The Puffer Forum

I bought a small fahaka puffer (roughly 1 inch) from a local shop during the first week of April. During the past 2 months he has grown very little. He is currently housed in a 40g long. I feed him multiple times a day. I mostly feed live blackworms and occasional frozen bloodworms and a pond snail every few days. I feed him until he's got little pudge, but after a few hours he usually looks pretty skinny again, almost like I don't feed him. Hes a very active fish and doesn't appear to have any signs of stress.

Is he stunted? Does he have worms? Why isn't he growing?

Sounds just like the lil fella I bought 18 years ago.
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/lib ... treatment/
He grew to a big puffer & is still alive today!

Sounds like a worming is in order. My fahaka was growing but slowly until I had a heater issue and then almost lost him. After a succesful worming he looks better then ever great colours and growing quickly

Update: I medicated the puffer. I left it in a 10g hospital tank. Treated with parasyte guard by tetra (Active Ingredients: Praziquantel, Dflubenzuron, Metronidazole and Acriflavin). I medicated the water daily and made a concentrated mix to soak it's bloodworms. After 9-10 days it looked the same. Poop has never been stringy, but the fish always looks emaciated. It still looks that way regardless of what I feed it or how many times I feed it. Within a few hours it goes from plump to bony. The fish has since been returned to its 40g long. I've had this puffer for over 3 months now and still not an inch of growth....

Update: Ran out of live food with no sign of lfs getting more for awhile. Got the puffer to feed on NLS pellets. Fed twice daily. Puffer looks much better now, consistently plump and healthy appearing. Hasn't put on a lot of growth but it appears to have bulked up a tiny bit. I'd still say that it's under 2". Hopefully it starts growing more soon. I was anticipating to have a 4 inch fish by now. If I don see significant growth soon I may sell and try to find one thats already a little bigger.

Its been awhile! The puffer is looking a lot great and has filled out. Id say its about 3.5" now and I've had it for 11 months. Still kept in a 40 gallon long by itself. Started feeding it freeze dried shrimp and snails a few months ago. Its a very active and interactive fish. Some days its friendly and other days it tries to bite at you.

That's great! What are your plans for upgrading?

Ive got a 100g (60x18") that I'm slowly emptying out. My plan is to plant the tank heavily and in a few months put the puffer in there.