The Puffer Forum

My filter "ate" two of my dwarf puffers tonight. I saw them IN the intake tube. Sigh... they were doing so well too.

Before I go out and buy anymore DP's, does anyone know what I can get to fit over an Aquaclear 20's intake so this doesn't happen again?

UGH. So annoyed by this...

Arg! I'm so sorry!
One thing you could try is to wrap aquarium sponge over the intake--but it really is a pain to clean it.
Hope you have better luck next time.....sorry about your loss.

Sponge would probably be the best bet, other wise, what you could try is using part of a stocking and wrapping it around the intake holes so that its not as large tying it down with some sewing thread??? the only problem with that is if the stockings are too fine they will get clogged and possibly slow down the intake to a crawl... since thats the method i'm using in my fry tank on a HOB Aqua Clear Filter with very fine stockings and i have to clean it once a day...

Did you have the normal intake guard over the filter opening? It should have come with your filter, sort of a cone shaped grid that slides over the open end of the tube?

No dwarf puffer should be able to get inside that.

If you don't have one, I'm sure I have a spare or two laying around I could mail you or you can buy one cheap.

I recently got a filter that hangs on the back of the tank and the intake can't suck up a dwarf, even if it's tiny. Got it for a fantastic price too off eBay.

When I first got my Fluval 3, I had it down in the water with the venturi part under water, we came home one night only to find that the venturi had sucked in one of my dwarf puffers, it was still sticking out, had gone in head first. I felt so much to blame, and I couldn't believe I was that stupid .... after that, I made sure they were all well above water, and now none of my filters can suck up any of my puffers, maybe fry if I had some, but it wouldn't be in that tank anyway.

Sorry for your loss.

Myaj, I did have that filter cover and the puffer managed to get himself stuck in the slits.

I took one of my fluval filter sponges and created a pre-filter using that. I won't have the problem anymore I hope!

If you did have the cover on, I would say it was more likely your puffer died and his dead body got sucked into the intake. Puffers are very strong swimmers and aren't very likely to get stuck to a covered intake unless they are very ill, weak, or dead.

I'm sorry about the little guys.

Go to you local dollar store, by a mosquito net... or butterfly net.... anything meshy at all really but not a sponge. Find a really small elastic and cover the intake. That's that I use to prevent by baby ghost shrimp getting sucked in and it's really easy to clean. Pop off the intake, take it to the sink, rinse and throw back on.

I used a mosquito netting head cover that I cut up and wrapped around my intake. I used some small plasticish elastics found in the "hair" or "personal care" section of the dollar store as well.

Hope that helps.

When all else fails, use panty hose or nylons.