The Puffer Forum

Hey thanks again for the advice!

He looks like he's doing better, leisurely swimmin all around his nice big tank lol
I think I've seen him actually eat a couple times now too
/whew

That's great! Keep us updated.

Are Walmart was just redone and they still have a fish dsection.

At least the ASDA/Wal-Mart's over here don't have any pet section at all, and thank goodness I don't remember seeing any puffers at the Wal-Mart I used to shop at in Florida. But I've always hated how stores keep Bettas in those little cups, poor things, no air, no heat, nothing but their own waste, oh joy!

Well, I decided since I'm doin all this work, I might as well save some more lol
Got 3 total now, gonna have to upgrade my tank again within the next few weeks, but since I see most people are saying 25-30 for 1, how many for 3?

Otherwise of course the other ones I got from walmart have ich, but petco didn't have any gsp's, so the 3 are getting the temp/salt treatments, so far, looks like they're doing better. The first's ich is disappearing and he's got waaay more spirit now. The 2nd 2 are coming around as well it looks like..

I was curious though if anyone had any advice for water turbulence and temps?

I originally had the tumbler that sits on the side of the tank in the center, but there was quite a bit of turbulence in the entire tank, so I moved it off to the side, they seem to like sleeping in the non-turbulent corner, it was pretty funny when I woke up the other morning, there they were all huddled together in the corner heh.
But also, I have the heater one one side submerged halfway down, and the temp gauge in the opposite corner, so I KNOW the water is AT LEAST the temp of the gauge throughout, but still, it seems to fluctuate up 1-1.5 degrees at night, so I have to turn it back down, since my apartment is pretty 'airy' its extremely difficult to keep a solid room temp..

Thanks again everyone, seriously, if I would have followed the instructions even from the guy at petco I'm sure they would have died right away.. He didn't even know anyting about them, he said 'oh, we don't get those and I don't know anything about them, let me print up a care sheet!' lol

And my dad said after I bought 100-150$ worth of stuff "all for a 5$ fish!"

30g minimum each. That's 90g total, minimum.

But... Are they all in the 10g?

yea .. that happened to me ...

honestly hun... if you are willing to have a tank that looks pretty bare for a long time until they get bigger, go for it! but at the same time, 90 gal in an apartment is risky... i live in a 1br with 2-55s and a 16gal... and it makes me pretty nervous just because of the weight (but i think we may have concrete flores, which in that case, its not so bad)...but our apartment manager is pretty cool about it... anywhere else, we could probably be asked to leave... you may want to talk to your apartment manager about it first. just a little advice...

also, if you arent completely done treating for ich, and your tank isnt fully cycled yet... you may risk losing those other 2... if i were you, id probably hold off for now until the first guy is completely healthy... i know, puffers are addicting but you want to make sure everyone is alive and well before you add any more.. thats just my opinion... plus, since they are pretty agressive, even as juvies, they may feel kinda cramped in the 10gal which could bring out some agression... (before i knew anything about GSPs) i had one in a 10gal with a cichlid that was about an inch bigger than the GSP... the cichlid only lasted about a week... and cichlids are pretty agressive as well... and even he didnt last... or at least, maybe get 2 dividers that you can separate the 3 until you are able to get a bigger home... you can make one really cheap... if you go to a hardware store, they sell flourescent lighting grids that disperse the light... those are very good dividers because you can cut them the size you need, and you can get as many dividers as you will need from just that one lighting grid for about 10 bucks...

okay, well good luck with your new addiction! haha... it happens to everyone

Ya I've got concrete floors, so I'm not too worried about the weight, and luckily I've been here for 4 years now so I'm in pretty good with the landlord heh

I somewhat took into consideration that at least 1 might die, or get killed by the others, but they actually seem to be getting adapting quite well. On top of that too for the time being, they seem to be getting along with each other very nicely. It's a pretty bare tank with quite a bit of room since they're all so small atm, but they still all sleep within an inch of each other kinda like a pack.. lol

They sure all go crazy for snails that's for sure..

Anyone happen to know the growth rate of them? I know size of their surrounding may come into effect, but generally speaking? They're all still just BARELY over an inch long...

By the way~

I've read a lot on "training" a gsp, they're smart, etc...
And I was wondering if anyone else has ever had success with training of some kind, and what exactly did you do?

I have to admit, when I put the 2 in with the first 1, even though the 2 were bigger than the 1, he still went after both of them. It looked like he was trying to nip them in the side or just hitting them, either way, showing aggression.
But then I would react with pointing at him with my finger right up to the glass, closest to the trouble maker on whichever side of the glass he was on..
Sometime it would take a tap on the glass to begin the pointing, to get their attention..
But now nobody causes trouble..
I just did a 2nd feeding with abunch of snails, they seem to not fight over bloodworms, but interestingly enough, the smallest, who's tank it was in the first place clearly has dominance over the other 2, and a couple time originally went and nipped at the others, but then I watched closely and did my thing... By the end of the feeding, there was a couple snails left, in the same general vicinity, and all 3 knew it.. They all swarmed in and surrounded the snails, a couple times the smallest tried to chase the other 2 off, but then I would step in and point.. Then after a couple times, they all surrounded the 2 snails left, and instead of the smallest being aggressive (the other 2 have never been aggressive and I think have recognized his dominance), they all just played a "ring around the rosey" taking turns trying to get the last 2. lol
If one picked a snail up and couldn't get it first try it would fall back down, and the next fish would pick it up and fail, then the next, until finally one of them was successful in eating it. They then moved a couple inches to the last snail and repeated.. lol

I've noticed overall, the smaller one doesn't nip anymore, and everybody seems to keep their aggressive tendencies to themselves.. every now and then it takes me pointing, but that's ONLY when there's food in the tank. And when swimming by each other, or by the example with the last couple snails, perhaps they understand? lol

I've read people feeding by hand, and someone else suggested a color to signify feeding time, but I've yet to see anyone mention anything about "breaking" aggressiveness..

Just a thought, I'm thinking this pointing of the finger is the only reason they've been sleeping next to each other, because originally the smallest sure said with action "THIS IS MY TANK! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS!" heh

Its more likely that he isn't feeling too feisty because the water quality is going to drop very quickly in a 10 gallon, uncycled tank with 3 GSP's.

You had given yourself a few weeks by getting the 10 gallon tank, you've just taken them back away by adding more fish to it. 90 gallon tank, minimum, in your future. Give them what they need and they grow fast, don't give it to them and they die.

kilofey, don't worry about the weight of the tanks! A 55 gallon tank weights about 550 lbs. That's the equivalent of say 2-3 adults. If your floors are so bad that you think 3 adults standing next to each other are going to crash through the floor, then you need to move

lol, i actually have thought of it that way... in terms of people standing in my apartment... the only reason i was slightly worried, is because im on the top floor and i have 2-55gals within 5 ft of eachother!... but i think we might have concrete floors... im not sure but our porch is concrete, and it seems silly to switch it up and put wood underneath... the apartments

But of course I wouldn't want to have to change the water as much/often.. so I totally see what you're saying..
Even after 12 hours amm hits maybe 1, nitrates are between 10-20...

Otherwise I don't think they mind too much right now, pretty sure they're glad to just be out of the 10 gallon at walmart that was filthy as @%&*# and had no filtration... heh

Though I did see this, anyone tried it? Seems pretty legit..

http://aquaripure.com/

Of course I'm not lookin to justify keeping a 10 gallon for these guys, but for the larger tank when I get it~

ANY amount of ammonia is toxic. "Rescuing" a fish from anywhere & slowly killing them in conditions less than what is best for them isn't much better... You're also telling Walmart it's ok to treat their fish however they wish, because they still sell.

Forget that product & keep doing daily WC on that tank. Do your best to upgrade, ASAP! You're going to need a 90g for all 3. Or find a reputable LFS to take them.

90g already on order

And what's better slowing killing them out of ignorance, or sushi! heh