The Puffer Forum

hey everyone,
this is my first post and i don't know if anyone can help or not.
my puffer was freaking me out just about half an hour ago. he was about halfway buried in the sand substrate with a generous dusting of the sand covering his body. he was breathing normally, but it looked really awkward to me so i moved him(physically), and now he is mad and hiding under some driftwood. he ate right after it happened so i think hes gonna be OK, i just want to know if this is normal behavior or not.
he if a 7", 3 year old fahaka currently living in a 55 gal. long all fw tank. there are live plants and driftwood. i have one 10000k actinic and one 10000k daylight, i have an eheim 2217, and about three inches of sand collected and sanitized froma freshwater beach. i recently added two central American cichlids to his tank(I know fahakas are notoriously territorial) and they seem to be fine together.
any information on my puffers strange behavior would be greatly appreciated. also any info on my setup, if it is up to par or not( i know i will eventually need a larger tank) would be appreciated.
please help
nick

BTW. nitrites are 0, ammonia is 0, and nitrates are about 20. pH is about 7.8, the tank is old about 2 years and I've had the fahaka for about 4 months. adopted from a friend moving. temp is at a constant 78f.
that's all i think

fahakas when young will bury themselves. (its a phase) as they get larger they will outgrow the burying. please do not forcibly move the puffer unless it really is in distress. the stress of you bothering it can be very bad.

cichlids of anytype probably should not be in a 55 gallon with a 7 inch fahaka. they will probably overload the tank with in a short period of time (weeks or months). a larger tank amy be better(150gallon) but do not expect the cichlids to last as they could be killed at any time by your fahaka being territorial.

hope you got a bigger tank for it soon. those guys get big.

My fahaka is also 3 years old & is close to 12". I'd say your is stunted in that tank. What are you feeding it? When mine gets spooked, he burries himself still.

That is very small for a three year old fahaka. Maybe the tank size has some reflection on this?

hey everyone,
thanks for all the responses. my fahaka is back to his normal behavior. whew! i received the puffer as a hand me down pet. he was in a 40 gal. before if you can believe that, and that may be why he is so small still. i do want to get a larger tank for him eventually but these tanks cost $$$ so i am trying to save up for it. he does seem kinda bored tho, so the sooner the better i guess. i never touch my fish or try to move him forcibly, tho last night was an exception because i was worried. its good to know that this is normal. do you think the addition of other fish might have had something to do with this? i have never seen him do it before.
i feed him frozen krill regularly, skipping a day or two a week. and he has been on a regular diet of ghost shrimp and live minnows as well. is this good for him? i think he is still too small for mussels or shrimp.
if the cichlids go, they go. i am not attached to them like i am to my puffer.
thanks again everyone, any other advice would help
nick

Feeder fish are very unhealthy food, and that includes the cichlids. Ghost shrimp, unless gut loaded, is nutritionally deficient. I'd get him on shrimp, cockles, crab and that sort of thing asap.

Definately not too small for mussels or shrimp. My 2" F8s eat them!

I'll get him started on mussels and snails asap. he doesn't have long teeth though, i hope this wont affect his eating then. any suggestion as how to get him started eating. he can be really finicky.
thanks
nick

I doubt you will have any problems with mussels, my fahaka goes mad over them, she is so greedy lol


I wouldn't worry to much about the burying, snow white (lol i have just bought 7 dwarfs which is why she is now known as snow white) does it quite often, i cant say i would physically move her though, perhaps if i wanted to loose a finger