no knowledge

[lynmccoy]

Hi Everyone! I know absolutely nothing about puffer fish. My grandson had been wanting one and when my daughter went to our local pet shop to get some fancy guppies and tetras for my granddaughter, they had 2 in the same tank. The clerk said that they were yellow spotted leopard puffer fish and that they were great community fish . The guppies,tetras, and puffer fish would get along fine. Within 30 minutes after they got home, my daughter hears my granddaughter in the living room screaming. When she went in there,thinking to break up a brother/sister fight, all of fish were gone except one and the puffer was eating it. Now the fish lives in his bedroom in my 10 gallon nursery aquarium that I sent to him. I sent Kaylee another male and 2 very pregnant females. That was last week. This week the fish is laying eggs! It seems it must be a female. Does anyone know if the female lays her eggs after they have been fertilized or if the male has to come along and fertilize them. So far there are 15 eggs and we cannot find the answer to this question anywhere. Please Help!

[sevenyearnight]

Welcome!
Is this your puffer? ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Nigroviridis/

This will give you some info on how to best feed her:
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

What do the eggs look like? It might be poop, if it's white poop, then she might have internal parasites. library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/

This is just me, but I'd go back to the store with some print I
outs of information on puffers, because they set you up for failure and that was cruel. They probably won't, but they should replace the fish she ate. That was so sad that the little ones had to see that

Hopefully their care requirements won't dissuade you from keeping her, because they are wonderful fish!

[xrayjeeper83]

sounds to me like you got a Green Spotted Puffer aka GSP, a good rule of thumb is that puffers should be kept alone, a few can be kept with like puffers.

Also be prepared to at some point go full salt water with that puffer. Puffers are a lot of work but a ton of fun

[Pufferpunk]

If that 10g isn't cycled (doesn't sound like it), that fish is in trouble. Please read all the links above & library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

[lynmccoy]

I don't know what it looks like, I haven't seen it. I have MS and am in a wheelchair. I can't go to visit them so they come to visit me.I sent a Aquatech filter setup with the aquarium with a box of 6 filters to my grandson so the cycling part of the aquarium will be OK. My granddaughter still won't go in to look at his fish but she is full baby-watch mode now. The females are due to drop their little ones any time.All I know about the puffer is that it is yellow spotted on top and has a white belly. They paid $10.00 for it so it can't be one of the more exotic puffer fish.

[Pufferpunk]

Please, please please reads ALL the links given to you above. Your tank is NOT cycled by just adding filters!

[lynmccoy]

Thanks for the links, I will read them and make sure Ryan has the right filtration for his puffer. I don't blame it for the massacre. It was just doing what puffers do and who knows when the pet shop feeds their fish,maybe closing time to keep them active. My granddaughter doesn't blame it either and understands,but she says she still sees her fish in the puffer's mouth when she thinks about it so she is not ready to make nice with it yet. His parents are getting him a bigger tank for Christmas. The 10 gallon tank was just a emergency solution.

[sevenyearnight]

So he has just one puffer?

[Pufferpunk]

Cycling a tank isn't about having enough filtration.

[lynmccoy]

Yea, he just got the one puffer. That's why my daughter is so confused about the eggs, since it had been kept in a tank with another puffer. We know about guppies and tetras but about puffer reproduction, nothing. The pet shop owner said they hadn't sold any puffer fish before so they had no experience with puffer fish laying eggs in their shop. That's probably why they had them both in one tank,they didn't know any better.If these are unfertilized eggs, wouldn't the fish eat them?Instead she seems to be protecting them.

[sevenyearnight]

Are you sure it's not poop? I've never heard of them laying eggs.

[Pufferpunk]

+1 for poo. What are your immediate plans for cycling his tank?

[Srkoe]

Puffer poops is roundish...not stringy like other fish, unles the puffer has internal parasites. If this is the case it can be white and look like a string of pearls which sometimes look like eggs. I highly doubt this fish laid eggs!!! The tank is not cycled...you need to read the links provided and read about the nitrogen cycle. Fresh filters are no good, if fact a used filter from a healthy tank is 1000x better, it contains the bacteria needed for the tank. The fish will not survive in an uncycled tank and in no way will survive until Christmas while waiting on a bigger tank. The fish should be taken back to the store for it's well being. Not trying to be mean at all. Puffers have many special needs that other fish do not have. It will need lots of snails to trim it's teeth and eventually salt water just to name a few.

[Srkoe]

This fish will also get big. Six inches may not seem bad, but there body mass is much more as compared to other fish. They are carnivores and need a varied diet of meaty foods.