got beat up

[ninja]

hi, i bought two dwarf puffers about six days ago for a ten gallon tank and today when i came home from school one of the dwarf puffers was just swimming very slowy inside a plastic fern with bite marks and scraches all over his body. I don't know how much longer he will live or if he will be fine but he doesn't look to good. I don't have any other fish in there except a little algae eater and he would be able to do anything to him i don't think. i'm just not sure what to do.
any advice would be appreciated

 

[Pufferpack]

Sorry to hear the little fella got beat up, your other Dwarf is the culpret.
Sounds like a territory dispute. In a small tank like a 10 gal you have to be sure to have lots of different hiding places for the puffers and have their line of sight broken up so that if one wants to get away it has lots of chioces. I find some puffers will keep up the chase until they lose sight of the "enemy" and then they go about their business. As long as he gets some quiet time to heal up the little guy should be Ok, you might want to try adding a tonic (like Melafix) to help the healing.

 

[Whisper Odinsky]

im sorry to hear about that, ninja I hope he gets better soon. For any territory disputes... an abundance of hiding spots is the best way to go! Hopefully he'll pull through!

 

[ninja]

I've got two little caves made out of large shot glasses and a plastic fern(I'll make some artificial sandbars also.). He seems to be doing better but he hasn't eaten anything since yesterday morning. How long do you think it will take for him to start eating again?

 

[Pufferpack]

With the other one bullying him he may be afraid to feed. Try adding a little food on one side to distract the more aggressive one and then adding the rest on the other side of the tank for the shy one.

 

[ninja]

Thanks, but there is no need for more replies. I found him dead last night ,
but it made me feel better that his suffering was over.

 

[PrObLeM_ChIlD]

i'm sorry about your loss

 

[Pufferpack]

sorry for your loss