Dwarf Puffer Help

Dwarf, Red Eye, South American & more. Freshwater puffer talk in here.
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Shortcake
Puffer Fry
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2017 11:51 am
Location (country): America

Dwarf Puffer Help

Post by Shortcake »

Monday I brought 5 dwarf puffers to a tank I’ve been cycling for a couple of weeks. I got 4 female and a male. Yesterday they were doing fine and swimming and all, but as of late yesterday I have yet to see all 5 of them. I can only find 4 and that’s becayse 3 of them hang out in a little group together and ones not usually far behind. What should I do about finding the 5th puffer and why are they sticking together? I thought they were territorial and aggressive.
They also haven’t eaten anything yet and I can’t get them to come to the top so I can show them the food. Ideas?
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hadla
Mbu Puffer
Posts: 1626
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:33 pm
Gender: Female
My Puffers: 2 gsps and a big Stars and stripes
Location (country): California
Location: Sacramento, CA
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Re: Dwarf Puffer Help

Post by hadla »

What are you feeding them and what else is in the tank?
Never trust big puffers. The fingers you save may be your own. -RTR
Dwarfpufferking
Puffer Fry
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Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2017 7:21 am
Location (country): United kingdom

Re: Dwarf Puffer Help

Post by Dwarfpufferking »

My puffers usually swim in groups but sometimes bully the one of the group members think this is normal behaviour, I believe.
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Minipuff
Dwarf Puffer
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2015 2:19 pm
Gender: Female
My Puffers: 5 dwarf puffers
Location (country): Norway

Re: Dwarf Puffer Help

Post by Minipuff »

Sticking tightly together may be a sign of stress, but would also be normal for the first couple of days when adjusting to new conditions. One missing is not a good sign, neither is the change in behaviour you mention, and lack of appetite. I suspect water quality issues. It takes more than a couple of weeks to cycle a tank, unless you got some cycled media for your filter. Test the water with liquid water test (JBL tests are very good, but since you're in the US, maybe API is the good stuff available?) to check for ammonia and nitrite (and also pH, nitrate, GH). In addition, make sure they have a lot of cover, like plants and maybe some driftwood.

Oops, seeing just now that this post is a bit old. How are they doing now?
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