The Puffer Forum

Hi,
Okay, so on Friday night i decided to do a little redecorating in my home and long story short my tank with my green spotted puffer Queequeg fell off the shelf, actually the shelf broke, and the tank went flying and shattered. Poor little Queequeg survived by a miracle, while i was franticly digging through the debris my sister found him laying in the middle of the living room floor. I didn't know what to do with him so i put him in my 40 gal tank that has mollies, cory catfish, and an angel. The water was the same temp as Queequeg's tank but it doesn't have any salt in it which he had in his tank. Also, i know that puffers are aggressive, but right now he looks extremely scared of the other fish. He ate Friday night in the 40 gal tank, but now he will act like he's coming for the food, but then another fish swims by and he freaks and won't come out of his back corner. His belly was grey for an hour after the ordeal, but now it is white again.
My question is, should i keep him in the 40gal where he isn't eating or put him in the new tank i bought him Saturday?? It's been running since Saturday morning and i used all of the original filter and media, plants,etc. from his old tank to get the bacteria. I know it's not cycled properly but i'm afraid that if i keep Queequeg in the larger tank he will die from starvation, fear, or lack of salt which he is used to having.
Please help!!!

once the other tank is cycled you should move him.

They can easily be out classed by quicker fish for food. You can try target feeding but that may attract the other fish also.

BTW
Welcome to the forum!!

How long should i wait for it to cycle? I usually don't put fish in a tank for at least three weeks, but can a puffer last that long without food? I have tried target feeding but the other fish get to it before he does because he keeps getting scared.

library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

you can take some old gravel and the old filter media from your established tank and add that to the new tank.

The fastest I have heard of it done is 3 days, but there are those who can do it in a day "instant cycling" but I don't know the details or the step by step procedures.

Since you used everything from the old tank (hopefully it was still wet and the new tank is the same sg?), I would just go ahead and move him. Underfeed, test your water every day and perform wc's as needed, but he will probably be okay. Better IMHO than him getting stressed out, picked on, and hungry...

How long was the filter, substrate, etc, out of water? I think if not long, your tank is cycled but without the fish's waste to feed the bacteria, it win't stay cycled for long.