puffer problems

[salt210]

we have a dogface puffer who is being picked at by a blue hippo tang and a coral beauty. Is there anything that I can do to stop this? They are in a 210g tank and are feed every other day currently. The puffer is not taking any defensive actions towards the two fish at all, all that he does is throw his side at them as like he is blocking them. I was thinking about cutting their food in half and then feeding daily.

 

[stacyt]

How long have you had all the fish? Was the puffer introduced after the other 2? Generally the tang's should be the last fish added, as they can get aggressice towards new tank mates. Have you tried to rearrange the LR? That could settle them down a bit. Another option would be to temporarily remove the agressors, re arrange the LR, let the puffer settle in, and than add the other fish back to the tank.

 

[salt210]

the puffer was the first added, we did just rearrange the tank and they have more rocks to hide in and swim through

 

[stacyt]

Since you rearranged the rock's are they still bothering him? How big is the tank, and how much LR? How long have all the fish been in there together? My yellow tang still ocosainally bothers my puffer, but nothing more than just a couple of tail swipes when the puffer gets to close to the tangs favorite spot in the tank.

 

[v-lioness]

I was thinking about cutting their food in half and then feeding daily.
This is definitely something you may want to try, if this is happening through feeding time you may want to try a feeder stick, I feed both my puffers from one now. My dogface is fed this way because of my trigger and filefish, it helps avoid mishaps through feeding.
Kaye

 

[salt210]

its not happening during feeding. they are in a 210g tank with roughly 50-75lbs of rock. theres also some other decorations in the tank the puffer is feed from my hand

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by salt210
we have a dogface puffer who is being picked at by a blue hippo tang and a coral beauty. Is there anything that I can do to stop this? They are in a 210g tank and are feed every other day currently. The puffer is not taking any defensive actions towards the two fish at all, all that he does is throw his side at them as like he is blocking them. I was thinking about cutting their food in half and then feeding daily.
i highly reccomend doing daily feedings not only will this improve your fishes health but also cut down on agression tangs should be fed at least 3-4 times daily as they are herbivores and graze constanly in the wild.all type of fish can become very aggressive towards other tank mates if they feel they must compete for food

 

[stacyt]

I would also recommend adding some more LR. Feeding a little more often will help, but with the small amount of LR they are probably getting territorial.