Hi all, getting into puffers!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
J

josolanes

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 17, 2012
103
0
0
Odessa, FL
I just thought I'd say hi and introduce myself!

Currently I have a 20H with a Rena XP1, heavily planted with medium-high light, ferts, and no co2 (and a female betta, LOTS of platies, ghost shrimp, nerite snails, pond snails, etc). My fiance has a lightly planted 10 with low-medium light and occasional ferts (and her dwarf gourami and 3 leopard cories, ghost shrimp, nerite snails)

With the $/g sale at Petco recently we couldn't pass up new tanks and builds :grinno:

I picked up a 40B and she picked up a 20L. Her 20L will be replacing the 10, same fish for now and using another XP1, high light, co2, ferts, etc with the intention of going very heavily planted and aquascaping it

My 40B will be a simple build this time, housing a Congo Puffer (Tetraodon Miurus) with a deep sand bed and lightly planted driftwood (no plants in the sand). I'm looking to make it into a biotope for the puffer :)

Some pics of the progress currently:
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Tank backs have been painted flat black, they're on their stands now, pool filter sand (cleaned) is in the tanks (4" in the 40B, 2.5-3" in the 20L), tanks are filled with water and my XP3 is running on the 40B
 
Yeah!! Finally some T. miurus action. Do you have the puffer yet?? 'Cause a 40B is gonna be huge for a little fish that never moves.

Welcome to the forum BTW, keep us updated with pictures of the build.
 
Thanks for the welcome COG Commando!

Haha it's fairly laid back approach is my only concern with going with a Miurus but they seem to have pretty cool personalities and those who have owned one absolutely loved it so I'm very interested - been thinking about this build for the last month or 2 now and got lucky with the $/g sale :)

I don't have the puffer quite yet, waiting for the 40B to finish cycling before ordering one, even though I tried seeding the XP3 by running it along side the XP1 in the 20H it didn't seem to do much (or maybe the 40B water was kept ammonia-free for too long). So just have to wait for the tank to be ready now :). I know I do want a freshwater puffer and a species tank and like the Miurus, despite it not moving a whole lot lol
 
Congo's are probably my personal favorite puffer that I have owned. They are loaded with personality, and may or may not sit on the bottom all day depending on individual activity level, but also on complexity of tank decor. My congo really liked sitting on top of drift wood and watch me all day before he got hungry and begged for food at the glass.

Be prepared to deal with the potential for him to not take dead food right away as a possibility. Try your best to not feed him feeder fish as they are often high in fat content and can carry a number of diseases just based on their living conditions. Starving your puffer a few days between when you first get him and your first attempt to feed him can help, dangling a worm in front of him on a piece of string can usually get him to bite if it is wiggling. This is often a good step to gaining his trust and also start the often slow process of getting your congo onto dead food, be prepared for hunger strikes which are normal and will occur as it is a lurker puffer. Other methods that can help are 1 to soak in garlic extract, and two a varying diet. Also because they are lurkers they don't need food nearly as often as their more active counterparts 4-5 days a week when he is young and 3-4 days when he matures and hits sexual maturity.

Make sure to feed hard foods for his teeth, and again a varying diet is good. Some food suggestions include shrimp, crab/ crab legs, fish, snails, blood worms, earth worms, crayfish (when larger)
 
Thanks for the very informative reply, puffykid! :)

Thanks for the tips on keeping a more complex tank decor. I plan to use lots of driftwood along the back of the 40B with plants planted in it. I may add rocks or thicker driftwood sparsely in the tank otherwise so it's not just sand everywhere and so it can rest on it.

I'm aware he may not take dead food initially. I got some Buenos Aires Tetras in the meantime that I am QT'ing and plan to feed as needed initially if I need to, I intentionally avoided feeders to ensure they had better living conditions and are less likely to have disease. Thoughts on these potentially as feeders initially? I will start with starving him initially and trying a worm. If I don't feed the BA Tetras, I may give them to my brother or fiance for their tanks if they'd like them.

I definitely plan on feeding as varied a diet as I can, within what is safe for it to eat. I've also read what you said about how often to feed them since they dont' tend to be very active.

As for the hard foods, that's something I was unable to find much about. I've read varying views from feeding snails occasionally to "not needing to since they don't have the beak growout problem most puffers might have". So, crab/crab legs and shrimp should help with their tooth issue then correct? :)

I've also seen people using frozen store-bought shrimp for puffers some, which seems like a good idea from what I can tell.

Again, thanks for all the advice - I really appreciate it! It helped clear up a couple things I wasn't able to find much about :)
 
I believe those tetras are safe to feed to your congo, I actually did that too but mine were to smart to be caught. I found that you can buy a pregnant guppy take it home birth and qt the babies then raise them in the congo tank and he can occasionally catch one or two and he will enjoy hunting them. I think I was mistaken previously about them needing hard foods sorry about that, though it wouldn't hurt and they do enjoy hunting crabs along with ghost shrimps. The store bought food is fine as long as it isn't precooked seafood. Test all sorts of seafoods, you'll find out he has likes / dislikes / and loves. He'll probably adore the worms, a good way to get them is to go to a bait shop.
 
LOL yes these tetras are very fast and skittish. I'm almost thinking it'll be amusing to see the congo try to catch them but doubt he'll be able to.

The pregnant guppy is a great idea - I may have to do this at some point :)

Crabs, prawns, shrimp, etc I've read they love. I have a small 2.5g that I've considered breeding cherry shrimp in and gut loading them for the puffer as an occasional treat or something.

I'll definitely try different seafood to see what it likes, and the bait shop is a good idea for finding some worms.

Thanks again for the help! :D
 
No problem glad to help! Welcome to the forum btw, come back if you got any other questions?
 
awesome, they are very interesting puffer to own. I'll definitely follow your thread on there = p
 
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