Puffer mania

Dwarf, Red Eye, South American & more. Freshwater puffer talk in here.
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astrid37
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 117
Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 2:37 pm
My Puffers: Seven T. schoutedeni
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Re: Puffer mania

Post by astrid37 »

Photo 4
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Last edited by astrid37 on Sat Jun 30, 2018 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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astrid37
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 117
Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 2:37 pm
My Puffers: Seven T. schoutedeni
Location (country): US

Re: Puffer mania

Post by astrid37 »

And here's the parasite (?) that was hanging on my adult schoutedeni girl in my 55g (who is about to be a single lady. She's much older than the juvenile male currently in there, and he's about the same size as the 5 newbies, so I think I'm going to do 6 in the 125 and keep her in the 55.) I'm going to dose all 7 of them with Prazipro. The parasite in the photo was about 1/4in long from top to bottom. (I should have put in a penny for size comparison but didn't think of it until after I got this far.)

Off topic, has anyone had issues with Prazipro being harmful to plecos and upside-down catfish, corys, tetras, and killifish? I don't want to move the puffers to dose them so have to dose both tanks (even if it's in the food, all of the other community fish will be exposed, too, but maybe since it's to a lesser degree, it will be ok?) Any thoughts are welcome. Many thanks!
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StinkyPete
Figure 8 Puffer
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My Puffers: (Pea puffers),T. schoutedeni, P. Turgidus, P. palembangensis, Random target puffer, cutcuia, palustris...
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Re: Puffer mania

Post by StinkyPete »

Six of em' in the 6ft. 125 gallon.

Awesomeness. Your probably glowing.
Enjoy your journey!
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Pufferpunk
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Re: Puffer mania

Post by Pufferpunk »

OMG, that thing is horrible-looking! Do you know what it is?

They look great! :smitten:
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Bleedingheartmommy
Figure 8 Puffer
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Re: Puffer mania

Post by Bleedingheartmommy »

They are beautiful, and don’t look to have much for stress coloration! Congratulations, the fear and worry you all went through was awful but it must be a relief having them all finally home and safe! Look forward to seeing more of these guys!
"Genetics loads the gun, and environment pulls the trigger."-Brené Brown
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hadla
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Re: Puffer mania

Post by hadla »

Love the look of their tank! Are they still doing well?
Never trust big puffers. The fingers you save may be your own. -RTR
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astrid37
Figure 8 Puffer
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Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 2:37 pm
My Puffers: Seven T. schoutedeni
Location (country): US

Re: Puffer mania

Post by astrid37 »

Thanks so much, StinkyPete, Pufferpunk, Bleedingheartmommy, and hadla!
I am not sure what the parasite is, but it seems to start out life as the tiniest red dot on her belly and then is able to attach and detach itself at will, growing into that monstrosity I posted above. PP had the same reaction I did- "ugh, that's horrible!" Needless to say, she's being dosed with Prazipro as we speak (and I do know she's a "she" for sure now!).

I am also treating the 6 puffers in the 125g with Prazipro. They are coming along pretty well so far. The tiniest one is being chased away from food by one of the larger ones, but the tank is so long and definitely wide enough, I don't understand why the little one doesn't just move and eat somewhere else. There are plenty of territory spots not claimed that have food in them. 3-4 of them like hanging out together in the left corner, then the other two (bigger and littlest) are around each other in the right corner with bigger chasing littlest, and the shyest one has been hiding under a rock in the middle for most of her time here. They are all generally eating at least a little, I think. Some are eating much more than that. Frozen bloodworms thawed and soaked in Vitachem, live blackworms, and minute ramshorns seem to be the preferences so far. I'm so relieved to hear Pufferpunk say they look great, because I'm still in full-on mom worry mode with them. They're younger than I had expected, which is wonderful, because it means I get to spend more of their lives with them.

Bleedingheartmommy,I, too, was relieved that even after their ordeal, they didn't have too much stress coloration. I just want to fatten them all up a bit more and get them comfier so they greet me in that V formation StinkyPete mentioned!

hadla, thanks for remarking on their tank! I'm still waiting on some wood to come in and a few more plants. They're taking much longer to arrive than anticipated. I normally don't like to do things backward this way, fish first, then aquascape, but I had to order the puffers last week and have them shipped then, too, or they would have been gone. The tank was already cycled, so that part is fine, and they definitely have enough rocks and plants in there now without all of the other stuff to be ok until the rest arrives. I'll feel better once the tank is totally set up and everyone is reliably eating. Never a dull moment! :)

I managed to catch a photo of all 6 in the same spot. They were uncertain about the water change so grouped up briefly.
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StinkyPete
Figure 8 Puffer
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My Puffers: (Pea puffers),T. schoutedeni, P. Turgidus, P. palembangensis, Random target puffer, cutcuia, palustris...
Location (country): USA

Re: Puffer mania

Post by StinkyPete »

That's an awesome family photo.
Congo Aliens!

I have a couple of questions.

Sometime, list your plants and your lights/lighting schedule.
I'm always trying to learn something new from someone who has the same fish.

BTW, if you ever get surface film that your not happy with, there is a Eheim Skim350 product that is on sale at times for $25ish and usually at $30.
The little Ehiem 350 skimmer will take in the big bubbles at the surface and spit them out into little micro bubbles as well as eat surface film.

Lights:
As for lights, we have messed with all sorts of plants and tried the small Kessil A80 LED, the larger Kessil A160WE, and the smaller black square looking Fluval Nano bluetooth series LED that is great for a 20long or 20high.

For dimmer qualities, I'm thinking about trying a Fluval 3.0 series bluetooth striplight in either 24, 36 or 48 inches.
The smartphone is very small to tinker with visually as a controller, but once you get a bluetooth tablet in your hands, the screen, slider bars, lines and bars to drag for light patterns get so easy to deal with.

Products:
Sometime I have to grab some VitaChem and maybe some fin repair product for nipped fins. 'Not sure what brand.
I keep the schoutedeni well fed, but the one came in with a nice chunk missing in the tail that I'd like to help.
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astrid37
Figure 8 Puffer
Posts: 117
Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 2:37 pm
My Puffers: Seven T. schoutedeni
Location (country): US

Re: Puffer mania

Post by astrid37 »

Hi StinkyPete, thanks for the surface skimmer recommendation and all of the info!

My plants so far are jungle val, bolbitis, and lots of anubias. I splurged and got two of the mother anubias on Amazon and was able to break each of them up into 3 more large plants each to make 6 tall ones, providing some nice cover. We lucked out and found a bulk rock supply company so it was $6.00 for all of the rocks in the 125g. I think that was the cheapest thing in there :lol: .

For lights, I'm using the Finnex Planted+ 24/7 Fully Automated Aquarium LED Fixture CC series. I haven't really tinkered around with customizing the colors for certain periods of the day, so right now, I basically just have it on full lighting on all four color spectra from 9am-6pm, mostly white and red from 6pm until 9pm, then off until 9am. So far, everyone seems happy with that, including one of the anubias which kept flowering even when I transplanted it into that tank from one of my 40g community tanks, so I will probably leave it like that for now. I like these lights, because you can kind of set up your own autodimmer by controlling the brightness at different intervals.

I get my Vitachem from Drs. Foster and Smith because I'm already usually buying koi food there so it's free shipping, but I think it's available in lots of different places. I've had good luck with the Seachem Garlic Guard to stimulate appetite so sometimes combine them. I've heard that Melafix is good for healing nipped fins like you mention, but I've never used it in puffers so not sure if the protocol or dosing is different (or if it's ok to even use it with puffers).
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