The Puffer Forum

Took maybe a week after I got the puffers for their colors to come in, been feeding them a steady diet of Brine Shrimp/Blood Worms, no hardshells yet as I don't see these 'teeth' everyone talks about developing?

Anyway, my REAL question is my light cycle is roughly 4:30PM until 12AM. When I initially turn the lights on, both puffers are usually on the bottom of the tank, in opposite corners and they are usually reallllly pale in color. Give them a couple minutes and they are full color and very active. They never fight, I've watched with the lights off and never seen them get aggressive.

Am I stressing my fish somehow or is this typical?

Not sure about the lights but as far as the feeding, brine shrimp should only be an occasional treat as they have almost no nutritional value. You need to start feeding hard shells now. You don't WANT to start seeing the teeth that everyone is talking about, as when you see them, that means they're getting too long and will need to be manually trimmed.

Ditto to what Boxermom said about the teeth. Best to feed proper foods from the very beginning.

As far as the color, I think that's pretty normal. Puffers tend to sleep or take naps and when they do that often their colors are very dark or dull, not their usual bright vibrant colors. A lot of times when they wake up suddenly from a "nap" they'll almost seem stuck in a curled up position for a few minutes too.

I actually have no idea how old these puffers are....

I was actually so concerned with potential teeth issues that I gently removed them from the tank and checked their teeth as quickly as possible.

I have a 10 gallon tank that is fully cycled, I'm preparing to raise my own food for them. I should have noted the brine shrimp are given to them once a week. Sorry about that.

I've had really good luck with these Puffers, it's been a pleasant surprise.

They are currently in a 30g tank. My only issue is their coloring right after turning the lights on, but it literally takes less than 2 minutes for them to gain their coloring again. Is my light cycle too short? Do I need to pick up a timer?

But I'm definitely not going to argue, it sure sounds like I need to find some hard foods for these little guys FAST. What seafood could I buy from the supermarket that is hard enough to crack their teeth? Do I have to prepare it at all? Thanks in advance...

LOL.. don't panic, Figure 8's are not as prone to tooth problems as some other types of puffers.

If you can buy some frozen krill from the local pet store, that has some crunch to it. You can also feed gut loaded crickets, gut loaded ghost shrimp. Some puffers will eat pelleted cichlid food, which is a bit crunchy and probably helps. Snails are always the best option though, and they love them.

As far as the color upon wakening, that's just part of the wake up process. Don't worry about changing your lighting, they'd do it pretty much no matter what. I think they do it to hide so nothing sneaks up on them while they are sleeping.

BTW, don't remove it from the water unless its been sedated. If it puffs with air, it can die.

I don't have to worry about any disease buying live crickets from the pet store? Are they actually hard enough to bust their teeth?

This has been why I've never bought ghost shrimp to feed them, I've been nervous that I'd be feeding them diseased food.

You can quarantine them for a couple of weeks to make sure they are disease-free, and/or breed them yourself. Most of us just use snails I believe. Very easy to breed, never-ending supply, good crunchy food.

I'm 90% positive that inverts do not carry diseases that affect fish. You know, how if a bird has something that can kill other birds and a human handles it, the human won't die (unless its that freaky new bird flu).

So generally its safe to feed shrimp, snails and crickets, but I'd personally try to get them out of the fish store water first (never add fish store water to your tank). Get them in a bucket or tank, get some food in their bellies, then feed them so the puffer gets the benefit of the food they ate as well.

Now, with feeder fish, like minnows and goldfish, there is a TON of risk for disease. That's why we don't recommened it.

Shrimp and crickets aren't extremely crunchy, and definately not hard enough to "break" a tooth, its more of a constant wear down. Similar to rabbits and guinea pigs who aren't given enough hay or wood to chew on, their teeth can grow right through their lips if not taken care of.