Inactive Dwarf Puffer

[Thaoguy29]

Hello everyone one, this is Ben, well i just a dwarf puffer yesterday and set up a 2.5 tank for it with a couple of live plants and a heater. There is no filtration because I'm planning to do water changes. but let's get back to the puffer, it is so inactive, it does not swim around often and when it does it seems like its trying to find holes in the glass wall. Did i do something wrong?

Also its not eating the blood worms I'm feeding it. If a picture will help clear things up then i can post one.

thanks

[DjElite140]

did you just set the tank up when you bought the puffer? The tank should be fully cycled before adding a puffer. I'm far from an expert but have been doing a lot of research lately and puffers are VERY sensitive to Ammonia and Nitrites found in "un-cycled" tanks. I'm sure someone else will come along soon and be more helpful.

[Thaoguy29]

Yeah i actually just setted up the tank. Yesterday

[nessasfishies]

I don't think you will have success with a non filtered tank. You need a cycled tank for just about all fish, except maybe a Betta, even with Bettas you MUST do water changes often. I am new to puffers, but not to fish keeping in general. Puffers are one of the "messier" type of fishes to keep, so filtration AND water changes are a must. Your puffer is probably suffering from ammonia poisoning, something very hard on scaless fish. I think your best bet is to bring him back to the LFS, get a proper set up (2.5 is a lil small, 3 gallon is a minimum for DPs from what I understand) Come home and look up fishless cycling, you will need a test kit to do this, and patience, but it's really worth it for the sake of your fish.

[DjElite140]

I agree. i just recently finished cycling my 75 gallon and it took a litle over 5 weeks. The only fish I would keep in a "filterless" tank is a betta w/ frequest water changes. If you can get a slightly bigger tank that would be best and take the puffer back to the LFS until your tank is cycled. Then you can put him back in.

[nessasfishies]

here is an article on fishless cycling
http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profile ... cling.html

[Thaoguy29]

Okay so, i've come to the conclusion that you guys are right. So i moved my puffer into a ten gallon Betta fry growout tank(don't worry i already removed the bettas). It seems to do fine in the ten gallon. I know for sure that the ten gallon is already cycled sinced i set it up around long 5 months ago. But the only problem is that it has no gravel in there. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to syphon out all the water in the ten gallon and then put gravel in the tank and dump the cycled water back into the tank, and then add the dwarf in...um...Good or bad idea.?

[DjElite140]

I may be wrong, but you should just be able to add gravel straight to the 10 without taking the water out. Just make sure it is completely clean gravel. Rinse it at least 2-3 times before putting it in.

What are you using for filtration in the 10 gallon?

[Thaoguy29]

I'm using a regular ten gallon corner filter (the blue kind)..I also have a whisper ten. which is better?

[DjElite140]

I'm not really sure what the corner filter is. The reason I was asking though is puffers are very messy eaters and due to the fact that they are so sensative to ammonia it is usually good to "over filtrate." I'm not sure since it is a Dwarf it may not be as messy. But if you have the room in the tank you may just want to run both.

[nessasfishies]

Leave the corner filter, because that is where most or your good bacteria is, add the whisper too. Having both wont hurt. You can add gravel with out removing the water, just do it gently a handful at a time as not to stress the puffer.

[Thaoguy29]

wow thanks you guys!

[DjElite140]

no problem. good luck.