Help to care for my puffer!

[JHughes]

Hello! I am new to careing for a puffer, I know that's not advised but you have to start somewhere. I have a little puffer, I think he is a green spotted puffer but im not completely sure. He is small, white belly with a green yellowing back with black spots, very cute. My puffer is a sensitive little guy iv had him for about a month I would say, he is doing well. So basicly I just have some questions. I keep him in a 10gal tank ( I know people recommend bigger but he is tiny and all by himself, I will look into getting something bigger as he gets bigger. ) When I first got him I fed him flakes, and now I feed him I think mealworms, I heard those are hard on his tummy so im picking up some bloodworms for him. His water is alkaline and he has brakish water I think. (I add aquarium salt to his tank as directed by my local fish shop owner.) It stays around 78 degrees in his tank. It worrys me when he turns black around his mouth and the sides of his belly, it happens like once every two days, sometimes it lasts a whole day sometimes it only lasts an hour. I heard It was stress but idk how to help him, is that just something he will always do? He has places to hide and play with. I also heard he needs shelled food to dull his beak? I do not see a beak on him... When and how often should I start feeding him the hard shelled food? Also, he had some white fungus in his tank before I cleaned it, I gave him some good fish medicine reccomened to me by a few fish owner to help clear that up. Do you think that could have been making him turn brown? So anyways just some advice would be great don't be too harsh, I am trying to care for him the best I can and any advice is helpful. Iv heard of people keeping their GSP in freshwater there whole life and they live just fine and iv also heard that GSP always turn brown to match their surroundings. Im just not so sure what is normal and what is not. Thank you!

[Pufferpunk]

Start here:
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

[Walla2GSP]

Start with the links PP posted above. As someone who has had many GSPs in the past, and didn't know where to start I will give you a few pointers based on your above post. First, what are you calling aquarium salt? Aquarium salt typically is sold as a water softener for FW fish and should not be used with GSPs. The salt you want is Marine salt for a SW tank, and eventually you will want to house your GSP in a SW tank. Now, tank size, GSPs look small in an appropriately sized tank, I would suggest you get at least a 29 gal right away, and a 55 would be even better so you can use the same tank for the first couple of years. My GSP now uses all of his 80 gallon tank and he is 2.5" long. NO FLAKES!! frozen bloodworms work for food, shrimp pellets are okay occasionally, but you best bet is snails and small crustaceans. I have limited access to a fish market to get fresh food for my GSPs, so I have resorted to using RAW Tail-on Shrimp from the freezer section at my grocery store. basically if it had a shell on it in life, it will probably have the right nutritients for your puffer. It is not unusual for a GSP to turn brown while eating, but typically that is a good sign that your puffer is not happy about something. You should be seeing a BRIGHT white belly, with bright greenish-yellow markings and black spots on top at least most of the day. If you get a chance, go to hospital section on the site and answer all the questions in red to this post, it will help people give you an accurate answer on what might be wrong.

[hadla]

You should keep raising the salt level because once he's in marine water, it will be cheaper and he will be a lot happier congrats on the gsp! And good for you to come here! So many people buy them under the impression they're freshwater and can live their whole lives with other fish in a too small tank I had wanted a gsp for a while before I found olive and I love him! Got him from my least favorite lfs, but they're the only ones who have gsps and keep some in saltwater. He really is a green spotted puppy lol

[sgtmyers88]

This is such a common story. You came to the right place!

[eieio]

it concerns me that if the puffer is not a brackish puffer, that you might be harming him with the brackish water
also, with puffers, standard fish "medicines" can be very harmful
the first thing you need to do is identify which puffer you have, as the care for similar looking species can be VERY different
and if it is anything bigger than a dwarf puffer, he needs a bigger tank right away
confining them in a small tank makes the water quality much harder to maintain, will stunt the growth of the fish, and harm its' health

[JHughes]

Thanks guys! I will look into getting him a bigger tank I have limited recourses as well, only 1 small pet store in my whole town! the next petstore is about 2 hours away haha. Thepetstore I bought him from just said he was a "spotted puffer" and she said that my puffer wont get much bigger than it is, so maybe it is a dawf? Anyway thanks for all the advice

[Pufferpunk]

Can you post a photo of your fish here?

[eieio]

Thanks guys! I will look into getting him a bigger tank I have limited recourses as well, only 1 small pet store in my whole town! the next petstore is about 2 hours away haha. Thepetstore I bought him from just said he was a "spotted puffer" and she said that my puffer wont get much bigger than it is, so maybe it is a dawf? Anyway thanks for all the advice

if it is a dwarf, the salt is a bad thing!