Nile/Fahaka Puffer, Tetraodon lineatus  11/14/06
<Hi Jo, Pufferpunk here.  I have corrected all your improperly capitalized words, so we can present this email to our FAQs.  Next time it will be sent back for you to correct!>
I bought a Nile puffer 3 days ago and was really badly informed by the shop. I wish I had looked on the internet first!
<Did they tell you it will grow as large as 18" & require a minimum of a 120g tank within 2 years?  They grow fast!>
They told me it would be fine to fill up the new tank with water from my other tank with various tropical fish and put the puffer in the tank the same evening. I now know the filter wouldn't have matured and now my puffer has a cloudy looking eye and isn't moving much. I've tested the water and the NO3 is on 0 and the NO2 the others seem fine too. I'm not too great on the technical side so if you could explain in a way I would understand I would be very grateful.
<For cloudy eye (due to poor water quality--fish don't get sick in healthy water), add Melafix.  The bacteria you need to cycle a tank does not live in the water.  It lives on the surfaces of the  tank.  Mostly in the filter material but also on gravel, glass, decor, etc.  You can squeeze the "dirt" from your older filters into your new filter to help the cycle along.  You should be doing 50-80% daily water changes, until your tank is cycled.  After the tank is cycled, do 50% weekly water changes.  My best suggestion would be to add BIO-SPIRA to your filter, to "instant cycle" your tank.  I highly recommend this.  It really is not a good idea to cycle a tank with a puffer at all!  They have no protective scales or gill covers.  Very sensitive to ammonia/nitrites.  How large is the puffer & what size tank is it in? 
For more info on your fish, go to: www.thepufferforum.com  ~PP>
Thank you, Jo

Auriglobus modestus  8/31/06
Hi there,
<Hi Leanne, Pufferpunk here>
I recently purchased 2 Auriglobus modestus (aka. golden or bronze puffer) from my LFS, one is 2.5" and the other is 3".  They seemed very active in the store and ate with vigour.  The second day home they seemed to lose interest in food.  I have tried frozen brine shrimp, freeze dried krill, live rams horn snails and (because this is what the LFS was feeding) live feeder fish.  
<Get those diseased feeder fish out of your tank!  Your puffers are mostly crustacean eaters.  On food for puffers: http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/puffer/food.html >
They showed a bit of interest in the krill this morning (day 4) and the feeder fish has a little of his tail nibbled on, the only other tank mate (besides the feeder fish) is a tiger barb who has resided in that tank for over a year.  
<As soon as your puffers get comfortable in there, the barb will be toast.>
They are in a 10 US gal tank, temp 73F, water parameters are:  
nitrate 30ppm, nitrite 0ppm, hardness 120ppm, alkalinity 180ppm, and pH approx 7.2.  
<I'd get those nitrates <20 with some water changes.  Temp should be 78-82F.  They really need 20g each.  I kept one quite happily with a large royal pleco, in a 50g tank.  Be sure the tank is heavily decorated with lots of broken lines of sight, to prevent intraspecific aggression.>
LFS said to add 1/2c. aquarium salt to lower the hardness but it was my understanding that these are full freshwater puffers and the directions on the box said 1 tbsp/5 gal so a 1/2c.  Seems a lot.  
<That makes absolutely no sense at all.  Adding salt will make your water harder.  They need no salt.>
I have been doing daily water changes of 1/3 to 1/2 in attempt to lower the nitrates but they haven't moved, LFS said the  
levels are high because of all the rain we have been having. Could  
the nitrates be the reason they are not interested in feeding?  If so  how can I lower the levels, would bottled distilled water work?  
<Your nitrates are high but  really aren't at toxic levels yet.  Are you cleaning the gravel & filter media?  The puffers are in a tank that is too small for them & may just be sulking (puffers do that a lot).  It takes a few days for puffers to adjust to a new environment.>
The  substrate is small gravel (the kind you can buy anywhere in any color)  and I just added a sword plant yesterday.  They seemed alot happier  with the plant in there, they circle around it or rest in the leaves.  Any suggestions you have that will make my puffers happier would be greatly appreciated.
<Here is a profile on your puffer: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/ug.php?g2_itemId=48  Check out that puffer forum too.  ~PP>
Leanne

Where to find the T. palembangensis?  07/02/06
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
I am looking for a humpback puffer.  Is that the same as a dragon puffer?
<Both are common names for the Tetraodon palembangensis.  AKA King Kong puffer.>
Where can I find one?
<I see them for sale here: http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/puffer_fish/puffer_fish.htm  You can also post in the Wanted section here: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/portal.php
Be sure you have a cycled 40g tank ready for one.  No tank mates.  For more info on the species, check www.pufferlist.com.  ~PP>

South American Puffers  3/28/06  
Hi,
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
I have a new tank all set up and I have decided that I would really like some South American Puffers (Colomesus asellus). I have read that these are okay with other fish and wondered if anyone had experience of setting up a multi-species tank with them?
<I have kept them with larger cichlids.  They will pick on smaller, slow-moving forth, or fish with long fins.  Here is an excellent article on them: http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/puffer/sapuffer.html >>
Any suggestions on companions would be greatly appreciated. I am also wondering if you know good UK suppliers of food for these fellas?
<Sorry, I'm in the US.  You can post your inquiry in the "Wanted" section of this forum; www.thepufferforum.com.>
The tank is 100 x 45 x 40 and has a Rena x3 canister on it. It's quite well planed but no fish as yet. (And the plant can go into another tank if they will cause problems for the puffers).
<I'm assuming that centimeters?  They require 15 gallons for the 1st one & 10g for each added.  Heavily planted is great.  Be sure to read the articles on rearing snails at TPF.  If they don't get a constant supply, their teeth are the fastest growers of all puffer species.  There is an article on Puffer Dentistry in the Hospital Forum.  They are best kept in a species only tank.  ~PP>
Thanks, Faye Penny

Mixing Puffer Species  1/2/06
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
I have in a 29 gallon, 2 green spots, 2 figure 8's, 1 dragon fish, and 1 dwarf puffer. All are juveniles except dwarf.
   A few days ago I found and brought home a "Samphong" (?) puffer (guessing a female red eye red tail) from LFS that did not have much or actually any info on. I added this little devil to my happy community of peaceful friends and have had nothing but regrets and troubles since. The Samphong immediately bit both of my greens, killing 1 within 12 hours and 1 figure 8. Needless to say the hell raiser was quarantined as soon as i could get the net in my hand. The deceased within 30 minutes of the attack was swollen on entire side of bite. My figure 8 victim is doing ok.. Now to my main problem. My other green spot has become lethargic and not eating. As of this morning, 3 days since attack, he is now getting fin and tail rot. I am now treating with Anti-Fungus, a product of Aquarium Products and Mela-Fix by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I am wondering if I am doing the right thing or if you have any other ideas of how to treat.
<The 1st issue I see, is that you are mixing fresh, low-end-brackish & high-end brackish water species.  The 2nd problem I see, is that you have several species of different aggression & sizes, all in the same tank.  The dwarf only grows to 1", while the F8 (low-end BW fish) grows to 3" & the most aggressive of the 3, the GSP, grows to 6" & requires high-end BW (preferring marine conditions as an adult).  By keeping these exotic fish in conditions other than what are best for them will compromise their immune systems, causing the least bit of stress to make them sick.  I would get these fish into separate tanks with the proper parameters ASAP.  The DP can live in a 5g tank.  F8s are best with 15g for the 1st one & 10g for each added.  You can keep the dragon & the F8 in the 29g.  GSPs need 30-50g each, as adults.  I would separate them ASAP or you will witness more deaths.  If you need to cycle new tanks, you can add Bio-Spira, for an instant cycle.  As you have seen what can happen when you don't research a species 1st (all new fish should be quarantined also), you can check out puffer profiles at www.pufferlist.com.  There is great info & excellent articles at www.thepufferforum.com.  Be sure to read the F8 & GSP articles in The Library.  For the Dwarf puffer, you can go to www.dwarfpuffers.com.  After moving your GSP, start raising the SG (specific gravity, measured with a hydrometer or refractometer) by .002/week.  You must use marine salt.  Aim for 1.008-1.010 for the GSP (raising it higher towards adulthood) & 1.005 for the F8.  Keep using Melafix & Pimafix on the sick fish.  ~PP>
Thank you, Philip

Colomesus psittacus
I have a 75 gallon freshwater tank with the following fish: 5 green barbs, 2 Bala shark, 3 dwarf Gourami, and 2 Suckermouth cats. I just bought 3 Colomesus psittacus which the aquarium store said were compatible with my set up and would only grow to 4-6". (tank has small pebble base, lots of plants, large rock formations and driftwood.) The information I have been
able to find on this fish is conflicting. Are they freshwater or brackish?
<Actually kind of both... found along Atlantic coast and inland waters... please see here on fishbase.org: http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=
and the Freshwater Puffer FAQs on our site here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwpufferfaqs.htm >
Will they become aggressive? They are fairly peaceful now. I don't want to have these little guys either get hurt, or harm my other fish. Thanks,
Happy Holidays, Elizabeth
<I've had good luck with this species leaving most everything else alone (unlike so many other freshwater to brackish puffers), and all but your Gouramis are fast, smart enough to stay/get out of their way. I would just keep them fed (meaty foods daily) and keep an eye on them. Be chatting. Bob Fenner>

Fugu questions 8/18/05
<Hi there!  Heather (LinearChaos) here> At my LFS there are 4 3" Takifugu rubripes.  They are in horrible condition.  Instead of being green with neon orange they are silver and a dingy brick red. <The Takifugu rubripes is not a puffer that is sold in the trade, this is actually a species that is eaten as a delicacy in Japan.  The puffer you are describing is the Takifugu ocellatus.>  They are also ungodly cheap ($15 a piece).  <Wow! That is cheap!>  I was wondering for now would a 30 gallon tank be big enough for now.  I have no problem upgrading later.  I have no experience with these guys.  <No, this species is extremely aggressive toward their own and 4 in a 30g won't last but a week.  They'll nip each other to death almost immediately since they will not be able to get away from each other in that size tank and cannot establish territories.>  I am aware of how hard they are to keep in captivity.  Also there is very little information on these puffers.  Do you know what salinity, hardness, temperature, etc... they prefer.  Any help would be great.  <I have successfully kept 3 of these puffers in an established full marine environment for over a year, the salinity is 1.019 and the temp is 82*F.  The tank is 55g and is heavily stocked with live rock to break up the lines of sight as much as possible to reduce aggression.  Please, if you are unable to care for these puffers appropriately do not purchase them.  ~Heather> Logan

Problems with South American Puffer 3/4/05
<Pufferpunk again>
Tank is much smaller than that - just over 10 litres (about 3 US gallons I think).
<Poor puffers! SAPs are the most active FW puffers (bar one other FW species). They need plenty of room to swim. Mostly you will see them scanning back & forth along the glass, unless plenty of decor is in your tank.>
They were originally bought on advice from a fish shop that they were OK puffers to add to a community tank. We brought them home and quarantined them in the small tank for about 3 weeks, then added them to the main tank (approx 35 US gallon), but they didn't seem at all happy there, so we extracted them and moved them back.
<Maybe they were pacing the glass & you mistook that for unhappy? That's just what they do. See: Here.>
They have seemed happy since, and the LFS told us the small tank was OK. Maybe they were being overly optimistic.
<I just don't see how they could be happy in a tank that small. Maybe the small size of the tank, prevented them from swimming the way they usually do, so they seemed "calmer"?>
No tank mates, just the two puffers. They don't have any trouble getting to the food usually - we feed them on frozen bloodworm, with live stuff sometimes. Have not heard of feeding them on snails before now.
<An extremely important food in any puffer's diet, or their teeth get overgrown, especially this particular species.>
That's a very interesting link - I haven't seen anything like that before on fish the size of ours. I found your page with the Dremel suggestion, but we'd be more likely to accidentally decapitate the fish with a Dremel than do any good. That said, there's no visible enlargement of the teeth like the one in the picture. From reading all the pufferfish pages on wetwebmedia, the other thing that looked like a possibility to me was lockjaw. We have only really fed them bloodworm, having tried a couple of other things when we got them that they refused to eat. No-one ever recommended snails to us...
<Try krill/plankton. I have never heard of lockjaw on FW puffers. Is the puffers mouth locked open or closed? The teeth can actually grow so long they will cut into the mouth, preventing them from opening & closing it. Look closely, with a bright flashlight. I still think this is the problem.> 
Nitrite and ammonia both zero, nitrate not tested recently, but we do regular water changes, so should be OK. Water is soft, about pH 7.2, and kept at about 26 degrees C. Looking at the link I'm really not sure - ours look more like the "post-trim" version, no visible overgrowth like in the first picture. I only found your website yesterday, and I think we've had less than wonderful advice regarding these fish from the two fish shops we've been two. I have been told by one that our current problem could be due to old age - as dwarf puffers like ours typically only live a couple of years. I suppose that might be true, but I do find it a little hard to believe given that they can apparently grow up to 15cm long. Perhaps tank size is a reason ours haven't grown a lot?
<Your puffers are, no doubt, stunted in that tank!>
Anyway, I think it's probably too late to help our sick fish, but I'd like to be able to avoid repeating any mistakes in future.
<I've always been surprised, how quickly a skinny, long-toothed puffer started eating after teeth trimming. If you do find that this is the problem, I would suggest NOT using clove oil for tranquilizing the fish, as it may be too weak to bounce back. Just trim without it. Either way, they really need a bigger tank. ~PP> 

Problems with South American Puffers - II - 3/4/05
<Pufferpunk again>
There are numerous plants and decorations, and they have seemed happy to wander around.
<I'm glad they're happy, but 10g each is really recommended for these active swimmers.>
The larger tank has an Eheim external filter, and the current seemed to bother them. We had them in there for a few days, and they just huddled in a corner and looked (to us) pretty miserable. They also didn't eat much. When we put them back in the smaller tank, they swam around more and ate without any trouble. So we checked with the LFS, and then just left them there.
<It is sometimes difficult for small puffers to find food in a large tank. As far as the Eheim, you can add a spray bar to distribute the "current".>
Where do you get krill/plankton from? I think I can get snails from the LFS, but I'm fairly sure they don't have krill or plankton.
<You should be able to find it freeze-dried or frozen. If your LFS doesn't have it, most mail order fish supply stores, like www.drsfostesmith.com, or, I buy in bulk from http://www.jehmco.com/PRODUCTS_/FISH_FOODS_/Freeze_Dried/freeze_dried.html >
Would a 15g tank be suitable? We were thinking on getting one that size for them before all this...
<A 20g would be better. ~PP> 

Polka-doted Pignose Puffer 10/2/04
Hi,
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
First I want to say thanks because I really like your site. It has some really good information and I use it for my puffer as well as my other fish. Thanks.
<Thank you, we try out best!>
Okay, I have a pignose puffer (suvatti) named Poseidon, who is about 5 inches long. He is in a ten gallon tank, and the pH is about 7.6 and the temp. is about 80. I don't have any other readings now as I need to get my water tested.
<good idea to test for ammonia, nitrItes & nitrAtes.  A 5" puffer (which are huge waste producers) in a 10g tank, is a lot of fish!  I realize they don't move around much, but for reasons of water quality, I suggest a 20g, or at least a 15 for that puffer.  Also, I recommend 50% weekly water changes for all puffers.>
But, the problem is Poseidon has a white circle mark, about 3 millimeters in diameter on his left side. Also, he has two similar spots on his right side underneath his gill. I'm worried that this is fatal, but he's had them for about 2 weeks now. Otherwise his behavior is normal.
<My 1st thought is a bite from another puffer.  Puffer bites are circular & about that size.  How long have you had that puffer?  If he's fairly new, you can assume that guess to be correct.>  
There is salt in the tank (1 tlsp per 5 gal), and I have an underground filter.
<No salt in that tank!  This is strictly a freshwater puffer.  I also don't recommend UG filters for these fish, since they need sand to burrow in, which won't work for that kind of filter.  It also won't remove the waste particles from this fish.  Just wondering--what are you feeding your pignose?>
I'm wondering if this disease can be diagnosed and if so if there is a cure. I didn't see it on your site - maybe it's uncommon with puffers? I'm thinking it is a fungus, but I don't want to jump into any medications yet. Also I heard puffers are sensitive to medicines, so I want to be careful.
<True, you never want to use unnecessary meds on a puffer, especially copper!  Adding Melafix should heal that right up, if puffer bites is what you have.  ~PP>
Thanks a lot! -Eric

Dwarf Puffers  9/19/04
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
I have been researching puffers for a while.  Yesterday I purchased 3 small dwarf puffers (the size of a small pebble).  I have them in a 10 gallon tank for now until they grow. I have added 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt and have the water temp at 80.  They do not seem to be eating.  I have tried frozen brine shrimp and pellets but they seem to be too small to eat those foods.  I was wondering what to feed the tiny guys?
<Most puffers are wild-caught fish, which means they are used to eating live foods.  Mine love live blackworms--you should try those.  Once you get them eating you can try frozen-freeze-dried foods.  They also will need snails to eat, to keep their teeth trimmed.  Dwarf puffers are strictly freshwater fish & do not like salt.  A 10g tank should be fine for them for life, since they won't grow larger than 1".  Here's a great site for them: www.dwarfpuffers.com.  ~PP>

Freshwater Puffers for Beginners?  9/13/-4
Hi guys,
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
Just to check with you, which types of freshwater puffers are suitable for beginners as I really love puffers a lot but the spotted puffers which I kept lived less than 3 weeks every time...
<Oooohh, that's not good! =o{  They definitely are not FW puffers!  I guess you need much more research on them.  Read my article: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/gspsart.htm>
Can freshwater puffers be kept together with blood parrot fish?
<I am presently keeping South American & dwarf puffers with a parrot cichlid & a frontosa in a 50g tank.  How large is your tank?  A parrot needs at least a 30g.  Puffers in general, are really not for beginners.  SAPs need a constant daily supply of snails to keep their fast-growing teeth trimmed.  Otherwise, you'll need to trim them by hand every 6 months or so. Here's an article on them: http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/sapuffer.shtml  You might be better off with some dwarves.  They still require special foods also, but are not as difficult to keep as SAPs.  They can get nippy though.  Here's a great website, devoted to them: www.dwarfpuffers.com.  Puffers are best kept in species only tanks.  ~PP>