The Puffer Forum

thank you

Ive tried all kinds of diets, this is the most stable one for me, I feed it frozen,and have never ever had to trim his teeth.

I once had an Oscar that I had raised in a 20gallon tank. He grew quite large (or so I thought at the time), reaching about 8" and he had a voracious appetite. I fed him a diet of goldfish, beefheart and pellets. Long story short, he lived for about three years before he finally quit eating one day, followed by a series of diseases and death. I'm older and wiser now and know that he would have easily lived another 5-10 years if I had provided proper food and housing for him.

The advice you've received here is that the tank is too small and the food is not appropriate for this type of fish. While you obviously have lots of experience with fish, the folks answering your questions have also had lots of experience with fish--especially puffers--and the advice they've given is on the mark. A larger tank and pristine water parameters should be your first steps. Modifying his diet is something you should seriously consider if he pulls through the current crisis. In the meantime, have you tried using garlic to entice him to eat?

P.S. If the LFS' in your area consider 11" to be huge for a fahaka, they obviously don't know what they are talking about and I would not consider them to be good sources for advice about their care and feeding.

He's bigger then that but it's hard to tell,he wont sit still even now,
never tried garlic-this is the kind of help I am looking for-
What am I supposed to do exactly?
Yes I lot of people more experience then me, but certain things I cannot do,bigger tank right now,diet? I ve tried to give him things I normally would and the only thing he is eating is beefheart mix,passed on shrimp,crayfish etc.

This:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW ... mdy00.aspx

Some people have also reported success crushing garlic and adding some of the juice into the fish food.

Oh yeah, about the food recommendations. Beefheart is very fatty and beef is not on the list of natural foods for most fish and definitely not for a fahaka.

Thanks, now I gotta see if anybody has that here!

Are marine vitamins ok for puffers?

Yes. Many of use Kent Zoe.

Fish stop eating for many reasons. #1 would be because of poor water conditions. There is absolutely no way to keep that tank pristine, with a fish that size, w/o HUGE water changes often! He may also have also stopped eating to slow down his own growth, as there isn't enough room for more growth in there. Nature works that way.

YBeNormal wrote:P.S. If the LFS' in your area consider 11" to be huge for a fahaka, they obviously don't know what they are talking about and I would not consider them to be good sources for advice about their care and feeding.

Agreed. My fahaka was much (17") larger than yours at a much younger age.

So after 9 years,he's stopped eating because of his size?
I am sorry I have disagree with that part.yes nature does do things to protect itself.
Huge water changes, is 90% huge?

Eventuslly, a fish just has to give up. Let's take a human for example. Let's say I was kept in a closet for 9 years, living in my own waste (since it's recommended fot a normally stocked puffertank to do 50% weekly water changes, I azsume the fish has much undesolved metabolites in it's water). I think I might get so depressed at that time, I could just give up & stop eating.

I actually do 70% weekly partials on my FW tanks, 50% on my BW/SW tanks & 30% on my reef tank.

I don't think you are understanding how severely stunted your puffer is. If you have had him for 9 years, and the previous owner for 2, making him at least 11, he should be 18". 2X the size he is right now. One of the worst cases of stunting I've ever seen; I'm shocked that a) he's still alive and b)you are surprised things are not going well.

OK, up date, fish is doing fine ,eating well etc, but I just noticed fungus ?
He's moving into a new tank in a few weeks - 125 gal
But what can I use to treat the fungus, I seen the melafix stuff, but not sure if it is aval here ?any other products ?

Look for Melafix or Pimafix 1st. Most other meds will mess w/your biological filtration.