Getting porcupine puffer tomorrow

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A

AC2020x

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 24, 2009
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State College, PA
Hey, tomorrow morning i'm supposed to be getting a porcupine puffer delivered at my house. I've been thinking about getting one for a while but for my birthday my dad decided to surprise me (without asking) and got me one. It's supposed to be 3-4 inches. My question is should I quarantine him? I have a 15g tank set up right now with just a piece of PVC a heater and a small powerhead.

I feel like he would like it alot better and be less stressed if I just put him right into my 125 (after proper acclimation of course) than into a small 15g tank. His tank mates right now are a 3" huma huma trigger, a snowflake eel, 2 clowns and a firefish.

Any thoughts? I haven't quarantined any of my other fish and I'm debating as to whether or not I want to with the puffer. If there are obvious signs of illness when I receive him I will for sure but otherwise I'm not sure if I should or not. If I do quarantine him how long would you suggest I do so and how often should I change out the water?

Thanks a ton!
-AC
 
i would just in case cuz a salt fish with ick will wipe out an entire tank
 
you keep firefish and clowns with a moray? the clowns might be alright if there maroons and are good sized but that firefish is most def. in danger of becoming a snack.
 
It's possible but I majorly doubt it. I know many people who have kept full grown snowflakes for years without any issue with smaller fish. And i've seen no hint of aggression from him or any possible interest in any of the fish. Thats not to say it's not possible but I don't feel its very likely. Plus he's not very big at this point. If it was another type of moray I would agree with you though.
 
I would put the fish in QT. Shipping fish is hard on them so it is easier to care for them if something is wrong. I have had 2 porcupine puffers in the past and they are great fish. My first one was around 6" when I bought him and was not a problem, but the second one I got at around 3" and I had a difficult time getting him to eat at first. I was really glad he was in a 40g QT tank and not my main tank. These fish are really smart so with that intelligence comes it's own challenges in owning them. Like getting them to feel comfortable enough to eat what you are feeding them.
 
So this is what happened, I know it wasn't how I planned nor how I wanted and I don't even approve of what I did so I know that it wasn't a good idea. My dad decided to pull a double surprise on me and got me 3 fish instead of just the puffer. He got me the porc puffer, a blue/hippo tang and a butterflyfish. So I didn't really have any choice but to put them in my main tang as I didn't have anything else set up to handle that. However all of the fish definitely seem healthy.
Today the Puffer ate pieces of shrimp off of a feeding stick. I tried feeding him krill and shrimp with garlic on it first and he wasn't interested. But without garlic he went right for it. He also wasn't interested in krill at all (with or without garlic).

The butterfly fish ate some pieces of sea veggies off a clip and some peices of formula two and mysis/brine mix that I feed the fish. He seemed to eat a good ammount and I've also seen him graze on algae in the tank and some leftover food in the sand.

The hippo tang I'm a little worried about! What would you suggest feeding him? He doesn't seem interested much in any of the food floating in the tank. I have seen him do a bit of grazing but not alot. He looks healthy and i've seen no signs of sickness and he will swim around the tank a bit time to time, but spends a majority of time hiding behind a rock towards the back. He doesn't seem sick but doesn't seem very comfortable as well. He's not being bullied at all, and when he swims around he seems happy and healthy. But then he will got back to hiding. -- I know they a very prone to ick so I'm a little worried that he might get stressed and get it in the next few days. Any tips on what to feed him? Or any other tips I should know about him?

Thanks alot,
AC

-And I know that it was a bad Idea putting them all right into my display and It's not somthing I would have done had not all these fish suddenly been a surprise!
 
most of the time hippo tangs will hide until they are comfortable or spooked. try squid for it to eat.
 
Good thought, I have some squid both cubes and frozen from the grocery store. I'm guessing the cubes would be better since it will break up. - I've read a few places now about how hippo tangs are really shy fish when first introduced to an aquarium and it usually takes about a week for them to start acting more regualar and a few days to start eating well.
 
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