The Puffer Forum

I have been the happy owner of a Porcupine Puffer for a little over 10 months. He has been exhibiting some odd behavior in the last few weeks and I would like to know if it is cause for concern. My husband or myself have spotted Smores puffed up and his body movements suggest that he is trying to swallow something. we have seen him do this four or five times in the last week. I work in a tropical fish store where I also service client's tanks. I spend a lot of time with these creatures. I have never seen anything like it and hope that some one on here has. Please let me know if this is cause for concern or just more random puffer behavior.

Thanks!
Parameters:
puffer's size: 3" in length
Tank mate: 1 very calm, however neurotic, 1.5" Humu Humu Trigger
Tanks size: 30 gal (we are upgrading to a 55 in a few weeks)
Salinity: Between .022 and .023
Temp: Steady 77
Filtration: Aquaclear 50, and Prism protein skimmer
Nitrates: less than 10
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: less than 10
Ph: 8.3
We do regular 10%-15% water changes every 10-14 days with buffered R/O water. We have not lost a fish in this tank, with this equipment and methods, in over a year.

Does it seeem he has something stuck in his throat? What is his diet, especially the day he started this behaviour?

We recently added San Fransisco frozen muscle mix to his diet, but he has had it in the past. I have noticed that he tries to gulp down as big of a piece as possible to keep the chow hound trigger away from the food. Could it be a shell fragment?

Possibly. You might want to PM Puffer Queen about this. Be sure to post her response here so we can all learn.

I'm no 'expert' but maybe if you feed your chow hound trigger something first BEFORE feeding the puffer (I don't know if you'd be able to do that), your puffer might not have to take such big mouthfuls?

Shelby(my porc) sometimes would puff if she had a clump of food stuck in her system. After she deflated it kinda all came out (if you cath my drift) So it could be your puffer is eating more then it can handle.
Also is there a more permanent home for your puffer then the 55? It'll outgrow that rather fast.

Unfortunately, 55 gal is all finances and space will allow at this time. We are a military family and by the time we need a bigger tank for Smores, we will also be moving to a new more permanent home ourselves. Smores has been sitting around at the bottom of the tank for most of today. This does have me concerned, since he is very social when I am near. The tank is visible from the kitchen where I have been baking all day. Usually both of our "kids" will be very vigilant when we are near the kitchen since that is where the food comes from. Leilani (the trigger) has been keeping a close eye on me, but Smores has been resting behind a barnacle all day. Thank you for all of your input, but I think I am going to just skip a feeding or two and let what ever is in his system get totally out. Then proceed from there. I am very fortunate to have multiple hospital tanks and meds at my disposal should it come to that. I'm convinced there was just something in the food that may have bruised his insides a bit.