I have a question.

I had set up a saltwater aquarium after losing my brackish baby thor. (It was extremely depressing. Pet store sold me bad food. no way for them to know it was bad I suppose so I don't blame them but I was extremely depressed because i've had him so long and he was doing so well.)

anyway...everything seemed to be going great. I tested the water everyday and everything always tested at either acceptable, safe or Ideal.

so finally after a few months of circulation I bought a porcupine puffer.

first I put him in the water in his bag for like a half hour, then I added tank water to the bag for like another half hour, then I released him. I kept everyone out of the room and all the lights off so that it would be stress free.

I didn't bother feeding him that first night in case they had fed him at the pet store and because I wanted to give him a chance to acclimate to the tank.

the next morning he was looking scary bad, so I moved him to a sick tank where he died an hour later.

I took the water from the sick tank and my tank to two aquatics stores (not where I bought him so they couldn't tell me it was my fault. I wanted someone impartial.) both impartial places told me my water was perfect. The Alkalinity was ideal, the saltwater ph was between acceptable and ideal, the Nitrate was between ideal and okay and the nitrite was safe.

the sick tank was even better.

so I cleaned my tank from top to bottom and let it curculate again and this time I decided to get myself a hardier fish, a Dogface puffer. He was so cute and seemed to take to me when I was looking at this neon pink and blue angel fish.

I had the water tested at the store and once again they said it was perfect, I had changed from gravel to this new sea sand type stuff that is suppose to help control the PH levels of saltwater tanks, and I have the water temp set at 78 degrees right now. I put a pink blanket over the back and sides of the tank so its not completely dark but its not bright inside so he isn't stressed out, and I've turned off the 100 watt helogen bulb for the day/night.

when I got him home he examined the tank, then he kind of clung to the side of the tank and started breathing really heavy. then he swam some more, and then laid at the bottom of the tank. He wasn't breathing very hard anymore and I was panicing that maybe he was dying.

His tail was curled up around him and he just sat there slowly breathing. I bent down and as soon as he saw me he swam up to me, and when he sees me he swims up to me... and occassionally he'll swim around... but he seems to spend a bit of time on the floor too. but his breathing has slowed now, he's not doing that panting.

after how quickly my porcupine puffer died, I'm a bit panicy. Is this normal for a dogface puffer? Is he maybe just a bit stressed right now? is he in trouble? Is the fact that he's swimming at all when he sees me and isn't panting a good sign? Should I try feeding him or wait till tommorrow? should I turn his light on tonight or keep it off to keep off the stress?

anyone have any good info or sights on this fish?

Thanks much for any info! :?:

AWE Dog faced puffers are adorable!!

From what I've seen that is normal behavior... some puffers rest on the bottom and become active when youre near the tank... As he becomes more adjusted he will be always swimming around!!!

If he wasnt well then he wouldn't make the effort to greet someone he has no idea who the hell is.

Keep doing what you're doing!!!!! It sounds like your spiney puffer was a sick puffer to start. Good luck with him!!!

Question though: what was the salinity level at when you had Thor? and if it was below the required level for PURE saltwater, did you adjust it to meet those requirements?

for Thor I added a table spoon of salt per ever 5 gallons of water and I kept his tank at 75 degrees. His Nitrate was at 20(safe), Nitrite was at 0 (safe), hardness was at 150 which was hard, Alkilinity was at 180 which was ideal and the PH was neutral. (They told me to compare the brackish water to the freshwater charts).

Everything seemed fine.

His color was great, his eating was great, his activity was great, he did fine until that last feeding. I went to a new petstore and decided since I was there I'd get some brineshrimp. That night he ate well, then died the next afternoon.


As for my dogface puffer.... I don't know if its because its later at night, but now he's less active then he was when I first brought him home. Even when I come up to the tank he just sits there. I wonder if its because the room is dark and its night out and its been a busy day. I just hope I don't wake up to a dead fish again. I couldn't take it. this hobby is starting to take a toll on me.

I'm doing everything I'm told to do, I'm doing all the research, the water is looking great according to my test strips and the aquatic specialists who tested it for me, i'm trying to leave him alone to keep him less stressed, but that's what I did with my porcupine puffer too. I don't know what else I could be doing wrong.

I'm thinking maybe the water temp... my thermometer says the water is 82 and its suppose to be between 76 and 80. so I turned off the heater thinking maybe the heater is defective, but after 2 hours it still says 82. and the water doesn't feel that warm at all. So I don't know if I should keep the heater off over night or turn it back on.

I'm just so stressed out from what should have been a calming hobby. LOL. :sook:

Dog faced puffers aren't brackish. They are entirely saltwater.

What is the salinity at?? as in 1.023 which is ideal specific gravity for the puffer

ok you're confused I think.

I KNOW they're not brackish which is why I'm in this forum. THOR was brackish. I'm not talking about thor though. I just mentioned him because you asked.

if you re-read my first post I stated

"I had set up a saltwater aquarium after losing my brackish baby thor"

ya i realised after reading it again that you mentioned saltwater...

Which is why i asked what your salinity is at... DF puffers are hardy but you have to have the right salt levels or they become listless... I've cared for every sort of puffer at work, and we had the salt level rise due to evaporation and all our puffers were ruined, they were all becoming sick..

So as long asyou know what you're doing with the DF then i'll leave you be.

Just it would be nice to mention what your salt level is at and what not :P save me from being confused some more i suppose

I thought the Salinity was in the original post with the alkilinity and such.

the salinity is at 1.014 when I tested it today. Alkilinity, and PH are still fine, Nitrate and Nitrite are at 0 which is very safe. So I don't know if the salinity is off and the hydrometer is broken and giving false readings or what.

(Unfortunately the puffer died. I replaced the starter fish and they're doing fine.)

I'm thinking of just letting it go for another 6 weeks as if I started the tank over, get a new hydrometer, test the water again in 6 weeks and see what happens from there.

See :P lol if you had told us the "saltwater" tanks salinity at the start i could've helped you save your puffer!!!! (or tried to at least)

That's way to low for a saltie tank.. bu tyou know that now...

I find inaccurate readings on the hydrometer if it is really tall.. if its a shorter more compact hydrometer then you have more accurate readings...

I was able to get the salinity up to 1.023 which is right where the aquatics store had the chromis damsels.

The damsels are all doing fine, eating, swimming, not stressed, so I'm hopeful everything is going to continue to go good. :bitchslap:

**Sigh** I miss my brackish tank. For some reason it was easier to keep. And thor was such an easy puffer to care for. He ate from a baby spoon and wouldn't eat unless he tasted it off the spoon first.

I miss that puffer. but I'm going to stay hopeful that this saltwater tank will work out.