The Puffer Forum

I've just received an email from a friend at work who's managed to acquire a porc puffer...I didn't even know he was an aquarist until yesterday. This is his first puff of any description, but he has got a couple of marine tanks so I'm not so concerned on the "marine in general" front. Problem is, he's keeping it in a 50 gal set-up. He's said it's on its own and I've berated him for not getting a bigger tank for it - especially as I'm desperate for a holocanthus myself and am waiting impatiently till we've moved! - and he's said he will. My concern is how long he's got till the puffer is first uncomfortable and then seriously compromised?? It's about 3" apparently....I know it should be in a min. 120 gal tank now, believe me, but I want to keep tabs on this and keep nagging if he doesn't upgrade by the time he should. Does that make sense?

Grrr. I never do this, I never just go get something cos I like the look of it without researching it first and I'm soooooo eager to move house to get my porc! I've even picked out the tank already!

Anyway, sorry.....rambling. So how long's this bloke got before I'm justified in threatening his most precious bits if he doesn't get a bigger set-up for it?!

Becs

p.s. Tater's doing well, although he's thoroughly useless with snails it seems. Will post about his food ineptitude in a different thread

I'd say by the time it's 8-10 inches or so long, he needs a new tank. Should be under a year if he's keeping the tank properly.

Yeah, a 3" fish should be ok for a while in a 50g. Is he willing to upgrade when necesssary? You really should guide him here for proper feeding tips & such.

Thanks Nick and PP

He's willing to upgrade but is in the same position I'm in - we're all relocating with work. When it comes to moving, it's only about an hour away so it's not like we're all going to the other end of the country, but after a lot of umming and ahhing I decided that although I've done several house moves with FW fish, I'm not sure I'd want to risk my first marine tank, which is why I'm waiting for my own porc. We can commute instead of moving, but if we're going to move through work it has to be completed by 10 months time.

I've given him proper feeding tips and lots of advice on where to research - he's obviously got far more marine experience than me, but he's done it the completely opposite way to how I'd do it (buy porc then move, buy porc then research).

I'm guessing from what you've said, "a while" and "under a year" is several months rather than one or two?

Judging by what Nick and PP have said, he probably has between 7-10 months, maybe? If he'll be moving sometime in that timespan, he can just get a bigger tank, set it up at the new place and get things ready, then just transfer for Porc over and tear down the old tank (if he has a few days during the move to do this, of course).

Also, personally, harassing him because of his impulse buy is a bit rough, especially if he has marine experience. He probably trusted the person at the LFS who said it would be fine in a 50 gallon (I've heard a number of people around here say that about Porcs, unfortunately). You'll get a much better response if you work WITH him and just try to give him some extra information he might not know about. ^_^

Thanks Agnate - I've already passed on the info about having several months to upgrade so that's all fine.

I think I should've been a bit clearer about the harassing - we're all very close friends, in and out of work, and threatening to see to his gentleman's bits if he doesn't 'comply' is all taken in good spirit. Perhaps it's a Brit thing? Anyway, due to the nature of our work we're all mates and know each other pretty well, so any harassment would be light-hearted. I'm one of the few females at work, and knowing some of my colleagues they'd quite welcome 'harassment'......*sigh* they're incorrigible and I've got a good few weeks pent up with some of them at Fort Leavenworth to look forward in August

Haha, yeah, I figured as much, I just wasn't sure how much you were drilling into him about it.

Agnate wrote:Haha, yeah, I figured as much, I just wasn't sure how much you were drilling into him about it.

Not as much as he'd probably like