got my new congo puffer today

[herplover22]

well i got my new congo today in the mail and he/she(can you tell by looking?) is soooo cute
i was afraid it might not make it in time b/c of all the bad whether we have been getting up here but he arrived safe and sound

i am just so paranoid lol he hasnt eaten yet (which i dont exect him to but that always makes me worry) where i got him from said they were feeding him on thawed krill and i dont feed krill to anything and the only things of krill at my local petstore are these huge slabs f krill for $25 so i am not wanting to buy that lol since i dont feed anything else but i will be calling some further away places to see if they have any smaller packs if he wont eat anything else

anyway he is very active swiming along the glass but i am a little worried(am i being paranoid?) lol i just dont want anything to go wrong he is so active and is placing the glass right at the top of the tank(tank paramaters are great ammonia 0 nitrites 0 and nitrates 5) so i know it isnt that i guess it is probably from the stress of shipping but it worries me all the same

anyway i do have some pictures but they are not that great b/c they were taken with my phone(and he wouldnt hold still for anything lol) but they will have to do b/c my batteries are dead in my camera and i dont know where the charging thing is lol








and here is his home for now(10g b/c he is so small but will be moved to a 20l or 30 depending on which one i feel like setting up lol) its nothing special but i didnt want to put too much in for when he (hopefully) buries himself should i add more in the middle and stuff?





sort of off topic here but i trimmed one of my f8s teeth the other day, they looked really long for some reason even though the other guy in with him has fine teeth but you could really see them, anyway everything went buy without a hitch i did not sedate him either, he was a bit grumpy though afterward(but still kept a nice white belly and his normal coloring just sulked for a while lol) but was back to normal after a few hours lol i was so afraid i was going to cut something important off but those teeth really go up far lol

[eieio]

how exciting!

[Pufferpunk]

That's from Toyin? Very cool, congrats!

[pufferpuggirl]

That is one cute little puffer herplover22, and I think the tank is perfect. I would say the most important thing is to give them space to bury themselves and to make sure the sand is soft enough so they can get down into it easily. I would not worry too much about decorations and things, as they don't really care and they want to spend most of their time in the sand, at least both of mine do.
As to food, I raise guppies and Endler's to feed to my piscivore puffers, but I know some people aren't keen on that. So I would try mussels (without the shell), possibly small pieces of jumbo shrimp, and definitely earthworms. I've never fed krill to any of my puffers, mostly because it was rejected early on, so I didn't bother.
I would not worry about your little guy pacing the glass because he's just gone through the stress of being shipped to you, and now he's in new surroundings, so it will probably take him a while to get used to things. I'm sure he will be fine.
Good luck with your cute little orange miurus.

[herplover22]

Yep I got him from toyin thanks for givng me his address

he still hasn't buried himself yet lol but it is a soft sand so he shouldn't have a problem one he does
but once I turned the lights off last nght he settled right down and went to bed

I did offer some muscle meat last night and he wouldn't even look at it lol but the 2 peices are gone today but I think the snails ate it because I saw one munching on it last night lol
I also offered a red wiggler last night and he did look sort of interested but didn't eat it
I am going to try to breed guppies for him as well for some variety

Thanks

[pufferpuggirl]

I always keep at least 5 small guppies in with my smallest Congo and she seems to prefer the guppies to any other food, although every once in a while she will take different food. If you ever get the chance to see them hunt a live fish it's pretty cool, nothing gruesome about it at all, it's overwith very quickly, but watching the puffer stalking the live fish is really interesting, at least I thought so.
Just be very careful if you offer any live fish before they are wormed, because I lost a pair (male & female) Congo to IP's because I gave them guppies right from an LFS and didn't realise the danger in doing so.

[herplover22]

Is the parasite clear by jungle the right stuff to treat with( it is a fizzy tab?) if so would I just soak the food in it? And for how long do you treat.

I am going to try to just breed my own so I won't have to worry about it

Also I called one of the local petstores and asked if they had feeder guppies and he said he gets live glassworms in and that fish that eat guppies really seem to love those too

would those be a good healthy treat too?

Thanks

[herplover22]

Is the parasite clear by jungle the right stuff to treat with( it is a fizzy tab?) if so would I just soak the food in it? And for how long do you treat.

I am going to try to just breed my own so I won't have to worry about it

Also I called one of the local petstores and asked if they had feeder guppies and he said he gets live glassworms in and that fish that eat guppies really seem to love those too

would those be a good healthy treat too?

Thanks

[pufferpuggirl]

I have never fed my puffers glassworms before, but I do believe someone else on here does. So I can't comment on that.
Yes, the Parasite Clear is the right stuff, the fizzy tabs. If you can get your puffer to eat, yes you would want to soak the food. I only do one treatment, unless you see evidence that the puffer still has IP's, then you might want to treat again, but I would not treat more than twice in a month's time. That's just my feeling on it though.

[MrHumphries]

I love the pouty lips the congo's have make's me want one, but no room

Don

[pufferpuggirl]

I love the pouty lips the congo's have make's me want one, but no room

Don

Ah, but they don't require much room Don! That's the beauty of it. They do have a special something to them I have to admit, and I suppose that's why I have 2 of them!

[busybones]

Wow congratulations! I want one so bad

[herplover22]

Thanks

is the treatment the same for live feeders as well? Just feed them once with some flakes soaked in the meds? And they will be free from parasites as well and safe to feed?

When people buy live blood worms and black worms do theyhave to be treated for anything? I think I might try some of the glassworms

Thanks for the help now I just need to think of a name lol

[Flutter]

No, you need to feed them several times with the medicated food. I've heard 4-6 times.

[kilofey]

i feed frozen glassworms to my DPs they LOVE them. as soon as they see the shot glass i defrost them in they are glued to the glass until i put them in the tank... definately worth a shot mine go batty for them... if i had a congo, id name it Zaire cause the congo river where they come from runs through the country & it sounds exotic just like your fish just a suggestion... okay well congrats!