My f8s bellys are huge is it normal?

[tzszychulski]

I have a 2 f8 puffers in a 39 gallon . They are fed blood worms,daily and sometimes I give them brine shrimp and at least once a week give snails...I skip feedings at least once a week but their bellys are absoultley HUGE. Ive had them for 6 months or so and when I first got them they were nowhere near as fat..They seem to be healthy and h2o tests ok across the board. They are not constipated they go just fine. Should I be worried??????? They are so fat they are like 2 hot air ballons or blimps and they are allways begging like 2 puppies for food.....Whats the deal is that normal? Also some times they go up and down the side of the tank for hours at a time I changed the decorations but they still do that???Any sugestons..

[Peregrine]

How much are you feeding at a time? Yes the begging is normal, try not to indulge them too often. When feeding them, try to feed them only so much as to give their bellies a rounded appearance...If they look like little pot bellied truckers when their done...you have given them a bit much.

I take from the fact that you say you are sure they are not constipated, you have seen them poop lately...good, maybe they just need a diet...a day or 2 extra wont hurt them...perhaps try feeding every second day for awhile and see if they slim down. (you could post a pic as well, maybe they are not as fat as you think)

As for the pacing...that could be them begging for food, or boredom, try adding a few new decorations, or a few ghost shrimp for them to hunt (acclimate them to the tank conditions so they don't perish too quickly)...if they start think there may be food hiding in the tank..they spend more time looking for it, rather than pacing

[taureandragon76]

Another thing you could do is cut back the feeding to once a day instead of twice a day but I would as Peregrine suggested post a pic of them to see if they are as fat as you think they are. I got lucky with my F8's once they are full they swim away from the food and ignore it, they never over indulge themselves and from what I have heard this is not the norm as alot of puffers will gorge themselves if allowed too

[Stormylee]

I have gsp that owns his big belly. He never slims down.

[tzszychulski]

Great idea about the ghostys Ill try to hide some...n c what happens.. Im gonna have to make little blind folds for their fat ......selves b-cause I hand feed them and any time anything goes near the surface of the h20 they think ```ooooo here comes the food`````nd chase me all over..Puffernator (the realy fat one) will nip my fingers and chase me right to the surface..and no Ive never seen him full...he eats untill he so fat he can barley hover and will take up a chill spot on a nearby leaf untill he can make the journey back to the top to beg some more...Also I wish I was as computer savy as the rest of you Ive never put pics onto a cpu b-4 other wise id show you this tank has plenty of cover (plants) and multipule caves and decarations to keep them occupied. I also move it around durig h2o changes and they still do that pacing up n down the glass. ---Ill try the shrimp tric maby thatll stop it but in the mean time ...I think of it like..exercise maby he will shave off a few millimeters....Thanks for the tips..

[Stormylee]

Mine really does it when he wants me to go away.

[Pufferpunk]

I feed mine every other day & they're still fat.

[tzszychulski]

The ghost shrimp idea worked great . Bought a handfull last night it made for some great hide and seek. Heres a question one of the shrimps I got deffinitly looks like its carring eggs I put her asside in a 1.5 gallon. How long to hatch?? Is it easy???? How many come out??

[Peregrine]

She is probably just carrying eggs, doubt they are fertilized...
Not the easiest thing to raise from that point, so I have heard...maybe some one else here has had luck breeding them

[mikeosoft]

Ghost shrimp are very difficult to breed because they tend to eat their young. I breed Cherry Red shrimp along with some snails buttocks occasional treats for my puffer.

[Boxermom]

Personally I've never had any problem breeding them or cherry red shrimp. Can't give advice on how to do it as I have no idea. I just threw some into my planted tank and nature took it from there. I've never heard that they are difficult to breed, though. Mostly I've seen that they're one of the easier shrimp to breed and that's why they cost so little.

[Peregrine]

Perhaps I am misinformed, confused or just clueless (not an unusual occurance ).
I have always had ghosties in my fw tank...seen many females with eggs, never seen the population change (other than when some one gets eaten by an aussie or (now) a puffer.) Maybe, any that are produced are eaten by the mother....then again, my tanks are not the safest place for any edible infants.

Either way, I am currently a failure at Ghost shrimp breeding (not that I have tried very hard). It is probably easier than I think, or was led to believe...From what I have read tonight, moving mommy was a good idea, and if you do see any little larva shrimp...best move mommy back to the tank before she gets hungry.

[Boxermom]

Maybe the key is a heavily planted tank with lots of ground cover? The entire floor of my tank is covered in dwarf sag and java moss, so there's probably a lot of places to hide. The only fish are three glo-fish, three cherry barbs and four glolight tetras.

[Myaj]

I thought there was something about the babies had to be born into brackish water, but maybe I'm thinking of brine shrimp.

Red cherries breed like rabbits, I always throw a few of them from my planted tank into the F8's tank to chase around.

[my name is mike]

from what ive read, they are hard to breed cause the baby napuli (sp?) are delicate and get sucked into filters (so a sponge would be good) - they also can kill themselves by running into the glass, so people recommend a few days of dark when they are first free swimming (put a towel over it)

ive had a few babies but not enough to sustain a nice food source