The Puffer Forum

Nick wrote:If you return the sick one and put the remaining puffer with some biospira into the ten, he will probably last in there 3 to 6 months before needing a 30 or more gallon "adult" tank, which will also have to gradually increase in salinity to full marine as he grows up. I see this as the only possible chance of keeping these fish.

This I can do. I simply cannot afford a 30 gallon tank at the moment, but if I can keep him healthy for 3-6 months it will be no problem then. Seems like a lot of space though for a 2 inch fish (so far). I'm in no way doubting you guys.. just stating my observation.

I'll go to the pet store tomorrow and get some marine salt, bio-spira, heater, and thermometer. Anything else?

Will the heater and thermometer also need to be upgraded when I get a bigger tank? Or will they work the same with a 10 gallon and 30+ gallon tank?

I'm kind of shocked walmart would sell these fish given how much care they need.

Agreed. Walmmart is litterally sending millions of these cute, intelligent, long-lived fish to their death.

A few weeks ago my brother and I were in Walmart and saw 15 of them in a tiny freshwater tank. It was so sad that my brother bought ALL of them and took them home. He has now done this twice, to try to save them. They are in a 100G right now (all are still alive!). He is giving them to a good LFS in a few weeks if they make it! Im sure he will keep some too as he did the last time this happened! I think he kept three last time! But yeah, its so sad how walmart sells them...If these were cats or dogs in bad conditions they could never get away with it! Still wish fish and reptiles got the same respect as pets, that most "furry" creatures get...I think a lot of people cannot connect with something that they cannot physically touch...very sad.

Well, shrimpy (the sick GSP) is about to die. I can tell. He just sits on the bottom, gills moving rapidly. Won't move even when i try to scare him. He won't eat worms, pellets, or flakes. I don't expect him to live past a few more hours.

I guess I'm a little too late. I'm on my way to get the marine salt, thermometer, and heater here in a couple of hours. Now I got one presumeably healthy puffer left. Let's hope I can keep him going strong.

I tried, i really did.

scrotaye, Put the lil fella out of his misery, by overdosing him in a cup of tank water & clove oil. You can find it in the toothpaste isle of your local drug store.

Justin, All your brother is doing is showing Walmart that GSPs are great sellers & they'll keep buying more. If they keep dying off in their tanks, eventually they'll stop buying them. Please tell your brother he's not helpling their situation.

Turns out I guess he was just resting. And I paniced. =/ Sorry about that.

I'm probably getting pretty annoying, eh?

How's it going?

Did you end up using Bio-Spira and salt?

I am getting all the necessities and a 55G tank in a couple of hours here.

However, shrimpy died this morning. I bought him sick, didn't know what i was getting into, and didn't react quick enough.



Thank you for your concern!

scrotaye wrote:I am getting all the necessities and a 55G tank in a couple of hours here.

Cheers to THAT!
I'm thrilled that you are doing your research and decided to go ahead and get what you needed to keep the puffer. I'm sure he will be a happy little guy in his new huge tank, and you will find it very rewarding to give him what he needs.
Welcome to the world of pufferkeeping

Just be sure to cycle the tank with Bio-Spira and add marine salt. (I would think you'd want to add the marine salt at least a few hours, preferably overnight, before adding the Bio-Spira so that it dissolves thoroughly. I'm not sure how much salinity the bacteria can tolerate).
Also be sure to acclimate him properly - the switch from fresh to brackish can be stressful if its too sudden.

scrotaye wrote:However, shrimpy died this morning. I bought him sick, didn't know what i was getting into, and didn't react quick enough.



Thank you for your concern!

It's very likely that he wouldn't have made it even in proper conditions. When they're not eating, it's tough to medicate them properly.
I'd keep a careful eye on your puff - he may have parasites as well, but if he's eating, its very treatable.

Justin, All your brother is doing is showing Walmart that GSPs are great sellers & they'll keep buying more. If they keep dying off in their tanks, eventually they'll stop buying them. Please tell your brother he's not helping their situation.

This is not at all true...We have been there periodically over the last few years and every time we are there, we see them dead or dying in their tanks. I have asked employees why they have them and the answer is usually "I don't know...they just die when they get here"...Doesn't seem to stop them from buying them at all. He made a very big deal about the way these puffers were being treated, talked to the store management and then Head office. He has been told that they will NOT keep GSP's at this location anymore unless the conditions are right...We will see if they follow through on that though! I personally think what he did was great since he has the space and time to care for them (He has about 800G of tanks right now I think) You may not agree but if there is a better way of dealing with this then I'm sure he would love to hear it! The not buying them and letting them die either in Walmarts tanks or someones personal tank does not stop them from buying and selling them...Or it would have by now! They took things a whole lot more seriously when he said he would buy them all to rescue them instead of let a store slowly kill them! Anyways there really is NO way to stop stores from selling GSP's if they want to, they will just keep doing it!

Think of it this way--after your brother takes home those 100, they now go back to the wild & catch another new 100 to be left to die.

have to agree with justin slightly here. any good aquatic place will only buy whats selling, otherwise fish are just being left behind and not selling. so i guess in a good aquatics place if u were buying lots then they would in turn buy lots, but id hope a good aquatics place wouldnt leave them in such appalling conditions.

i work at pets at home, and for example the fighting fish never live more than a couple of weeks max, and they dont sell many at all, but they still buy the same amount in every week even tho they arent making money on them.

although i appreciate what your saying, and ur absolutely right. if that makes sense,lol.

its like puppy farms, the more puppys you try to 'save' the more they will breed. stop buying from them, they will eventually stop breeding because they wont be making enough money to breed

My brother took home 15...not 100! He has them in a 100G brackish tank though. I agree that in a proper LFS it would be bad to "save" these fish as they will buy more . But my point is that Walmart is buying more not matter what their sales are like! We all know this, I have heard it a thousand times before! They buy them very, very cheap and Im sure only need to sell a few to make it worth it to them. You can argue all you want that saving these puffers was not a good thing but I will never agree. The alternative would have been them dying in the tank, only to be replaced by another 15 who would have also died in their tank and another 15 after that and on and on...We are going back today just to check if they have kept up on their promise to either not keep them in this store or keep them in proper conditions! I called this morning and they say they have none, so I hope that the guy was right! There is no real solution to this problem! Not buying them will not stop anything!

wow it seems that Walmart is contributing to the extinction of the GSP! That's DISGUSTING!

Another reason to boycott it....

*grumbles bad words*

What were the other reasons?