The Puffer Forum

Hello all, and thank you for welcoming me to the forum,

I have been keeping fish for a couple of years and decided it was time to redo the tank and start from scratch. My setup is as follows:

36 gallon bowfeont tank
Fluval G6 canister filtration system
Fluval 200w digital heater
Fluval pro 2.0 lighting with wifi controller
Aqua 9w inline uv sterilizer
Hydor circulation pump
Driftwood and a zebra stone
Substrate is 2.5 inches deep imagitarium sand I mixed myself (white/black)

The 10gallon feeder tank is full of mystery and ramshorn snails for puffy.

I had fell extremely hard for a congo puffer, and set the tank up specifically for the little guy, BUT AS USUAL THERE WAS AN ISSUE.

I placed an order on yourfishstore.com 6-17-17 and after terrible customer service. and two weeks with my money on hold, they finally e-mailed me and confirmed cancellation. (I expected this from them already.)

I had since contacted 5 of my nearest aquarium stores and searched far and wide online, but can not seem to find this fish.

The stores I contacted near Pittsburgh, PA said that they have had them before, but only one at a time and usually in the late fall.

I set up a species only tank specifically for this fish and now I can't find it.

I'm nearly heartbroken after setting my eyes on this fish and killing myself to build the perfect tank.

If anyone could direct me to one of these fish it would be a mericle!

My luck. Please help guys! And thanks!

Aaron B.

Don't bother with snails, they won't touch them.

Wetspot has them on their stock list. They probably still have some in stock.

Thanks I will check wetspot and get back to you as soon as I talk to them!

If snails are not in this fish's diet what should I be feeding him on your recommendation?

Any meaty foods they will accept. The trick to these piscivores, is getting them onto dead foods.
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
library/feeding/problems-feeding-your-puffer/

I saw it on aquabid from wetspot, it shows in blue- which means he's in holding still on the stock list but it's up for sale on aquabid, go get him!!!

Have it ordered!

Thanks to all that contributed to this post.

Puffy will be shipping Monday for a 7-11 arrival. All is well I'm just a little concerned for the picky eating of a congo.

I'm gonna pick up a couple guppies just in case I run into trouble and so I can start qt'ing them in advance. I am also gonna get some frozen bloodworms and pick up prawn from the grocery store.

Rip to my snail farm.

If anyone thinks I'm missing something or has suggestions for a diet I am all ears.


Thanks again guys!

Go with live worms, instead of frozen. I get them at Walmart.

We have a REALLY picky Congo! He had never eaten deD food before we adopted him and turned his nose up at everything except the minnows the previous owner fed him.
I've had great luck with thawed frozen shrimp soaked in VitaChem - he will pig out on it! It took him a while to readily accept it, and we had to fast ours for a week to get him to take dead foods. But now that he's decided he likes frozen shrimp, he's a little piggy!! Good luck!!

Mine just was acclimated after arrival today! He is about 1.6+ inches and looks good!

I have some vita-chem on the way in the mail.

"Little Guy" (as he is temporarily named) had the lights on dim blue for 5 hours and then I gently ramped them up and he has been playing in the bubbles and current happily it seems!

Little Guy has also eaten a few thawed frozen bloodworms.

What specifically are the worms you get at Walmart, Pufferpunk?
I just want to be sure I'm getting the correct item.

Thawed or cooked shrimp? Shell on or off?
Like I said I do have vitamins on the way here.

I have shell on cooked frozen shrimp, but was unsure if I should have picked raw instead.

Little Guy changed color when he ate and seems to enjoy my company at the bowfront.
For a lurker he seems pretty active.
I have not observed burrowing of any sort.
My substrate is black 80% and white 20% but he likes a creamy tan color as far as I can see.

Maybe an ich spot or three at the most on his tail fin. None observable on body.
I hope with the temp at 80 and perfect conditions he will be just fine.

I added API Melafix to the tank starting a day prior to his arrival today.
I swear by this stuff when acclimating fish.

Thank you for your help so far!

Little Guy is here!!

Aaron

He buried in the sand and settled down for the evening. I feel as though day 1 was very successful and I could not be happier with a freshwater fish.

I am not sure I asked in my last post but what kind of worms are they? Night crawlers?

Any pics as yet, sir?

Yup! Try nightcrawlers! As for the shrimp, I do raw peeled shrimp in the VitaChem and my dude chomps it right down. Can't wait to see pics!!

Aaron9 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2017 5:19 pm
Thawed or cooked shrimp? Shell on or off?
I have shell on cooked frozen shrimp, but was unsure if I should have picked raw instead.

My substrate is black 80% and white 20% but he likes a creamy tan color as far as I can see.

raw food only - no cooked food!
is your black substrate smooth-grained?
how about the white?

BTW, LadyHawk, Jack is wonderful. Great vids and pics, thank you!