The Puffer Forum

my sister has seen my fish and has been after a tank for a while
and has decided instead of a community tank, she would like a puffer
she has experience of community tank, but none on puffers.
i will be helping her set up tank, cycle it, water changes and feeding etc

i know congos are lurkers? and they eat feeder fish? is this right?
so shes ok with this
what kind of fish do they eat? and do they eat the usual puffer food?
sand as substrate, what depth?

thanks for any info, before she makes a decision

Hi Lesley, yes Congos are lurkers and most will eat fish, as they are piscivores. I breed guppies for my piscivore puffers to eat, that way I know I'm feeding healthy fish to my puffers, which is very important. Guppies are a good option because they lack thiaminase, definitely stay away from feeding goldfish to the puffer. The problem with getting feeder fish from the LFS and then feeding to your puffer is that you run the risk of your puffer getting internal parasites from the fish. If your sister does go this route, she should quarantine the feeder fish and worm them. And if she wants to continue feeding live fish to her puffer (should she choose to get one), then I would seriously consider breeding them. Some people have good luck getting their lurkers to eat dead food, and that's good to, although it can be a chore to get them to accept it. My Orangetta is only interested in live food, but Biscuit, although primarily interested in guppies, will take prawn from time to time, but that's usually when he's eaten all the guppies in the tank. Other owners of Congo puffers have had very good luck getting theirs to take food other than live.

As to substrate, a nice soft sand, something easy for them to bury into is good. Miurus puffers especially love to bury and will spend 99% of the time under the sand, lying in wait for a snack or meal. I have my sand about 2" deep and my adult miurus seems fine with that depth.

Check out this article for more info, care & feeding are identical: library/puffers-in-focus/arrowhead/

Great advice Suzanne

My congo loves to eat baby marbled crayfish, which is also very easy to breed.
He will also eat market prawn, wild shrimp, and the occasional feeder guppy.

Lately he's been taking down a whole prawn!! Crazy little bugger.
You need as much sand to allow a full grown congo to burry itself completely...
& Although this puffer is considered a lurker, each puff is different, mine hunts his food rather then lay in wait

sounds like each one is different in personality and activity levels, but alot of puffs are like that!
i dont know if shes keen on the feeder fish idea tho!
having to breed them rather than buy from pet shop.
is feeder fish a must have?

You can get silverfish aka whitebait from lfs which my my congo eats as part of her diet, yes they are a bugger to train but well worth it, i feed mine, frozen raw head on prawns from macro tho they were fresh when brought but i freeze them, raw mussells, silver fish,scallops,earthworms...i used to feed her bloodworms but as she gets older and bigger she wants meatier foods, oh and as a treat frozen raw krill....maybe a few times a year id get her a live crab mainly red claw crab...she loves those hehe

Look at this



OR

I have watched that b4 its kinda hard not to find it comical although the puffer could have been really hurt. It is funny though how the owner hurrys and puts the camera down as he is probably about to dive in there to help his lil puffer.

I didnt notice the second video untill after i posted the above. But that one actually made me jump the first time i saw it talk about a well camo'd puffer.

the second one i wouldnt want happenin in a tank of mine 0_0
look how fat that congo is!
i was lookin in the wrong area lol

So, after 2 months of having pleasure of caring for congo puffer I realize, that this is the most picky puffer I have ever owned.

The only food he will eat is frozen silversides. Not only that but hes active, he would swim up and down all day long and hide in the sand for a while. Aren't they supposed to be lurkers.

He would eat one silverside per week or every five days. Is that normal?

Have you tried anything live? Are you soaking the silversides in vitamins? Very common for a "lurker" to eat only occasionally, since they don't move much but you say yours is swimming all the time, so...

I did try garlic, vitamins.

Dont take me wrong he eats, its just what he eats. Im willing to give him everything, its just he wont eat it

I have plenty of earthworms for ya.