lots of questions about keeping a congo puffer

[pufferpuggirl]

I'm certainly not putting you down kinny78, if want to feed your Congo pellets, that's entirely up to you, and nothing wrong with it either ... personally my Congo would be eating live fish in the wild, so I really don't see anything wrong with that. I raise these Endlers just for this purpose and when they go, they go very quickly and I think fairly painlessly. It's a fact of life. I just feel that lurkers should get a chance to eat what they normally would eat, but I don't feed my puffers exclusively live food either, I offer them other foods regularly.

I do know some of my friends that own puffers that feed them pellet food, and it works for them. I think it's all down to what each of us feels comfortable with, as long as the puffer is getting a nutritious meal, that's all that counts.

[kinny78]

Schismy007,
It's all good. Anyhow, I will feed him pellets for right now. When summer comes, I will go out and catch some crawfish at this creek near my house and some earthworms as well. You are right, Puffers do need a well balanced diet. Got a question, how much sand do you have in your tank for the Congo?

Check out this Congo feeding on YOUTUBE. Now this is cruel and evil!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zElqqm0ndbM

[Pufferpunk]

I'd go with about 3" of sand.

[pufferpuggirl]

Right now, I think my Congo has about 2" of sand, but I will need to increase the amount of sand that's in there as she grows because she most definitely prefers to bury herself rather than to hide in a cave, or container, etc. I put a terracotta pot in her tank and she kept well away from it, so I took it out. Now that she's in a bigger tank, she's loving it. She's already eaten one of the Endler's that was in there (didn't waste any time).

[Pufferpunk]

Yeah, mine never hung out in the cave I gave her. Sat on top of it though.

[kinny78]

Currently, my puffer won't submerge completely underneath the sand. He only digs a little bit and plant himself in there with the top half of his body above the sand surface. Perhaps he is not strong enough; maybe when he gets bigger, he'll have enough strength to completely submerge under the surface of the sand. What do you guys think?

[Pufferpunk]

How deep is your sand? Don't forget to stir it thoroughly, every week.

As far as that vid... Poor GF! Did you see the look on it's face? For some reason, I don't feel sorry for crays as much though. Too bad that puffer isn't long for this world. It looks obese!

[pufferpuggirl]

Maybe yours (kinny78) just isn't keen on burying itself. My girlie is burying even deeper now that she's got a bigger tank with more space, in fact, there are times I really have difficulty in seeing where she is buried. Usually all you can see is just her eyes and the end of her mouth, and she does such a good job of camouflaging that it's no wonder she's eaten all but one of the Endlers I put in that tank (and I put about 8 small fish in there!).
Don't forget, they need enough space to get a bit of a "running start" before the dive into the sand, so if there's not much space, that may keep yours from going under all the way. I am not sure really why it's not burying all the way down really, just thinking of different things.

[kinny78]

schismy007,

I have a 40 gallon tank and my Congo is the only fish in there. There's plenty of room. I'll stir the sand up a little and maybe add a little more. I have enough sand for his body to completely submerge. I am sure of that. I read somewhere that the ratio between the level of sand you have in the tank should be equal to the length of your Congo's body. I am following this ratio without a doubt. Anyhow, I'll see until he gets bigger. Also, I don't feed him anything live at the moment, just Hikari Massivore Pellets. He swims up and bites it off of my chopsticks. It's so cool! It's almost like a bonding moment between father and his baby son. HAHAHHAHAHA. ok, I hope i didn't scare anyone. Anyhow, I'll post some pics on here after work. Cheers.

[Dragon Puffer]

Schismy007,
It's all good. Anyhow, I will feed him pellets for right now. When summer comes, I will go out and catch some crawfish at this creek near my house and some earthworms as well. You are right, Puffers do need a well balanced diet. Got a question, how much sand do you have in your tank for the Congo?

Check out this Congo feeding on YOUTUBE. Now this is cruel and evil!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zElqqm0ndbM

I would be worried about having your puffer ingest the air inside the pellets. I know that some food a too much air inside it for puffers. I was just worried , but who knows?

[kinny78]

No need to worry about air inside the pellets. I break the pellets into multiple pieces then feed them to the Puffer.