valantini saddle puffer

cav414

cav414

Member
Hey y'all,
My puffer who is normally very active has started bidding under the rock for a good portion of the day. He has also started going to bed early. He is eating very well still, I am even thinking of putting him on a diet because he is getting fat. He has no physical signs of sickenss and, his only tank mate at the moment is my yellow tail damsel who is very friendly. My water peramiters are as follows.
PH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20 ppm
Salinity - 1.023
Temp - 80f
Its got me a little worried because my niger trigger did this same thing before he died about 4 months ago.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
What size tank do you have and what and how often are you feeding? Is the water circulation in your tank good throughout the tank? You should have good movement in all areas of the system.

If the fish is getting over bulky that could explain his becoming a couch potato.

You might want to use a magnifying glass and thoroughly give him an inspection everyday to see if you note any problems. Magnified viewing greatly enhances chances of catching something minor that you might not see just cursorily viewing.
 
cav414

cav414

Member
My tank is 55 gallons with two 750 gph power heads going, its got good flow to all areas. And I feed a carnavor/ harbavor mixed frozen food once every 3 days. And every two weeks I feed shell on shrimp to help with his beak. This morning he was up for about two hours playing in front of one of the power heads ( which he usually does all day). But now at 10 am he is under the rocks and on the bottom. And I didn't think about a magnifying glass, thanks for the idea.
 
cav414

cav414

Member
I just inspected him under the magnifying glass and I still don't see anything abnormal. I am noticing that he will come out when I turn the lights off but when I turn them on he goes right back to the rocks. I've had these lights for 2 months though and he has only been doing this for maybe 3 or 4 days.
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
You said that the puffer was a brackish water fish to start and you slowly got him adapted to salt. Maybe he cant take the reef temps that you keeping your tank at. Try slowly lowering it to 76d and see what happens.
 
cav414

cav414

Member
silverado61 said:
You said that the puffer was a brackish water fish to start and you slowly got him adapted to salt. Maybe he cant take the reef temps that you keeping your tank at. Try slowly lowering it to 76d and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Must have been someone ells. I've had this tank for over a year now and he came with it. But I'll check into that just in case.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Pufferfish feed continuously in nature by grazing and so, in the aquaria, we should emulate that as best we can. My feeling is that the diet is inadequate. You might want to switch to people seafood rather than buying some kind of mixed frozen foods sold in the aquaria. Fresh, uncooked shrimp (shells in tact), clams (with cracked shells), bits of fish, crabs with cracked shells, etc., that have been well washed and offered to the puffer. Experiment with what your puffer likes to eat; but, you need to include hard shells for them to chomp down regularly (every 2 weeks is not enough). Also, pufferfish are omnivorous (which means they also eat vegetation in nature). You need to include vegetable material in the diet, though this is not a primary ingredient for pufferfish. Perhaps offer an bit of algae sheet to the puffer.

This is a good article on pufferfish with a section on feeding which should give you a good start on information needed to care for the nutritional needs of your valantni.
http://www.reefnut.com/Puffer Article.htm

If you can, you may want to get the temp down to at least 78.
 
cav414

cav414

Member
Okay I can feed the shrimp more often and I have homemade food ready that includes fish, oyster, and shrimp. I was just trying to finish up the frozen food first. He did eat all of my macro algae that I tried to plant. As far as temp control that's no east living in the south. I'm working on saving up for a chiller for that exact reason.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Feed some food daily, not every 3 days. And include a lot of hard shells for the fish to chew down on. If this is not adequately met, the peak (teeth) of the fish will become too long and can create fatal and irreversible problems for the puffer.
 
cav414

cav414

Member
I live on the cost so seafood is easy to get. I usually go out and catch my own. I will definitely change up his diet. I want my fish happy and thriving, not just surviving.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
I do not have a puffer. But ghosts are common shrimps fed puffers, live. Try some variety from the fish market. Maybe even some of the harder shelled shrimp.
 
cav414

cav414

Member
We have white shrimp which is what I feed now and rarely I'll catch mantis shrimp. He loves the white shrimp but usually pulls the shell off and goes strait for the meat.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Pulling it off is fine. The point to shells is that he is using his peek to work at the meat. He doesn't have to eat it. Try getting a clam or two, pre-crack just slightly so he can work at it easier. The point is to file his teeth, not consume the shell.
 
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