Congo -what Is He Doing?

[joloco]

my congo keep hiding his eyes by retracting them into his body - is this normal?

he also keeps baring his teeth and looking like he's trying to dislodge something but i only got him yesterday and he's not actually eaten anything yet....

i'm pretty sure i heard him make a small noise whilst he was baring his teeth...

what could be wrong?

i've given him a mussel which he's not touched and some live river shrimp which he's ignoring.

ph 8.5
ammonia, nitrate and nitrite 0

 

[ox5477]

Maybe the lfs people fed him something that got his system gunked up (why would they do anything wrong though??? ). But anyways, they could of fed him just on goldfish or guppys and these could of made him sick. He might just feel like crap so just feel it out and maybe if it isn't better in like two days, go back to the lfs and ask them what they fed him/ his water stats he was kept in and tank mates. These might all affect his behavior. If they kept him in bad conditions and fed him for a month on goldfish or other things that are making him sick, I would take him back and get your money back.....they might have sold you a fish that is waiting to die

 

[joloco]

he came from PaulMT and looks really healthy

made a dash for a snail this morning but then seemed to loose interest -
tried him with a mussel just now and he went for it twice but again seemed to loose interest
its in the tank near him now but he's not eating it

wish he would eat...

i asked paul what he said he fed him and its prawns and mussels neither of which he has eaten since he arrived

 

[Fella]

Maybe the lfs people fed him something that got his system gunked up (why would they do anything wrong though??? ). But anyways, they could of fed him just on goldfish or guppys and these could of made him sick. He might just feel like crap so just feel it out and maybe if it isn't better in like two days, go back to the lfs and ask them what they fed him/ his water stats he was kept in and tank mates. These might all affect his behavior. If they kept him in bad conditions and fed him for a month on goldfish or other things that are making him sick, I would take him back and get your money back.....they might have sold you a fish that is waiting to die

There's a lot of speculation in this post, and not so much based on fact.





My puffer regularly grinds his teeth, as do a lot of fish in the target puffer family. I wouldn't worry about that.

How are you achieving 0 nitrate in your tank? That's very unusual.

Does the puffer look like it is coughing when it looks like it is trying to dislodge?

The eyes retracting is fine, they are ambush predators.

If you're worried about him not eating, feed him some food off a stick. As an ambush predator, it would be unusual for it to resist.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

this probably makes me a bad person for suggesting it but...

aren't congo puffers natural piscavores? if you have a friend with excess cichlid fry or guppies that you are very much sure aren't sick in the least, then maybe you could put 2-3 in the congo tank. that way, once he feels like it, he'll eat.

 

[joloco]

nitrate isn't 0 sorry its a typo - its between 0 and 10 mg per litre (test only goes up in 10, 15 and 25 mg jumps so i cant be exact)

if we were being very exact the nitrite is sitting just above 0 but not 0.1 - hard to tell as the resulting colour is only very very slightly off of clear so i rounded it down


he's not coughed as you put it today so i can't tell if its still a problem (he sits on my desk so i've been watching him alot)

the mussel was off a stick but he still didn't actually eat any, just sort of bit it twice and then seemed to give up
i tried again with the stick just now but he just looked at it

i have started eyeing up the guppies but they're not exactly spare and i've not had them long enough to say for absolutely definate that there's nothing wrong with them

is it normal for him to really pump his gills after swimming to the top of the tank? i've added an air stone and dropped the level in the tank to increase aeration just in case.

 

[joloco]

the congo is eating!!
well it made my day anyway