The Puffer Forum

hi..i have 3 puffers, 2 of them are green spotted puffers and one is the figure 8..the pet store i got them from said that they would all get along great, but my figure 8 isn't eating..iv had him for about 2 weeks and the 4Th day i had him i went back to the store and asked why isn't my fish eaten they told me to give him 5 days to start eating because hes not use to his tank...its been almost 2 weeks and he has only eaten once...do any of you know what i should do? i feed them a cube and a half of frozen brine shrimp..someone please help me.

Most lfs don't have a clue, read the library/pufferpedia articles on feeding and the profiles of your fish, I would try live bloodworms if you can get them.
How big is the tank, what are the water parameters and how long has it been setup.
I am also new to puffers but there will be experts on here later better able to give advice.

We need to know pretty much everything about your tank and fish in order to tell you what is going on. I'll go over the basics for you, for both of these types of puffers.
1) Brine shrimp aren't a great food, they lack important vitamins, so try to get frozen bloodworms, live blackworms, or shell on shrimp like krill. Small snails, pond snails or ramshorn, will also be a welcome addition to their diet.
2) When young F8 puffers and GSPs share water conditions, at low end brackish, but F8's need to stay very slightly brackish, SG 1.004-1.006 generally, to be healthy, while the GSPs will need 1.016 -1.024 later in life to be healthy. If you are not keeping them in brackish water you will need to start, good articles are available through this site, the short of it is you have to use marine salt mix, aqarium salt of any make is useless, I use instant ocean, but you can use whatever marine salt is most readily available.
3) All these fish require much more space that you would think they do, as they are thick bodied, dense fish, not little slivers like neons or danios... a F8 will need 15 gallons to himself, and the GSP's will need 30 gallons each. And past youth, they can't be kept together, the GSP's will need closer to sea water than the F8 can tolerate.

Welcome. Alas, another victim of stupid store clerks. *sigh*

1. Did you cycle your tank?
2. What size is the tank?
3. Are you adding any salt and, if so, what kind?
4. Are you defrosting the food before feeding it to them?
5. How big are they?

Definitely get some other food like frozen bloodworms. Frozen food must be defrosted in some tank water before feeding it to them and should be strained. You can try soaking them in some tank water with a few slices of fresh garlic, as garlic is a good natural appetite stimulant.

Hi, i've been wondering this for a while now... What does it mean when you say "cycle your tank"? When i got my puffer, the store clerk told me to let the water sit in the tank filtering and airrating for a couple of days before putting in the puffer. I was also told that it would be a good idea to put some food in the tank to get the bacteria started as well. Is that cycling?

Sorry if it's a newbie question, but it seems really important.

Read the article on Fishless Cycling in our Library. Many excellent articles there on the good bacteria needed to cycle our tanks.

No, unfortunately that's not cycling. Clerks should rarely be listened to.

Fish waste is ammonia, which is toxic to fish. There is a bacteria that converts the ammonia to nitrites, also toxic to fish. Then there is a second bacteria that converts the nitrites to nitrates, not toxic to fish except in high doses. "Cycling" is the process of building up the population of these two bacteria.

Puffers are extremely sensitive to ammonia and nitrites. We recommend fishless cycling which can be accomplished with regular household ammonia (pure, without scent or cleansers), a piece of shrimp, fish food, etc. Anything that will rot and turn into ammonia. That will start the cultivation of the bacteria needed. Cycling usually takes 4-6 weeks on average.

This is a really simple answer, but there are articles in our library on the nitrification cycle and fishless cycling.

OOh I wish I bash some heads sometimes, I hate it when people get misinformed just so some schmuck can earn some cash. Its happened to me many times.

Rest assured, Wish962 and wedge there are plenty of people here that can help you. Give as much info as possible to help them though