# fin nipping?



## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Hi this is my first post in the fish section, hope someone has some advice for me. We have a well established tropical tank with two Dwarfe Gouramis, One Female Guppy, One Full Grown Bulldog Plec,Two Neon Tetras, 3 Platys (at the moment), and a pair of red eyed red tailed puffers. The Puffers were the last we baught and we have had them about 2 1/2 months. My problem is that we have recently lost most of our platys(approx 8), and three Dwarfe Gouramis. They are fed flakes and frozed or dried bloodworm but I still wonder if the Puffers are to blame. I was told that they would only nip if they were under fed. I haven't seen any fish swimming around with bits of missing fin but the dead ones are completely missing their appendages and the puffers feed on the dead ones. Have I been sold the wrong fish?, Could anyone suggest anything else it could be?


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## viseversa (Oct 10, 2008)

As the Red eye puffer are nocturnal they could well be haveing a go at your fish at night and this is why you are not noticeing it, but on the other hand you would expect to see some signs of fin nipping :confused5: have you tested the water for any other problems (although i cant see that you would have any as puffers are very fussy with there water conditions and you would expect these to be the first to die) what sort of rate are you loosing the other fish? if its every day or so could you not seperate the puffers and see if the problem stops? is your tank big enough for all your fish with plenty of cover, as puffers are also very territorial fish.


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## viseversa (Oct 10, 2008)

Just found this maybe of some intrest to you 

Tropical Fish Finder.co.uk - The ultimate UK fish keeping resource for all types of tropical and marine fish, including fish books, articles, fish shops, fish clubs and more.


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Thanks viceversa I have checked out that link, They appear to be the Red Eyed Red Tailed Variety and it says adding them to a community tank is risky. Have tested the water today and it is a bit high on the acidity,so I added asome PH 7.0 powder which should sort that out. The plants have been butchered by the gourami's so I pulled them out yesterday with the idea to get some more today. Overnight all but one of the Platys has died,and the guppy(which we've had for years) which would fit with the info that puffers don't have a problem with fish they can't see,so I have basically braught a couple of "great white's" into my happy tank then removed all the safe places for the fish to hide. Now my problem is we have a platy,two dwarfe gourami's,two neon tetra's and pobably a bulldog plec I say probably as we don,t see him that often and the puffers. What would you reccomend we do, I can't seperate them as we only have the one tropical tank, I do have a net thingy, like a cage that I used to put the baby guppies in when we had more guppies, so they didn't get eaten would that stress them too much and can Mr and Mrsl go in together? I would be grateful for any ideas.


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## viseversa (Oct 10, 2008)

thedogsmother said:


> then removed all the safe places for the fish to hide.
> 
> would that stress them too much.


Im not sure if i have read it wrong, but you are spose to add hideing places  (iv been up all night so may well of read it wrong lol) the way i have read it is basically make sure there is lots of cover from plants and plenty of hideing places for any fish that are harrased by the puffer's...

I wouldnt advise putting them into the fry trap as you have pointed out it is far to small and they will become very stressed and no doubt die 

Try rearangeing your tank with plants nd hidey holes and see how you get on before adding any other fish, and when chooseing your new fish you will have to consider if they can look after themselves and wont make an easy meal for your puffers, the only other thing to suggest would be to swap the puffers over at the pet shop for something more sutable to a community tank?


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## thedogsmother (Aug 28, 2008)

Thanks I will have to give it some serious thaught,I like the little guys but if they eat everything else in the tank its going to be a very boring tank with just two brown nocturnal fish in it, maybe they will have to go, I'm sure I can swap them as they are quite unusual around here.


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