The Puffer Forum

Hey everyone,

Glad to see the sites still up and running, and expanding! I havent been on here forever.

Anyway I have a 125 saltwater aquarium fowlr that has been running for nearly two years housing a large stars and stripes puffer. I do water changes every 2 to 3 weeks and I have not made any recent changes to the aquarium. Recently when feeding my puffer I have noticed his belly seems to be bulking out unusually in areas it hasn't before (mainly farther back on his belly). Since he is such a large puffer (12 inches) it was a pretty noticable difference when I saw his belly bulking out differently than normal and thats why I'm concerned. Also his belly seems to be skinnier around his butt. His behavior is still the same and he is always eager for a meal. I feed him mainly silversides, along with some krill and shrimp. Any input and advice on how to go about curing constipation would be greatly apprciated.

You have to get him off the silversides, I'd say thats a big part of the remedy. The krill are no good for anything other than a snack, either, but are better than the silversides. A diet high in mussels, clams, cockles and squid would work better. Puffers are not fast enough to catch much of any fish in the wild and a primarily fish diet (with the exception of certain lurking piscivors FW puffers) will cause health problems as they cannot properly digest fish. I'd say the first step is to try to get him to eat some peas, they can act as a diuretic, and no more silversides no matter how he begs.

I agree with the diet Nick suggests. Is he pooping at all? If you really think he's constipated, you can give him epsom salt baths of 1tbsp/5g for about an hour at a time (mixed with his tank water & kept warm & airated).

Thanks for the quick and very helpful replies! I'm going to try to offer him some peas right away, I have fed him these before and he loves them. Problem with them is they never really digest and get stuck in my filters.. I guess because they are vegys and that makes it harder? Should I feed him the whole green pea or just the little peas that are inside with the outer covering taken off? As for poop I havent noticed, I looked on the floor of the tank some and couldnt find any. Him being constipated just came to my attention as a possibilty yesterday morning when I noticed his irregular body shapes when takeing in food, looked much differently than usual as far as where his belly was expanding. Where do you guys pick up the clam, and squid/mussel? Local grocery store like Krogers? Also are they packaged containing salt and if so do you just wash them under water first? Should I try feeding him the peas today and tonight and then if I don't see any waste still give him the salt baths tomorrow?

Thanks again puffer Huey appreciates the help

Get them in the produce dept (fish section) of your grocery store. Fresh or frozen, not cooked. Be sure to freeze 1st, to kill off any nasties & I thaw in cool vitamin water.

Take the shells off the peas.

It might not be traditional constipation, just indigestible fish fats etc building up in his intestines which will clear out with proper diet over time. You want to feed just the peas, and I even take the casings off the individual peas for mine, since my puffers just spit them out anyway and eat far less actual pea while doing it.