The Puffer Forum

I have two in my tank, just recently I noticed one of my little puffer always hiding underneath a log. The other swims all about and goes crazy when I go near the aqurium (thinking it's feeding time). What's wrong with the other little guy he doesn't move from his spot -- is he going to die

Without knowing more, my guess would be he's being bullied or for some other reason is afraid of the other one. What size tank is it? What are the water parameters? What else is in the tank?

Right now it's 32 gal I have 55 gal set up, just letting run for a month then I'm switching them over. I've never seen any aggression between the puffers. I did an anomina test, nitrates, PH, hardness, and everything is in check except for that brown aglee, which i'm getting rid of tomorow when I do a water change. It's almost as if he's digged a little hole in the rocks to be beneath the log. There are no other fish other then the other puffer.

You may not see any aggression but that doesn't mean there isn't any. He seems to be afraid of something.

What do you mean you're letting the 55g run for a month? Run empty? Are you doing anything to cycle it?

Correct I'm cycling is with prime, and another treatment that came in setup, Cycle and waiste control... is a month too long you think?

Well unfortunately, it doesn't sound like your tank is cycling. Prime doesn't help with cycling, it just declorinate the water and detoxifies ammonia and nitrites. Cycle is useless, a waste of money. Doesn't have the right live bacteria you need. Not sure what you mean by waste control. You need to be using something as a source of ammonia -food, ammonia, piece of rotting shrimp, something. I highly recommend you read up on fishless cycling so you'll know exactly what needs to happen and how to help it along. Otherwise, try to find some Biospira if you can and use that to "instant" cycle within a few days. With Biospira you add the fish at the same time you add it, as it contains the live bacteria needed for the biological cycle.

So if I put some frozen shrimp into the the aqurium it will cycle, i'm just doing what my local pet store told me to do

Best not to listen to them about anything, they rarely know what they are talking about and pretty much all they are interested in is selling you stuff. Yes, a piece of frozen shrimp will work well.

And let it run for about a month?

I wonder if that's what is wrong with my tank now, I let it run a month, the way they told me -- and have had the fish in it now for 3 weeks... do u think they'll die?

May not die anytime soon but putting them in an uncycled tank will very likely do some damage and shorten their lives.

What are the exact levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in their tank? Are you using liquid kits or test strips?

I'm using liquid for the amonia test, it's bellow 0 or the lightest yellow. Strips for the other tests and they all see okay as well. How long should I cycle the other aqurium for?

Damage, what kind?

Not sure. Ammonia can cause burns to the gills. There are a number of things nitrite and ammonia poisoning can cause.

Test strips are very inaccurate. I recommend getting liquid kits for them as well.

There's no set time for cycling, that's what you need the test kits for. The ammonia will rise, then fall as the nitrites rise. Once both of them hit zero and you start seeing nitrates, the cycle is done. Can take 4-6 weeks, give or take a little.

I'd buy Bio-Spira (enough for the 55g), do a 90% water change on the tank, add the correct amount of Prime, pour the B-S into your filter & add fish.

My pet store has none of that stuff... I just want to set up an aquirum I'm no biologist First someone tells me a piece of shrimp is fine, the i Hear another answer, this is too confusing lol

I read the article on cycling with out fish, where the heck am I gonna get amonia i live in a town with 500 people lol. Is it me, or does everyone on this forum have everything down to the exact science? I don't mean to be flaming just discouraged everything i'm doing I'm doing wrong. Are my fish doomed?

There are many methods of cycling a tank. I have given you the simplest, quickest & safest one. Using any of the other methods is kinda like a chemistry class & even with the shrimp, you still need to monitor the levels carefully--it's not like just throwing a shrimp in there to rot. Personally, I don't like the shrimp/fish food method. I just can't see putting my precious fish in a tank that something was just rotting in. JMO

You can order Bio-Spira here: http://fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html