The Puffer Forum

My porcupine puffer, Porky, hasn't eaten his brine shrimp, squid, sea veggies, or his favorite green peas in over a week. He's in 80 gallon tank with a few other fish for the last 2 1/2 years. I have a aquarium person that cleans tank monthly and checks everything. He said that Porky will eat when hungry and doesn't appear to have any diseases. This is just so out of character for my Porky and I'm worried. His playmates are a large blue tang, large lipstick tang, small clown fish, and yellow tang. I recently lost an angel fish. Any suggestions or idea on how long Porky can go without eating?

If he is in good weight and does *not* have parasites he can go a couple weeks with no problem. Occasionally puffers will go on hunger strike but it usually doesn't last more than a week or so. Is it possible he is eating when you are not observing him? If not you can try introducing some ghost shrimp (gut loaded if you have the time) or even a fresh water fiddler crab (recommend removing his pincher) and see if the live food stirs him.

That said, what does his respiration look like? Are there any spots on his fins or slime coat? Is his behavior in the tank similar to usual or different? Out of curiousity, what were the details behind the recently departed angel fish?

Have you checked his teeth?

The food you say you offer him doesn't appear to included shell fish such as cockles to grind down his teeth.

Just to be thorough, you may want to get your water tested at an LFS just to make sure nothing has been overlooked and is in order.

Thanks so much for the information!

The angel fish was found under a large coral so it appears it got trapped somehow....it was almost white/indescribable as a fish as it could of been eaten or coral did damage. (?) My fish man thought angel fish just died of old age. He never told me about teeth or live food though.

How do you take care of a puffer's teeth? I really appreciate the help and will take water to aquarium store as well as pick up live goodies for my Porky.

Thanks so much for taking the time to educate me.

Oh yea, Porky looks fine in appearance but isn't as frisky as before...he use to splash me with water from his mouth and tail (his funniest trick) but hasn't done that since he lost interest in food. The tank does seem to get more algae then it did before. Tank isn't near window or get much sunlight. I don't have an algae eater as tank is cleaned monthly. Do you have one in your tanks? What kind?

I have lost more fish that I care to list from getting caught between rocks. :37:

Porky's don't tend to need dentistry the way the arothron genus does. What kind of algae are we talking about? Green in the water, green on rocks, red on rocks/tank, brown on tank/rocks, etc...

How big was the angel? Old age sound odd, what breed of angel? How long has the tank been set up and stocked w' fish?

mmm well a fish dying generally means the water quality isnt that great, a perfect reason for a porc to stop eating. however if your water is testing ok, try a garlic jiuce supplement that is availible at oyur grocery store. also try prawns and other harder shelled meaty foods and do not give him peas. he really does not need the nutition that peas have. and they can promote issues such as gas, which in a puffer will also intuce an eating strike.

if you want the greens in his meals ,try emerald entree much better mix of foods for a marine puffer and his tankmates as well.

and brine shrimp are mostly empty calories, so more of the hearty foods you have like squid is better.

Prawns with garlic juice for dinner for porky...hope he eats. Aquirium man just recommended garlic juice too. : )

Angel fish was red with black stripes alittle bigger then 1/2 dollars so small compared to porky. Fish have been in tank over 3 years when I bought it from friend. I've had it about 1 year now. Algae is brown on shells and coral....never green. ??

Angel fish was red with black stripes

Flame angel? Beautiful fish!