The Puffer Forum

I am very new to the puffer world, and so far haven't been successful at keeping my puffers alive. I have a brackish setup just like I have been instructed to do. I don't understand what I am doing so wrong. Maybe I am trying too hard...I'm not sure which. All I know is I am failing miserably. Any advice on keeping these guys would be helpful.

How are you cycling the tank before adding fish? What symptoms are they displaying before they die?

I bought a 10 gallon to start with since the ones I have had are so tiny. I am working on getting a 30. The tank I bought was a kit so I'm not sure of the exact filter size. I have only had 1 puffer at a time so far. But I cycle it approx an hour or so when I add a new fish. I have had 2 GSPs which both died and I have an F8 right now that isn't doing well. Before they die they get black on their sides and around their mouth and very lethargic. They dive bomb from the top of the tank to the bottom and do this often. My F8 that I have now is only about 1 1/2 inches long but is not swimming well and was actually stuck to the filter this morning. I had to move him down and away from it. This whole thing is frustrating me so bad and is pretty upsetting to keep losing one fish after the other.

It doesn't seem you are educated on cycling a tank.
Read the top 4 articles here: library/category/water-filtration/

Yeah, you are definitely not cycling properly. Your fish are most certainly dying from ammonia and/or nitrite exposure. Cycling your tank is not the most fun practice of fishkeeping, but it is essential particularly with puffers who need a well-established tank due to their lack of scales. My tank took unusually long to cycle (about 3.5 months) but I am so glad that I did it properly.

ccmedic15 wrote:I bought a 10 gallon to start with since the ones I have had are so tiny. I am working on getting a 30. The tank I bought was a kit so I'm not sure of the exact filter size. I have only had 1 puffer at a time so far. But I cycle it approx an hour or so when I add a new fish. I have had 2 GSPs which both died and I have an F8 right now that isn't doing well. Before they die they get black on their sides and around their mouth and very lethargic. They dive bomb from the top of the tank to the bottom and do this often. My F8 that I have now is only about 1 1/2 inches long but is not swimming well and was actually stuck to the filter this morning. I had to move him down and away from it. This whole thing is frustrating me so bad and is pretty upsetting to keep losing one fish after the other.

You might wanna try cycling the tank for at least 1-2 weeks at minimum. Do take some time to read up on fish tank cycling. It'll help you understand whats killing ur fish. There's actually ALOT going on in an "empty" tank and alot that needs to happen first before fish can be put in safely. Even with all the instant treatments and bacteria kickstarters out there, it's best to give a extra time for a tank to cycle and stabilize itself. Do take some time to do more research and i hope your next try turns out better

Buy yourself a freshwater master test kit (API works just fine), and test your water parameters. You should have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and as low as possible on nitrates. As for the puffer, take him out of there and put him in some sort of QT and change its water regularly in the QT while your tank cycles. Or, you could do a massive WC now, and keep doing them until you get your test kit. Puffers don't do well with ammonia or nitrite, and I'm pretty sure that's why they all keep dying.