Fresh Water Puffers (s. American)

[Nicholas Groene]

I recently purchased two south American puffers from a local fish store. when i brought them home they didn't eat much. So the next day I returned to the fish store and purchased some brine shrimp, I was amazed by how they gulped them all down!. Every now and then when I walk into my room I notice them lying on the gravel on the bottom of the tank, with very little yellow colour. So i added some water conditioner to the water (salt to help them breath better), I noticed that they immedatly perked up and started swimming around with their bright yellow color returned. I was wondering if they needed brackish water after seeing this, also I am noticing one is real skinny, and has what looks like a blackish gray patch on its stomach. Also if anyone who reads this know about peacock eels, can you lend some advice?
Thanks alot,
Nicholas Groene

 

[TwoTankAmin]

There are fw puffers, brackish puffers and sw puffers. You would need to provide more info or at least a picture for anybody to be able to answer your question.

 

[Nicholas Groene]

These are the fresh water S. american pufferfish. Birght yellow when moving, with black spots.
Thanks for the notice TwoTankAmin!

 

[digdog]

mine are in normal (not salt) water and are always wizzing all over the place. guessing you have a problem, good luck.

 

[Nicholas Groene]

ok

 

[Fella]

There's a pinned thread at the top of the page on puffers, these included.

SAP's (colomesus asellus) are freshwater.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

some questions spring to mind:

1) do you have plants in this tank? SAP are fairly skittish and will be slow to adjust to a new environment without lots of things (plants) to hide behind/explore.

2) "tonic" salt is best known for reducing nitrate toxicity in salt tolerant fish. when was the last time you tested your water? how often do you do water changes?

3) sorry if you given this information elsewhere, but what size tank is this and can you give us a complete list of occupants?

 

[DarkEntity]

I recently purchased two south American puffers from a local fish store. when i brought them home they didn't eat much. So the next day I returned to the fish store and purchased some brine shrimp, I was amazed by how they gulped them all down!. Every now and then when I walk into my room I notice them lying on the gravel on the bottom of the tank, with very little yellow colour. So i added some water conditioner to the water (salt to help them breath better), I noticed that they immedatly perked up and started swimming around with their bright yellow color returned. I was wondering if they needed brackish water after seeing this, also I am noticing one is real skinny, and has what looks like a blackish gray patch on its stomach. Also if anyone who reads this know about peacock eels, can you lend some advice?
Thanks alot,
Nicholas Groene

what is the tank size, what else is in the tank with the Puffers, what are the water stats etc? Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite PH....

 

[Nicholas Groene]

what is the tank size, what else is in the tank with the Puffers, what are the water stats etc? Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite PH....

I have two plastic plants for the time (i moved my live ones to my new 48 with my oscar!). I have added tonic salt, and when I do the puffers seem to love it. I have put in slightly more than the recomended amount, because of how much they like it. They are in the tank with a 2 in. pleco, 4 in. peacock eel, and Raphel Cat. I added an air stone to they tank to help saturate the tank with oxygen and i have a melinum 2000 on it, which I leave the switch up to add oxygen to it during the day. I change the water every 2 weeks.

78 to 80 degrees, tilting torwards 8 ph (done purposly, and they seem to be doing better!) Nitrate is fine (conditioning salt) and ammonia is good (white diamond substrate is in the filter)

 

[DarkEntity]

what is the tank size, what else is in the tank with the Puffers, what are the water stats etc? Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite PH....

I have two plastic plants for the time (i moved my live ones to my new 48 with my oscar!). I have added tonic salt, and when I do the puffers seem to love it. I have put in slightly more than the recomended amount, because of how much they like it. They are in the tank with a 2 in. pleco, 4 in. peacock eel, and Raphel Cat. I added an air stone to they tank to help saturate the tank with oxygen and i have a melinum 2000 on it, which I leave the switch up to add oxygen to it during the day. I change the water every 2 weeks.

78 to 80 degrees, tilting torwards 8 ph (done purposly, and they seem to be doing better!) Nitrate is fine (conditioning salt) and ammonia is good (white diamond substrate is in the filter)

Nitrate fine, ammonia is good, means abolutely nothing, what are the exact water test results, that geenrally will provide enough information to start looking for the problems cause, adding salt because it helps for a short time is covering up the problem, not fixing the cause.

What size is the tank? (dimensions)

2 plastic plants is definately not enough for these fish imo, they need plants to feel secure as they can be skittish.

You change how much water every 2 weeks?

 

[Nicholas Groene]

Thank you all for your help. I think my puffers just needed time to adjust to the tank. The one with the bit of gray, has no more gray! i took some pictures on my camera, and showed them to a friend of mine at a local pet store. he said they may prefer a little bit of salt, and he thinks the little one that used to have gray is malnourished, so i spent 45 mins last night feeding her by crushing flakes into fine pieces and feeding them to her from my hand (all day she has been zooming up and down the tank!) . Also i went back to the store today, and purchased brine shrimp, b/c my puffers love them, and im starting to breed brine shrimp, so they can have a constant supply.
Tanks again for all who commented on this post, and helped me out.
Nicholas Groene

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Just so you know, adult brine shrimp have almost zero nutritional value, so try to make something else besides brine shrimp the bulk of their diet. Snails are great to wear down their teeth.

Ryan

 

[Fella]

Try any frozen foods realistically. Mine would eat pellets, but it's not that common. Bloodworm is their favourite in my experience.

 

[Nicholas Groene]

ok thanks!

Over the weekend, I went and bought a double pack (2 sheets of 42 cubes) of blood worms for them. tyvm for the suggestion, they love them!