Green Spotted Puffer Fish help
Green Spotted Puffer Fish help
Hi yesterday my sister ,without me knowing, bought me a green spotted puffer fish at Walmart. Now I knew nothing about this animal and she bought a cheap little betta fish bowl thing. Now I would absolutely never buy any animal at Walmart. Remember this is my SISTER. Anyways, she bought it and gave it to me. After that I spent an hour researching about this fish and about how it needs a fully cycled 40 gallon aquarium. I was thinking, 'OK I guess I can buy a 40 gallon aquarium' when I also read that it had to be cycled. Right now his setup is WAY worse than Ideal. My question is 'How can I put him in there without having to spend two weeks cycling it?' I know some people will tell me to bring it back to Walmart, but I know that Walmart's conditions is not that much better. They keep like twenty of them in a 20 gallon tank and I already see a tiny part of his tail that got nipped. I don't really want to bring him back. Now I know there is no product that will fully cycle an aquarium instantly, but is there something I could buy that could make it so that the ammonia and nitrite levels don't kill him? Thanks for the help.
- Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
- Posts: 32764
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 11:06 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Chicago
- Contact:
Re: Green Spotted Puffer Fish help
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
- sgtmyers88
- Moderator
- Posts: 1292
- Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:37 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: Green Spotted Puffers
- Location (country): USA
- Contact:
Re: Green Spotted Puffer Fish help
Oh good lord. Yes get him out of that tiny fish prison ASAP. If you are in a pinch and since he is tiny at the moment go ahead and get a 10-20 gallon starter kit (the ones with the light, hood, filter, meds, etc.) and a bottle of Tetra Safestart to get him started which will buy him some time for you to invest in a permanent setup. The smaller the water volume the more dangerous it will be to keep the water parameters stable for the health of the fish. Once the water conditions are stable you can get a bit of marine salt to make brackish water and get it to 1.003-1.005 to start him off. If he is skinny you might have to treat his food with anti parasite medication.
Tetra Safestart to Instant Cycle a Tank: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=32416
Internal Parasite Treatment: library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/
Brackish Tank Setup: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19348
Tetra Safestart to Instant Cycle a Tank: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=32416
Internal Parasite Treatment: library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/
Brackish Tank Setup: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19348
WARNING: Puffers are mischievous little blimps with enchanting powers. You may not be content with having just one.
Re: Green Spotted Puffer Fish help
Thanks guys! I went and bought a 38 gallon tank and some instant cycle stuff. I tested everything and it tested 0 nitrites and 20 nitrites. I don't know if you can test ammonia or my test straps are just different but I don't have it. I put the fish in yesterday and he has been doing good. Thanks for all the advise!