Getting porcupine puffer tomorrow

[AC2020x]

Hey, tomorrow morning i'm supposed to be getting a porcupine puffer delivered at my house. I've been thinking about getting one for a while but for my birthday my dad decided to surprise me (without asking) and got me one. It's supposed to be 3-4 inches. My question is should I quarantine him? I have a 15g tank set up right now with just a piece of PVC a heater and a small powerhead.

I feel like he would like it alot better and be less stressed if I just put him right into my 125 (after proper acclimation of course) than into a small 15g tank. His tank mates right now are a 3" huma huma trigger, a snowflake eel, 2 clowns and a firefish.

Any thoughts? I haven't quarantined any of my other fish and I'm debating as to whether or not I want to with the puffer. If there are obvious signs of illness when I receive him I will for sure but otherwise I'm not sure if I should or not. If I do quarantine him how long would you suggest I do so and how often should I change out the water?

Thanks a ton!
-AC

 

[Pufferpunk]

That's totally up to you. Most people will suggest yes, absolutely but I never have. Just remember, if he does bring something into your main tank (like crypt), then you have to QT & hypo ALL those fish. Do you trust the supplier? How long has he had it?

 

[nate77]

Quarantine 1 week to 2 weeks.I would Quarantine to be safe.

 

[Pufferpunk]

If you're going to QT, do it a month, minimum:
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/hospital/qtine/

 

[AC2020x]

I think I feel like theres a much larger chance of him dying in the qt for some reason. which is why I think i'm afraid to do it. I think I probably will though since I'm not sure how much I trust the site my dad ordered it from!

 

[Pufferpunk]

If from an online site, there is a good chance your puffer will have come directly from the ocean, with all the bugs that come with it. I would be prepared to go hypo & also have IP treatments on hand. Have lots of SW ready for water changes!

 

[greech]

Who is the online vendor? There are some high quality ones out there that have an excellent track record.

I am not going to advocate not QTing a fish but what you have setup sounds a bit more like a hospital tank which I feel you are correct about stressing the fish. If you have a QT tank with rock to make it more comfortable then t would be better. Of course this would mean that you would need another tank (like you have now) to medicate if treatment is necessary.

Either way, make sure you keep the lights in the room and tank dim or off. Bright lights right out of the shipping box can do A LOT of damage right off the bat. Other than that just take your time with accilmation. I'm sure it will all go well. Congrats on your new addition!

 

[Ace25]

Under the cirumstances, if it were me, I would NOT QT the puffer since all you have is a 15G tank. I believe, like you, that will cause more stress on the fish. I have always had good luck with porcupine puffers, never QT'd them, and the ones I had never showed any signs of illness the entire time I had them. They are my absolute favorite fish because of their personality.

One tip as a "just in case you didn't know"... do NOT use a net to catch it. They will puff up and get stuck in the net.

 

[Pufferpunk]

What about a FW dip, before introducing it to the tank? Too stressful? I have been seeing a lot of porcs coming out with a horrible flesh-eating disease. Takes over them very quickly & there is no cure.

Also, be sure you have good fish vitamins (Selcon & Vita-Chem) ready, along with healthy, crunchy foods for him. No krill (except as an occasional treat)!

One other thing--the minimum tank size for an adult porc is 100g, so with the tank mates in there now, you're going to have to upgrade as they all grow into adulthood. Do you have a sump?

 

[AC2020x]

So this is what happened, I know it wasn't how I planned nor how I wanted and I don't even approve of what I did so I know that it wasn't a good idea. My dad decided to pull a double surprise on me and got me 3 fish instead of just the puffer. He got me the porc puffer, a blue/hippo tang and a butterflyfish. So I didn't really have any choice but to put them in my main tang as I didn't have anything else set up to handle that. However all of the fish definitely seem healthy.
Today the Puffer ate pieces of shrimp off of a feeding stick. I tried feeding him krill and shrimp with garlic on it first and he wasn't interested. But without garlic he went right for it. He also wasn't interested in krill at all (with or without garlic).

The butterfly fish ate some pieces of sea veggies off a clip and some peices of formula two and mysis/brine mix that I feed the fish. He seemed to eat a good ammount and I've also seen him graze on algae in the tank and some leftover food in the sand.

The hippo tang I'm a little worried about! What would you suggest feeding him? He doesn't seem interested much in any of the food floating in the tank. I have seen him do a bit of grazing but not alot. He looks healthy and i've seen no signs of sickness and he will swim around the tank a bit time to time, but spends a majority of time hiding behind a rock towards the back. He doesn't seem sick but doesn't seem very comfortable as well. He's not being bullied at all, and when he swims around he seems happy and healthy. But then he will got back to hiding. -- I know they a very prone to ick so I'm a little worried that he might get stressed and get it in the next few days. Any tips on what to feed him? Or any other tips I should know about him?

Thanks alot,
AC

-And I know that it was a bad Idea putting them all right into my display and It's not somthing I would have done had not all these fish suddenly been a surprise!

PS, Yes I do have a sump and a 150reef octopus protein skimmer, all the fish exsept the tang seem to be fine right now. I keep going back and fourth as to whether i'm scared about the tang or think he's fine and healthy!

Any tips would be greatly appreciated Thanks!