The Puffer Forum

A friend suggested wilma was bored so one Day i found a Ball in my sons room that floated and looked big enough for her NOT to eat

At first a Big success, she pushed it round like i imagine a dolfin would, tossed her head from side to side to keep it moving straight ahead, it was amazing to see until she did manage to get it just a tiny bit in between her teeth and almost shot it out of the water as she tried to take a bite

Found a better ball for her size, pingpong ball, but theres a problem and i think its the color or lack of compared to the multicolored ball she had a go at?

So im on the lookout for a multicolored pingpong ball, yellow reddish like the first i found.

Anyone tried similar stuff to entertainer their fahakas?

I first used ping-pong balls for Cichlid toys, but have used them for puffers as well.

If they float too high, punch or drill a smallish hole and partially fill with water. Don't leave it in the tank all the time unless you kepp more than ball there. Boredom can set in. if it is not always available, it works better.

Side note: do not, repeat, Do Not teach your Oscar or Fahaka to toss the ball out of the tank to you. You call this not shooting yourself in the foot, or saving on redecorating and floor refinishing costs.

RTR wrote: Side note: do not, repeat, Do Not teach your Oscar or Fahaka to toss the ball out of the tank to you. You call this not shooting yourself in the foot, or saving on redecorating and floor refinishing costs.

Worse than small children are they???

Mbu has a moss balll that he loves to push around his tank He also sleeps with it at times.

Spoiled children, spoiled dog, and spoiled largish intelligent fish are headaches.

I actually did this with my figure 8, I have a plastic practice golf ball, the ones with holes in them, so it sinks... Thought he would be curious as it's the only yellow thing in the tank but not really, maybe since it's so bigger that him... So I pulled it out of the tank and times to times I put a few snails inside of it and put it in the tank... He's got to work to figure out how to get the snails since the holes are too small for him... He manages to get the snails has they move near the holes... I think it's fun and actually gets him on a hunting mood...

Ti_CLaD wrote:I actually did this with my figure 8, I have a plastic practice golf ball, the ones with holes in them, so it sinks... Thought he would be curious as it's the only yellow thing in the tank but not really, maybe since it's so bigger that him... So I pulled it out of the tank and times to times I put a few snails inside of it and put it in the tank... He's got to work to figure out how to get the snails since the holes are too small for him... He manages to get the snails has they move near the holes... I think it's fun and actually gets him on a hunting mood...

!!!! I was going to ask if anyone had ideas for smaller puffers. Will have to try that with clever-Feather-fish. thanks for sharing!

Thanks for both ideas and stories!

I'm glad to hear i'm not the only loonie who think my fahaka/petfish wanna "play"

I've bought 5 differentsized mossballs and yes, she pushes them around quite a bit!
Sometimes she gathers all of them at one place and just today i saw how she like divebombed, like when she digs in, right into the pile she made, making the mossballs bounce around for a while

I gotta look around & see if there's an extra ping-pong ball in the basement somewhere.

Ti_clad, awesome idea. I use the same types of thing to keep dogs busy. Never thought of that for fish. I should have. I train juke the same way as dogs. It makes so much sense now. I have tried ping pong balls and poking holes. He couldn't care less, but throw a couple snails in a ball... best toy ever!

Well that's it, maybe he'll get used to seeing the ball dropping equals snails, but for now he looks at it go down and doesn't care until one snail comes out or he passes next to it and looks inside, It's just very cool how he looks inside of it and tries to figure out how to get to them... I actually let the ball inside the aquarium for pretty much a few days before removing it and I noticed him looking at it again yesterday (been inside for 3 days) and he was looking inside it making sure he did not forget none...

I love that little fish

Mustn't miss any snails!

I don't have any toys fashioned yet, but I have been making Feather work a little more for his dinner lately. He's very used to just getting whatever the order of the day is presented to his fat little face via hemostats. I've started placing his half-shell clams upside-down on his bridge so that he has to push them off to get to the meat. He looks all indignant at first, but it's so fun to watch them problem solve. He figures it out eventually (hopefully faster next time!) Puffers are the cutest little pushers with their "snouts"...nudge nudge nudge want foodddd...

Sounds like someone needs to jump on the patent for a "fish KONG" ti_CLaD! Bet you'd make some money ;D

hahaha This is genius!

dropped in a yellow floating golf ball. It's spinning under the filter output. Filbert is not having it...

Perhaps you can look at this toy store: http://www.toyswill.com, there are many interesting and beautiful toys, I was often in here to buy toys for my daughter, and my daughter very much I bought her toys.