i had a fugu puffer and a clown knife in a 55 gallon tank together and they were doing fine. well i had a spike in nitrite and nitrate and took them out and put them into a open 10 gallon tank i had. well in one day the puffer defined my clown knife and ate half his tail. im hoping to get the ck back to health but not looking good. what happened? why did the fugu do this in one day? territorial?
puffer help!
- Thread starter golfboy25
- Start date
It's just their nature. They'll try to take bites out of other fish.
Being in the 10 gallon just made it worse because there was no room for the knife to escape.
Being in the 10 gallon just made it worse because there was no room for the knife to escape.
thanks i figured that it was the tank but no im not so sure i wnat to keep it with any other fish. i dont think the ck is going to make it to much damage and shock.
First, just because you had a nitrite spike doesn't mean you need to move them to another tank. By doing that alone you could have hurt the fish. Fish can eventually get used to pretty crappy water, but if moved to clean water, it can shock their system - usually as bad as a fish being put from clean to dirty water.
Doing normal water changes will usually remove any nitrite from your water.
Your puffer went after your knife because of their proximity. He was bound to nip him eventually (if not kill him out right) in your 55, but since they were so close, he just did what his nature pretty much calls for - nipping anything that could be a potential meal.
Knife fish in general do not make good long term tank mates for puffer fish, and vis versa.
The best thing I would personally recommend now, would be to do a 40% water change on your 55 to remove the nitrite, and drip acclimate your puffer back into the tank.
Depending on the size of your knife fish, I would leave him quarantined in your 10gal - and treat him with some aquarium salt and melafix to help regrow his fins.
But in general, I'd probably pick which of the two fish you'd really wanna keep. The ck does reach 3" though, while the puffer stays at a relatively easier to keep size.
Doing normal water changes will usually remove any nitrite from your water.
Your puffer went after your knife because of their proximity. He was bound to nip him eventually (if not kill him out right) in your 55, but since they were so close, he just did what his nature pretty much calls for - nipping anything that could be a potential meal.
Knife fish in general do not make good long term tank mates for puffer fish, and vis versa.
The best thing I would personally recommend now, would be to do a 40% water change on your 55 to remove the nitrite, and drip acclimate your puffer back into the tank.
Depending on the size of your knife fish, I would leave him quarantined in your 10gal - and treat him with some aquarium salt and melafix to help regrow his fins.
But in general, I'd probably pick which of the two fish you'd really wanna keep. The ck does reach 3" though, while the puffer stays at a relatively easier to keep size.
