The Puffer Forum

I recently bought 2 small spotted puffers and for the past couple day it looks like both of them are taking turn doing this but I dont know if its natural. I just got up and looked ar them and my biggest one out of the 2 looked like he had his tail curled almost around to the front of it's body. Now I would like to know if this is natural or is this something i need to worry about. Right now I have them in clean drinking water from the gallon.

On the floor of the tank curled up, could be sleeping.
Do you know your water parameters: ph, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate. This could also be a warning that the parameters aren't right, any ammonia and nitrite readings with puffers can cause issues.

Right now they both are in fresh bottled water from the store.

Then there will be no bacteria to support the waste they are producing, it's a safe bet there will be ammonia readings in the tank and that is what is most likely affecting them. Until a bacteria colony has established you will be looking at big daily water changes for the next few weeks say 80% to keep the water at as good a level as possible for them.

I'm guessing you have Green Spotted Puffers so have a look in the library there's an article with a lot of info on them, tank sizes water parameters etc...

If you can post up some pics and you'll get a positive ID on what you've got.

My suggestion woulde be to return those puffers, until you research them & properly house them.

have to agree there, if you haven't cycled the tankthe puffers are doomed really. If you don't know what that means then check the library for the Fishless Cycling article

Bottled water isn't the best for them either. It has been stripped of all the necessary minerals neede for the fish to live in there.

The store where we bought them did not advise my wife and I properly on the care for these little guys. The sales person let us buy a 2 1/2 gallon tank to put 2 baby GSP's into. She advised us to use bottled spring water to start with. She said there was no need to purchase any other chemicals or the such to start a tank. She never mentioned anything about brackish water, a heater, or cycleing the tank. Sent us home with tropical flakes to feed which the fish would not eat. To top it all off I misread the tag and thought these fish grew to 2 inches.

Since then we have researched these fish and found out they grow much larger then we thought, learned about what they need and like to eat, they need 30 gallons per fish in a brackish tank eventually. We had 2 options, take back the fish or try to keep them. I opted to try and keep them. I am already attached to the fish. We have gone out and bought a 10 gallon tank in the mean time, temporarily until we buy a much larger tank. We used tap water and added Cycle + Start Right to the tank. Yes, I know you don't recommend using cycle but it was the only choice I had if I kept the fish. I just learned about another product to instantly cycle the tank that I will be looking to buy called Bio Spira. We have had the fish going on 2 weeks. Some how they have been tough enough to survive. They have been in the 10 gallon tank for 4 days. The tank water tested at (person said all was fine):

pH 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates Unknown (somehow I missed this)
Temp 76

I understand we have a great challenge ahead to keep these guys healthy and happy.

Cycle is all dead bacteria but it's good to hear your puffers are still doing ok. I hope all ends up well.

Toss the Cycle & do large daily water changes, dechlorinating with Prime, until you can find the only LIVE cycling bacteria product: Bio-Spira. You can order it from http://www.drsfostersmith.com, if you can't find it locally.

Will do...thanks.