The Puffer Forum

Hi everybody,
I have been lurking for a while and thought I would introduce myself. You guys have a great site here, by far the most knowledgeable on the net that I have found! I have learned a lot already.
I have a 30 gallon hexagonal tank with a baby gsp (1 inch long) and three bumblebee gobies. The tank was cycled for about 2 weeks with a red crab and some ghost shrimp. The fish have been in there about 2 weeks now and seem very healthy. The SG is about 1.005-1.007 I plan on increasing it slowly as the puffer ages. The ghost shrimp have served as food and entertainment, and I have been feeding blood worms also. Some olive nerite snails should arrive any day now, then I will feed those every now and then.
Here are some questions to throw at you guys:
1) How fast do GSPs grow? When do they reach sexual maturity?
2) Do they ever bother bumblebee gobies? My gobies are very brave, to the point of even pushing the puffer out of the way as it eats.
3) As I raise the salinity, can I introduce anenomies and soft corals? Or will the puffer destroy these also?
I haven't named him/her yet, but I will work on it.
Thanks guys, I think I attached a picture. not quite sure though.

Welcome to the forum!


They grow pretty fast. Not sure how long it takes for them to be full grown though my guess is a year.
He might bother the gobies he might not it basically all comes down to your puffers personality.
You can add corals and such into the tank but be careful as he might pick at some/most.
Also is that wood real? If it is it will rot in the SW.

I'd be really surprised the tank was cycled in 2 weeks but with that few fish in there at that small size, the wastes are probably being dilluted well. Keep a good eye on the parameters. I wouldn't raise the SG any higher for right now. Did you see the GSP article in our Library?

Welcome to the site

Thanks guys,
The wood isn't real, so I don't have to worry about rot. I did read the GSP article in your library, it was very helpful in terms of tankmates, SP, etc.
Do you guys think someone has figured out how to reliably breed GSPs? At the lfs, all the GSPs were about the same size in the tank (about 1") and there were likely 15 of them. And they were only $5.00, I figure for that price, they must have been bred.
In anycase, thanks for the advice. I will keep in touch as my tank progresses.

People have claimed to breed them but there are no documented cases of breeding. Also theres no way to sex them.

I agree, all GSP are wild caought as are 90% of all puffer species that we see

I had a dream last night that there were a bunch of baby GSPs in my tank with the adults. I'm not even keeping GSPs right now!

I know this is quickly going off thread, but I was poking around and I found some information regarding breeding GSPs in the supplementary information to the article entitled "Genome duplication in the teleost fish Tetraodon nigroviridis reveals the early vertebrate proto-karyotype".

I quote from the document "T. nigroviridis is often caught from the wild although it is also sold to the aquariophilist market by fishermen who breed them in artificial ponds by the rivers." So, it seems they can reliably breed them in ponds. This is good news, as maybe some at least aren't captured from the wild. . .

Here is where I found the information (top word document, called naming conventions, etc): http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v4 ... 03025.html

A few things that might have been missed.

You won't be able to keep the gobies and the GSP together long term, they require different salinities. The GSP also might turn on them at any time.. once they reach maturity you never know how aggressive they might be.

Olive Nerite snails are generally considered too hard to feed as puffer foods. Their shells can actually break the puffer's teeth.

Soft corals and anenomes are a risk, puffers like to nibble.. and in a tank that small, the puffer itself will already be pushing the limits for waste levels. Corals and anenomes are VERY sensitive animals, and need very clean water. Puffers are very dirty fish, so unless you have a tank much larger than the recommended size for one puffer, I probably wouldn't try it myself, or the water changes you'd need to do will get out of hand quickly.

Hope that helps some!