The Puffer Forum

I bought six dwarf puffers about a week and a half ago. Everything is going well except that one of the larger puffers will not eat. I have give live ghost shrimp, live snails, frozen bloodworms, even some freeze dried foods to try to get her (I think she's a girl, I call her Melissa) to eat but she seems uninterested and is getting a bit thin. She also keeps her distance from the other puffers, not all the time but more than the others do. Could the others be keeping her from eating? Why would they be picking on this one particular puffer who is a decent size compared to a couple of the others? Thank you!

this topic should be moved to the "Hospital" forum, and all of the questions in the red box answered

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10, pH 7.4

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is. 20 gallon high, 6 dwarf puffers and a couple super tiny ghost shrimp that have so far avoided being eaten.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc) I feed daily and I change 1/3 of the water twice a week, the water was last changed three days ago, I use Prime

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference. I added a large cave with several openings

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it. The aquarium has been set up for probably a little over a month, I'm not positive when exactly I set it up but I waited till it was fully cycled to add fish. I used ammonia to cycle and tested regularly with an API Master test kit.

your tank is overstocked, but your water change schedule and parameters seem good
is there plenty of cover, and places to hide?
have you observed Melissa being picked on at all?
do any of them show signs of IPs?

I know, I am planning on giving up two once they reach maturity. I was hoping to be able to get the ideal gender ratio. Thank you for responding, I am a little concerned about her. The others chase her but I haven't noticed anything overtly aggressive on their part. However, she once went after a smaller puffer very aggressively and there was a tiff. I haven't noticed anyone being injured though and since that one incident there were no others I witnessed. She just sort of stays away from the others, when they are on one side of the tank she is on the other and they chase her sometimes but leave her alone other times. She is one of two that are probably really close to adult size, both appear to be female and the other four are all smaller. She won't approach food or hunt though. What are some signs of internal parasites? I have Prazi if I need to use that. Thank you again!

I have a lot of plants and I just added a large cave so there should be plenty of cover. One third is completely plants.

I would remove the harassed fish or double the tank size and add lots of artificial or live plants. A 20High has a very small footprint. I've never kept that many DPs , even during QT, with that small a footprint.