The Puffer Forum

Hey guys I have a problem. I've had my congo for about 3 or 4 months now, and although he started eating from the first day, he has always been a picky eater. Mussles(clams) were ok, but cockles, bloodworms, frozen fish, were not to his taste... Once in a while I fed him a live fish which he seemed to appreciate dearly!

Since about 2 weeks ago, he doesn't eat anything. Nothing has really changed, the water conditions are fine. I've added a few plants but otherwise, same old same old....

A couple days ago I put some fish in there and some shrimp, but nothing has been slaughtered yet....
I guess though they can go a whole end without food, there will be a limit to what he can take....

I had a similar problem to yours AFTER I fed mine live fish. She quickly took the fish, loved hunting for them, but soon after that she died.
Not to be rude, but have you seen any of their poop? If you haven't, then I'd suggest doing a wormer, as many live fish carry worms and the puffers seem to get it easily from eating the live fish. I've actually started breeding my own fish because I have several puffers that eat live fish, including another female Congo.
I didn't do anything quickly enough for my other female, hence her dying .... but I am now very wary of them not eating. Did the colouring change any either?
I hope yours is just being picky, but it's better to be safe than sorry, so I'd get a good wormer (use one for Discus, as they seem to be gentle) and do that if you can't figure out anything else.
Hope this has been helpful to you.

Thanks for your advise, I sure will follow up on that. I must say that I have noticed some coloration change, formost in the fact that his back has a darker colored ring close to the tail...
I have seen him poop just yesterday, but I was wondering, if you don't eat, how can you produce waste?

Just because you don't eat doesn't mean the digestive process stops. (Warning, quick and dirty science content) It can take a few days to a few weeks, depending on life form, for things to clear the digestive tract. Even then the body catabolizes and digestive system keeps producing digestive products and the end product is stool.

Have you tried a live fiddler crab or earthworm? Please post everything you can from the Qs above in red. Telling us your water is "fine", won't do.

Ok, so tested my water parameters, and in some way I must have started another cycle or I must have missed some waste, cause I had serious ammonia present in the water(+-1mg), so I instantly did a 80% water change, and I will do an additional 30% daily. I am posting this at work so I can't give you all my exact water specs, but all my other parameters were as they should be. Nitrites 0, nitrates +-15, ph 7, 25g long tank, 3 platy's, 2molly's, 8shrimp....

If anyone has any other advice, feel free to comment!

You're a bit overstocked.

Yeah I know, but the platy's and molly's are small ones that I dropped in just for some motivation to get him to eat.... His usually in there alone with the shrimp, and I am planning on moving him to a bigger 50g long when he gets a little bigger. There are two filters in there though, together they move about 400gallons every hour, so I thought that should cover it!

Well, adding these feeders can certainly be the reason for the mini-cycle. If the congo's not eating them, you should take them out.

Simply having lots of filtration doesn't take care of overstocking. Overstocking --> too much waste --> bacteria can't handle it. Filtration provides a surface area for bacteria to breed and live, but it doesn't convert waste.

When's the last time you cleaned those filters?

About a month for the first one, and I placed a new extra one about 3 weeks ago... I use a combination of sponge and biologic filter media. I will take out the feeders...

I took out the feeders, only the two little molly's remain in there. I might put them in my brackish setup in a few days. I also changed 20% water again and added 25ml of ph/kh minus. "According to their bottle it should neutralize 1.5mg/l of ammonia in about 2 minutes...."

I'm not a believer of magic remedy's and will do what is necessary to ensure a nice habitat for my poor congo!

Why wait? Mollies are BW fish. Best to lighten the bioload as much as possible.

I'd definately not add ANYTHING to mess with the pH. Fluctuating pH is the worst thing you can do to a fish (ok, there are worse things...). By neutralizing the ammonia, you are not giving the benefitial bacteria anything to feed on so they never develop, which leaves you in the same position you have been in. What you need to do is either go with daily 50% water changes to prevent the fish from poisoning itself or add Tetra Safestart to your filter, which is the benefitial bacteria you need to cycle that tank. Don't wait!!!

I will get some safe start tomorrow! I'm starting to see the effects of not eating... Getting skinny in comparison to when he was in good health...

Spme products (Prime, Amquel) will neutralize ammonia in such a way that it's available for the bacteria to eat, but safe for fish. These would be better options. Water changes, though, are the main thing. Ammonia-neutralizing products should be a supplement, not the main cure.