Hello, This is a real late post, but.. I'm no expert,but... I'd put each of these in their own tank - at least a 29G. Landscape like a jungle. enough so they can meander in and out and around the plants, .ie can't swim in a straight line. Get some driftwood and caves in there for hiding places. I wouldn't have turbulance from filter returns. I feel these guys need a maximum of space and no other Puffers, I think very possible you'll find they will compete aggresively for food with a Puffer tankmate. As for food I find my Puffers will ONLY eat live food. They've gotten to the point that they will only eat either Pond or Ramshorn snails. One will eat both and one will only eat Ramshorn. Getting complicated, time comsuming, etc yet? And what about snail volume? I go through well over 100 snails per week. I only have 2 Figure 8 Puffers. One is about 3 inches long and one is about 2. Water cleanliness and filter cleanliness is absolutely a weekly must. Maybe your Puffers will eat an easier food to come by. Hope so, it's a shame to watch one's pets languish just because the pet store you got them from was too irresponsible to tell you all these things I'm now telling you. Like I said, I'm no expert, most of what know was trial and error, pet shops are absolutely no help!!! You can read about them on enternet. Good Luck!!!
1st Time Puffer Keeping
- Thread starter Koji
- Start date
That's crazy that your puffers will not anything else, especially F8s. I believe you have them spoiled.
Well I tried last fall for a number of weeks. When I first got the Puffers they seemed very happy with the live worms from the local pet shop, meal and red. I beleive they called them? I gave them a few snails only once and awhile, which they would eat. Then all of a sudden it was "starvation city" for them and "panic city" for me. I didn't have enough snails and they wouldn't eat anything else. Honestly, They would not do anything but maybe bite a redworm if I was lucky. When I found a source for the snails all was right with the wolrd! Now they hunt, stalk, eyeballs going every-which-way, are hardly ever bored, and very fat. You know, to each his own, I enjoy it this way. I'm sure in the wild they are hunting and stalking and eating or resting all the time. It's great fun to see my large Puffer slowly and stealthily sneak up on a snail in a tangle of plants wait for a while, all the time eyes going in all directions independant of one another, and then pounce with lightning speed. He seems so happy doing this. For me, it seems to be a very realistic slice of exotic aquatic life carrying itself out right in my livingroom. I don't think he'd do that with a worm. I don't think I could sprinkle 20 or so worms all over the tank so he could hunt them at his leisure. This is a lot of work and expense, but I am rewarded many times over. I don't know anything about any other Puffer, but I know what has worked so far for mine. It's just a lot of fun. That's what it's all about!!!!
I would go crazy with puffers like that. LOL. Glad my valentini isnt like that. he eats whatever i gice him practically.
Rocketman;1627582; said:
Mealworms are what I used to feed my quail and hedgehog, redworms are probably bloodworms?
Rocketman;1627189; said:
Although that is a good idea, it is extremely inpractical. Not too many people have like 7 empty tanks that are 29Gs or bigger, and a DP really only needs about 10G or less to itself. Are you basing your info on your assumption that they are GSPs?
Mine are Fig8's. not GSP's, and only one is so picky. The other likes Pond Snails. Pond Snails reproduce almost overnight. So no problem there. I know my Puffer, I guess is spoiled? But really, I did try getting him to eat other things and he really wouldn't. But so long as I have enough Ramshorn Snails the point is moot. I can't put into words how entertaining he is when he hunts. Drifts around like a little blimp with eyes going every which way. He has two large Ghost Shrimp as tankmates. The one shrimp is very agressive. Sometimes the shrimp will challenge the Puffer for a snail! Can you imagine?!? The Puffer just lunges at the shrimp to chase it without bitting and then it's all over. The way the shrimp originally got in there was that I thought he might eat them. So much for that. He seems to care less about them.
