Hey there! I just bought a Green Spotted Puffer today and I had a couple questions. I bought my tank pretty recently, and set it up about a week before I bought the puffer. The tank had been previously used, and it was just emptied when I bought it, so the gravel and filter had already matured and had a healthy population of nitrifying bacteria. Just to be sure, I did pH and ammonia tests. The pH came out as 7.0 and the ammonia was a happy 0, so I decided to get some fish. I'm not completely new to fishkeeping, since I have some vague childhood memories of my dad's 40 gallon community tank, and remember helping my dad set up a ten gallon when I was about 12 or so. I'm the type of person that spends about a week becoming a total aquarist addict, reading everything I could so I'm ready. So I set up my 29 gallon tank, with some gravel, plastic plants, a filter, and a heater. After that, I visited some fish stores to take a gander at prices and the livestock available. I fell in love with some F8 puffers at a not-so-convenient-to-reach-but-wondrous fish store, but decided to further peruse my options. I went to two other stores. One didn't carry any puffers at all, and the other had a tank full of juvenile F8s and GSPs together, labelled singularly as 'Green Puffers'. I avoided the tank at first, since it was obviously overcrowded, to the point where every single puffer's tail was somewhat ragged, probably from each other's bites. Other than their tail fins though, they seemed to be in perfect condition. A couple days later, I decided to get a single GSP instead of 2 F8's, so returned to the store with the F8/GSP tank. I bought a bunch of plastic plants, a chunk of driftwood, some additional gravel, and a cute little GSP. When I asked the store what they fed him, they told me frozen blood worms. Since I already had some of those in my freezer at home (my sister had a fish tank), I decided to pick up frozen brine shrimp instead, for variety. At this point, I knew that GSPs needed to eat hard-shelled foods. I thought that was fine, since my fish tank had a total infestation of snails. It was only later, after I bought the GSP (whom I named Socrates) that I realized that the snails were Malaysian Trumpet Snails, which isn't so good for them. No wonder he only bit at them and knocked them off the tank walls, instead of eating them. Anyways, by the time Socrates was inside my tank, I had dumped about 1/2 (1 teaspoon per gallon) of aquarium salt in. Again, it was only after he was in that I realized that I should have used marine salt, not aquarium salt. I didn't have a hydrometer nor the money to pick one up now, anyways. Now that I've been watching him for a bit (he seems healthy, and the top of his head is bright yellow, which I heard means he's happy), I have a couple questions.
1) What snails should I buy to feed him? I know they sell juvenile apple snails at the aquarium where I bought him, but they're a tad on the pricey side. Just under three bucks for a single one, if I recall correctly. If the snail is bigger than him, is that okay? And what snails are easy to breed?
2) Will frozen blood worms and brine shrimp, supplemented by the occasional snail, prawn, or scallop be an alright diet?
3) If the top of his head is bright yellow, is that a good thing?
4) He isn't very active when I'm not around. When I enter the room, I usually find him lying on the gravel, but when I turn on the light and sit and watch him, he gets up and swims around. Is that normal?
5) He likes to 'pace' up and down against the tank glass, though not necessarily in my direction. What does that mean? If it means he's bored, how do I help that? Rearranging the decor in my tank is not an option. I have a fair amount of plastic plants and a big chunk of bogwood.
6) When I bought the tank, it came with some guppies. I've had a single male guppy and two female guppies (one of which I suspect to be pregnant) in there before him, and although I thought they'd be pieces of flesh when he was around (I didn't really care for them anyways, they were mainly to cycle the tank which ended up not needing it anyways), but he's completely ignored them. What should I do with them? I don't really care whether they stay or go.
7) Will another GSP fit in the 30 gallon? It's rather tempting, seeing as the tank looks so empty, but I won't go against good advice.
8 ) Is there a general rule of how much marine salt to add per gallon? I'd really rather not get a hydrometer unless it's REALLY necessary.
9) If I find him lying on the gravel with a somewhat darker skin tone, is that normal? Is he sleeping?
10) It's basically impossible to clear the infestation of Malaysian Trumpet Snails. I'm not too worried about him cracking his beak (it seems like a rare occurance, like a dog choking on a bone), but are they dangerous in any way?
11) I want to feed him gut-loaded Ghost Shrimp, but my LFSes only carry Amano Algae-Eating Shrimp. They're rather expensive to buy as puffer fodder, so is there any way to breed them?
12) Any advice for mending his slightly ragged tail? It doesn’t look like it’s rotting or infected, it just looks…ragged. I’m sure it’ll heal up with time, but anything to speed it along?
Thanks for all the advice, guys!
