not informed or instructed on how to care for these little guys by the shop owner... I have come to realise that this isn't unusual, which is very worrisome for all the puffers out there about to be bought by unsuspecting humans! (Also needed to do my own research BEFORE purchasing puffers!)
I have a Green Spotted Puffer and a Figure 8 Puffer with me now. Owned for 4 days and absolutely LOVE them! I have never come across a fish so curious and clever!
Until I did some proper research on their care, requirements and lifestyles.....
I was not expecting to find out that I would probably have to separate my puffs once they hit adulthood, or that the minimum tank size requirements were actually ginormous!, the live food was also a shock, along with ensuring levels of weird scientific measurements were kept to and having the equipment to read these levels... OMFG!!
This was not what I expected (majority my own fault for not researching prior) especially being my very first aquatic tank!
I've loved puffers for years and always imagined a Porcupine Puffer floating around like a spiked beach ball in my tank... How very swiftly that daydream evaporated!!!
Thankfully I had my mum help me out with filters/heat/decos etc and some knowledge from working 5 tropical tanks for a few years!
I've managed to get the little fatty's all settled and happy as larry over the last couple of days. The Figure 8 is especially inquisitive and zooms up to me as soon as I go anywhere near the tank, follows fingers/pens/coffee/phones/whatever I'm holding at the time up and down the glass, side to side and even pops his little lips out of the water when I want to turn the thermo around for a level check! The cutest, fattest fish I've ever seen and I'm in love! I've called him/her Puffster for now
The Green Spotted is quite different - spends most of his/her time at the bottom of the tank and inside the diver helmet decor. Is this normal behavior? He/she is very shy and does not check us out when we go to the tank like Puffster, but tends to hide away and keep to himself/herself. I've called him/her Little Puff for now as he/she is smaller than Puffster and not as roly poly looking. Any ideas as how to get Little Puff a bit more interactive? I'd love to play with both of them with some toys etc, but unsure how to get Little Puff to come out of their shell...
I have only just found out that these two are not the best match tank-mate-wise and will most likely need to be separated due to bullying from Little Puff once he/she is bigger. This is so hard to believe right now as Little Puff is alot smaller than Puffster, and is actually a little scared of the bigger puff I think
Any help/info/instructions on this would be awesome. I mainly want to know when they hit adulthood and how I can tell? I'm assuming Little Puff (GSP) will outgrow Puffster (F8) very soon and that is how I'll know it's time to make the transfer???
I have only been feeding them bloodworms since I got them on Tuesday, but have snails coming from mums to start breeding my own for the Puffers to enjoy... VERY anxious about this live food stuff... I know it's a fact of life in the wild, but I am really struggling to imagine myself putting live crayfish/shrimp/krill etc into the tank and seeing the poor things be tortured to death
But at the same time I want my puffs to have the best possible and know they love hunting and live food. Did any of you struggle with this?
I'll leave my intro here (turned into a small novel ) and continue my research and checking out the info here.
Thanks in advance to any readers/repliers and I look forward to hearing back from anyone!
Cheers guys!
Great to have joined this forum and hope to learn alot of useful information on caring for puffers!
I recently bought my first 2 puffers without a clue in the world, and was not informed or instructed on how to care for these little guys by the shop owner... I have come to realise that this isn't unusual, which is very worrisome for all the puffers out there about to be bought by unsuspecting humans! (Also needed to do my own research BEFORE purchasing puffers!)
I have a Green Spotted Puffer and a Figure 8 Puffer with me now. Owned for 4 days and absolutely LOVE them! I have never come across a fish so curious and clever!
Until I did some proper research on their care, requirements and lifestyles.....
I was not expecting to find out that I would probably have to separate my puffs once they hit adulthood, or that the minimum tank size requirements were actually ginormous!, the live food was also a shock, along with ensuring levels of weird scientific measurements were kept to and having the equipment to read these levels... OMFG!!
This was not what I expected (majority my own fault for not researching prior) especially being my very first aquatic tank!
I've loved puffers for years and always imagined a Porcupine Puffer floating around like a spiked beach ball in my tank... How very swiftly that daydream evaporated!!!
Thankfully I had my mum help me out with filters/heat/decos etc and some knowledge from working 5 tropical tanks for a few years!
I've managed to get the little fatty's all settled and happy as larry over the last couple of days. The Figure 8 is especially inquisitive and zooms up to me as soon as I go anywhere near the tank, follows fingers/pens/coffee/phones/whatever I'm holding at the time up and down the glass, side to side and even pops his little lips out of the water when I want to turn the thermo around for a level check! The cutest, fattest fish I've ever seen and I'm in love! I've called him/her Puffster for now
The Green Spotted is quite different - spends most of his/her time at the bottom of the tank and inside the diver helmet decor. Is this normal behavior? He/she is very shy and does not check us out when we go to the tank like Puffster, but tends to hide away and keep to himself/herself. I've called him/her Little Puff for now as he/she is smaller than Puffster and not as roly poly looking. Any ideas as how to get Little Puff a bit more interactive? I'd love to play with both of them with some toys etc, but unsure how to get Little Puff to come out of their shell...
I have only just found out that these two are not the best match tank-mate-wise and will most likely need to be separated due to bullying from Little Puff once he/she is bigger. This is so hard to believe right now as Little Puff is alot smaller than Puffster, and is actually a little scared of the bigger puff I think
Any help/info/instructions on this would be awesome. I mainly want to know when they hit adulthood and how I can tell? I'm assuming Little Puff (GSP) will outgrow Puffster (F8) very soon and that is how I'll know it's time to make the transfer???
I have only been feeding them bloodworms since I got them on Tuesday, but have snails coming from mums to start breeding my own for the Puffers to enjoy... VERY anxious about this live food stuff... I know it's a fact of life in the wild, but I am really struggling to imagine myself putting live crayfish/shrimp/krill etc into the tank and seeing the poor things be tortured to death
But at the same time I want my puffs to have the best possible and know they love hunting and live food. Did any of you struggle with this?
I'll leave my intro here (turned into a small novel ) and continue my research and checking out the info here.
Thanks in advance to any readers/repliers and I look forward to hearing back from anyone!
Cheers guys!