The Puffer Forum

They can get up to 18".

Yeah he is still a wee one. Look for PufferPunks fahaka...he is portly.

Haha. That's what I've read! I've heard so many variations though so I just though I'd ask.

I think that it is depending on the way they are cared for. A fish with a decent amount of water changes, vitamin enriched varied diet, ample living space, and a pretty much stress free environment is going to be the bigger more healthy one versus the one crammed in the fish store tank stacked on top of others of it's kind that are biting them almost constantly.
Of course none of us can mimic conditions in the wild to a tee which in the long run is where they thrive the best.

I definitely agree! I can't help but feel bad for my puffer having been pulled out of the wild like that but I feel slightly better since I feel like I might be able to provide better care for it than some others. (The petstore initially told me that I could keep him in a 20 gal tank when I first bought him which is absolutely ridiculous. I'd be so sad if someone actually did buy him w/o doing the research and kept him in that tiny of a tank.) On the side note, where can I get vitamins and what type should I be looking for? I've been to a couple lfs looking for them and nobody has anything. (When I looked for it at petco, the guy admitted to not knowing anything about them but told me that I should be feeding him pellets instead of shrimp from the grocery store!) Ahh. I'm so glad I have you guys.

Drsfostersmith Vita Chem on sale now! Join Ebates and get 6% cash back! Sound like a commerical?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=4998

Haha. It totally does! And I'm sold!

I'm getting really frustrated with this. Puffy has been in the dark all week because of the medication and I just started turning the lights on for him again. I haven't noticed anything funny about his poo until now. It was clumpy and bubbly and orangy again (just like the poo in the sticky in the general discussion section). During the week, I did a 50% wc and vac every other day and added in more salt and medication as directed on the package. Some of the ich spots disappeared but I noticed 2 new ones today. Why won't it just go away? I'm still somewhat unsure of the ip because Puffy still eats and acts normal but during the week, he did get a little bit skinnier. I'll provide some pics so you guys can see what I'm seeing and hopefully it'll help! If I need to, I'm thinking about going and getting new medication tonight. Is there anything that you would recommend? Thanks!

Puffy's belly. I just fed him a small piece of frozen shrimp, 1 snail, and 1 shrimp. It didn't increase that much but it did a teeny bit. I think you can see a couple of ick spots on the tail.

Puffy's ich on his fins. The large white patch on the left has been there since the beginning. His eyes arent normally this blue either but they look really pretty!

And lastly, the poo. It broke into pieces when I sucked it out of the tank but I think it gets the idea across. This week, he's been eating pond snails, frozen shrimp, and live ghost shrimp btw. (And all live food had been qted for at least a week before I fed it to him.)

Some more info:
The last water change I did was on either Sunday or Monday but I plan on doing another one tonight. I just tested the water and after looking at it again, I guess my test strips do have numbers. I dont know how accurate all of it is though. This is what it looks like to me:
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Water Hardness: 50(ish)
Chlorine: 0
Alkalinity: 120(ish)
pH: 7.0 to 7.2
It's hard to figure out the precise numbers since all you do is match colors. I plan on picking up the api masterkit tonight though so maybe I'll be able to give some more definite answers then.

He doesn't look like he has ich on his body at all just the fins. This could be a bacteria that some fish get that is harmless but just an eye sore. It usually goes away on it's own. How long was he in quarantine?

He looks really good. And the pooh I don't think is anything to worry about. It may be the color of the snail you fed him. I don't see any white stringy or worm like in the pooh. If you have done a 3-5 day treatment for ip's then your good to go. It took Annabelle a few weeks to gain weight and have a full tummy look. For Ich: I would keep the temp up on the tank and keep readding the salt for one month. At the end of the month don't add anymore salt do a large water change and slowly bring the temp back down. It will clear up. I did have a moment a few days ago when I thought Annabelle had ich again. It happened to be bubbles from the bubble wand stuck to her. It almost gave me a heart attack. We call it ich-phobia. As I said earlier in this post your little guy is looking good.

katty wrote:So anyways, good news! I just signed the lease on my apartment so that means bigger and better tank coming very soon!

Hey Katty

You've probably also researched this but I've been playing around on one of those websites that tells you how many gallons your tank holds and if you get a 4ftx2ftx2ft tank that will give you a 143g tank (so 23g over the recommended minimum)

If you want to treat him (and yourself) you could get a Juwel Rio 400 which is 5ftx2ftx2ft and holds 179usg!

Juwel Rio 400's sell for as little as £200 on Ebay (new they're about £450/£500!)

I just thought you're in the US aren't you so I'm not sure if you can get them over there, but you get the idea of tank sizes

You must be excited what with getting a new home not only for your puffer but for yourself

Thanks SOO much for all that info! It makes me feel so much better. I think I just might be freaking out because I have no idea about what's going on! But thats why I have you guys. *virutal hug*
My only worry about the poo is the consistency. It looks somewhat lumpy and bubbly while being connected by stringy material when it isn't all broken up like that. What is the poo supposed to look like? (Weird question, I know!) Thanks again guys. You're the best!

Yunachin, I never actually quarantined him because he's the only living thing in his tank. I've just been keeping a close eye on him. You think the white spots might be harmless bacteria? I know that they've been randomly appearing and disappearing ever since I got him.
edmlfc1, I think I have ich phobia too! Haha. I'm glad everything with Annabelle turned out okay. She's so pretty!!!
puffertt77, thanks for the tank recommendation! I'll take a look at it. One of the lfs here will be having an anniversary sale coming up and will be selling all their tanks at manufacturer's price so I think I might have to go take up that deal! They said that everything'll be around 20% off so I'm really excited!

As long as the pooh don't have any musecy gooey clear or white stuff then it's good pooh.
If you are still worried about it you can always do another deworming treatment in a few weeks.

Btw: The bigger they get the weirder the pooh gets. Elvis' pooh looks like green snow sometimes.