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simeondavisi
Puffer Fry
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2016 7:37 pm
Location (country): USA

Introduction

Post by simeondavisi »

Hi! My daughter and I have a green spotted puffer that is probably about a year old now. My daughter bought him in March from an aquarium/fish specialist, where they made no mention of the fishes needs. They had them next to the fish a child would usually get such as goldfish and glofish. She paid her 8$, we came home and put him into the 8 gallon tank she had. I did a one day shipping on what appeared to be a good care book, and then poked around on the internet. What a nightmare!

He had been eating frozen blood worms and still enjoys them, so that part was somewhat convenient. We had hoped he might be ok in the small tank for a few months until he got bigger, but the ammonia and nitrate levels were stressing him out. My daughter paid for the 45 gallon tank with her own money, and I paid for the filters, heaters, thermostat decor, and puffer approved substrate. We gradually had started adding the recommended salt, even in the small tank, and she has been happy. Waiting for the tank to cycle was very hard since the small tank was stressful, but we made it.

Mimi seems to be extremely happy, swimming everywhere like a little rocket in the giant tank. We are not considering tank mates for her since she seems to be quite happy alone. For Christmas we got her a lovely meal of live snails and ghost shrimp. I usually feed her about 1 snail per week to grind those teeth, so getting several as well as the ghost shrimp to hunt was a treat.

Things seem to be going well for us, with one exception. We have green algae that will not go away. In november I pulled all of the decorations out and removed the substrate. I scrubbed the tank extra well and used some algae remover for about 2 weeks. We scrubbed the decorations very well and rinsed them, left them in the sun for one week, and then repeated the process. I also thoroughly did the same to the filter and heaters. After all of that, and purchasing new substrate, it was only a week before signs of algae popped right back up. I tried the API saltwater algae control, but I find sometimes Mimi is sluggish the next day. I don't think this is good for her, so have gone back to just scrubbing every 3 days. Is there anything to do to keep this under control? To be clear, this is not just a little algae, the glass becomes totally green, the decorations become totally green, and her substrate also becomes bright green. I understand having a bit in the tank is natural, and tried letting it be, but we could not see her in less than 2 weeks because the glass was so green.

Kim
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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: Introduction

Post by Pufferpunk »

[welcome]
Is the tank near a window? What lighting is on there?
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!"
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hadla
Mbu Puffer
Posts: 1626
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:33 pm
Gender: Female
My Puffers: 2 gsps and a big Stars and stripes
Location (country): California
Location: Sacramento, CA
Contact:

Re: Introduction

Post by hadla »

Hi and yay for giving a gsp what it needs! Most people wouldn't do that :(
Never trust big puffers. The fingers you save may be your own. -RTR
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bertie 83
Moderator
Posts: 5298
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:28 pm
Gender: Male
My Puffers: lineatus R.I.P, South American puffer. Valentini puffer, porcupine puffer.
Non puffer
Danios, Tetras, Redtail Rasporas,
Harlequins, CAE's, Yoyo
Loaches, Clown loaches ,Eels, various shrimp, tangs,wrasses, damsels, chromis
Location (country): Brighton, England
Location: brighton , england

Re: Introduction

Post by bertie 83 »

Welcome to the forum
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
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