The Puffer Forum

Hi, I'm looking for some advice regarding these puffers as I am buying one immenently and your forum seems to be the best place for information on these fish (there seem to be some abei owners on here for starters )

Any advice would be much appreciated (even if not in relation to a question!)

I'm mainly concerned about feeding frequency of these fish, mine is an adult (a little over 2yrs old) and I was wondering how often I should feed it?

Are there any common illnesses particular to this fish that I need to be on the lookout for?

The pufferpedia article does not mention water hardness, only ph - is hardness an issue for these puffers? (I've seen 3.0-15.0 dGH mentioned elsewhere but from what I remember my water is towards the top end of the scale)

Thanks in advance,
Rob

dhracer wrote:Hi, I'm looking for some advice regarding these puffers as I am buying one immenently and your forum seems to be the best place for information on these fish (there seem to be some abei owners on here for starters )

You've definitely picked the right place! I also own an Abei, so I can probably help you out.

dhracer wrote:I'm mainly concerned about feeding frequency of these fish, mine is an adult (a little over 2yrs old) and I was wondering how often I should feed it?

Well, mine is about 4 inches now, but I don't know how old he is (probably close to 2 years, I'm sure). I feed mine every second day. *HE* doesn't like that very much, but he keeps his food for longer now that he's older, so I feed him until his belly is rounded (he eats about 1 frozen cube's worth of food, so you can extrapolate that to other crustaceans' sizes). Just make sure he has a varied diet - mine mainly gets bloodworms/mysis shrimp/brine shrimp (I mix these together in one feeding to balance it out), clams (his favourite), scallops, shrimp, and krill (only as a treat, no more than once per week). All of these are raw and frozen, and I just thaw it in a dish using water from his tank prior to feeding (never feed foods frozen, as the cold temperature can wreak havoc in their internal organs). Please note that having a Krill-only diet can cause lockjaw, and an unvaried diet will inevitably cause constipation.

dhracer wrote:Are there any common illnesses particular to this fish that I need to be on the lookout for?

Puffers are sensitive to pretty much everything (as they're scaleless), but the most common are ich and internal parasites. If the Abei is not from someone else's tank, you'll likely have to deal with one or both of these, so make sure you put him into a quarantine when you get him (it'll make your life much easier). Both are relatively easy to deal with, providing you have the right info and guidance (which you can get both of here).

dhracer wrote:The pufferpedia article does not mention water hardness, only ph - is hardness an issue for these puffers? (I've seen 3.0-15.0 dGH mentioned elsewhere but from what I remember my water is towards the top end of the scale)

To be honest, I'm not quite sure. My abe is in higher water hardness (don't know the exact value) and he doesn't seem to mind (then again, we don't interface on a telepathic level, so my opinion is a bit naive ). I wouldn't worry about water hardness unless you're going to be using CO2 injection (as hardness partially dictates what the fluctuations in pH will be and how likely the pH will crash from it), and even then, if you're water hardness is high, you'll be fine.



Have you seen the Abei yet? If so, how does his stomach look (sunken, plump), and did you notice any ich or whatnot on him? How were his colours?

Thanks for the reply.

I'm afraid to admit I haven't even considered needing a quarantine tank I had assumed this wouldn't be necessary as the tank was only going to be his/hers.

I've not seen the fish in person but was given this photo:

Nice spots! Do you already have a cycled tank ready for this fish? What size? I'm glad to hear you will be keeping this fish alone, as they do not play well with others.

If the fish will be alone, then that's fine, you can use the main tank as a quarantine tank.

That's a very cool looking abei, lots of bright orange spots

Yep I've got a cycled tank ready for the fish, ~28g (it's 125litres) which I think is adequate for the abei with a tetratec ex1200 (i have a ex700 running with my larger tank which has been excellent so I think this filter is more than enough, if not a little overkill).

here's a quick snap of the tank, it needs some decent plants (need to sort the lighting and co2 out as well) but other than that I'm pretty happy with it

Great tank for a beatuiful Abei!

Yeah, looks amazing!

Thanks for the comments
Puffer arrives tomorrow - I'm so excited!!

I bought some live mussles from the fish counter at tescos (I couldn't find fresh or frozen uncooked clams to get though ) and froze them, how do you tell which are bad after this? (normally after you cook them any that don't open are thrown away?). I have bloodworms, krill & chopped scallops as well so hopefully I'm all set

I believe if they are open already, they are bad-. Pick closed ones. Defrost in room temp water with liquid vitamins for extra nutrition.

Well the puffer arrived about an hour and a half ago and is now in the tank I've never seen a fish go so mental when stuck in the bag acclimatising, it was very quiet but as the temperature must have warmed up there was a pretty annoyed puffer wanting to get out! Eventually when everything was done I let it out (it's bigger than I expected!) and after a bit of an explore of the tank it's currently sat behind the redmoor wood on the right hand side, it looks like it's asleep

pufferpunk, the liquid vitamins you mention (and I've seen a few times on the board) what are they?? something like http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.p ... ucts_id=96 is there a preferred one or are they all much the same?

Will try and feed it later tonight, gotta think of a name now...

After turning on the lights tonight he came out for a bit of an explore and then he started pacing the glass a little so I thought maybe I could feed him - I tried a mussle but he wasn't interested in it, I'll try some krill tomorrow and see if he'll eat that.

He's back hiding in the corner now

Fed him I'm much more relaxed now I know he's eating. gave him 1/4 of a tiger prawn with the shell on and he devoured it in seconds I know now what everyone means about messy eaters!

Do I need to remove the little bits of prawn shell that are left or can I leave them?

i remove the little bits left over coz they go bad real quick!

Remove it. Annabelle will shread a shrimp and I always take out the little pieces that I can see. She does have guppies in her tank that will eat some of the left overs but there is always a mess.