The Puffer Forum

I was just wondering, everywhere I read, articals say green spotted puffers need at least 30 gallons. My LPS has a store pet, which is a green spotted puffer, and he's so huge. Probably 6-8 inches long, but very round and fat. He's in a 30 gal tall tank. SO my question is, are 30 gal tanks really enough for green spots? He looks so cramped in there..

30g is the minimum this site recommends. Really you should house a fish in the biggest tank you can supply.

30 gallon TALL tank might be a little to cramp. They need more lateral movement space so the 30 gallon long tank would be better.


js

Yes, please do remember that 30 US gallons per GSP is the minimum water allowance - with no mention of swimming space (pathetic in a tall or extra-tall tank), or visual complexity (important to intelligent, curious fish such as the hunter-predators - including GSPs), or of filtration and water maintenance.

Larger tanks with larger footprints (base dimension) and greater visual complexity never hurt. Minimum suggestions are just that, the least you can use without stunting the fish, provided that the feeding and upkeep are just right as well. There is a big difference in minimum and optimum, and the latter is too hard to define.

I finally gave up my 3 large adult puffers. They were living in a 55g. I would say that 1 would have been happy in there. They love to swim the length of the tank.

I still have 3 in my 55g. They seem to be happy but are still growing (although less so than before). It is very visually complex, with stacks of live rock and streams of macroalgae the height of the tank. They are most active in the evening and at night -- probably due to feeding schedule and the bright lighting.

If I were to do it over again, I would probably only have two in there. Three has given me more work.

Jhong points to an interesting and fully valid side issue on tank size - the fish-keeper's willingness and time availability to do the upkeep required. PP is a compulsive water changer, such that she can get away with things that would stress me out. I am a good water changer, but not in her class. I have to compensate for that by providing more water volume just in case I don't stick to the schedule.

Heck, I helped set some of the minimum sizes we use here, but if you ask if I keep my fish in those minimum sizes, the answer would have to be no, only rarely. I had rather over-house and have a margin for error instead of always being on the narrow edge.

So knowing yourself and looking realistically at your personal practices is a big part, or should be a big part, of the setup to be used for a particular fish. The fish's requirements many of us have enough experience to have a fair idea about, but only you can say whether or not you can operate at the narrow end of the range between minimum and optimum, or whether you need a little more leeway in upkeep. I am in the latter group.

PP is a compulsive water changer, such that she can get away with things that would stress me out. I am a good water changer, but not in her class.

Yes, 50% weekly water changes on a 55g high-end BW tank, can get quite expensive on salt.

My first puffer started out in a 2 gallon hexoganal tanks, because I had no idea what I was doing when I brought her home. I bought her for my dorm room, and I thought she was really cute. Little did I know! She stayed in that tank for nearly a year. Next was a 5 gallon, then a 10, then finally a 12 (I lost her to a 3-day powerfailure in the middle of winter. Horrible way to die ). She lived for 7 years, so obviously being kept in smaller tanks didn't prevent her from living a decent fishy life. I know myself, and at the moment 12 gallons is all I can handle, so my new puffer will be in that size for some time. Maybe someday (when I'm in a house rather than an apartment) I can upgrade to something bigger.

Actually, these puffers can live into their teens. How large did your puffer get in there? Would you like to live in a closet all your life? After my 3 got too large for the 55g they were in, I rehomed them--I think just 1 would have been happy in a 55g all by itself.

I can't imagine keeping a green spot in something that small!! He must have been so stunted and ill in health..

just because you can, dosen't mean you should..

My first GSPs were kept in a small tank, and in FW to boot. But that was over 40 years ago (well, closer to 50 now). It was an upkeep problem more than obvious ill health, and they were very small, and stayed small. They were traded off to another Cichlid-nut who had the same issues with snails in fry grow-out tank that prompted me to buy the puffers inthe first place (biological snail disposal devices) when I found out what size they should be, and their requirement for high BW, neither of which I was able to accomodate easily at the time.

I now know that they were severly stunted and that it would have adverse effects on their life span, as in the 2+ years I kept them they should have been nearly full grown, rather than just over 2".

We all learn the hard way.

So we're basically talking about bonsai GSPs then, right? Mine went from 1" to 2" in just over a month in a 55-gallon tank and are still growing!

I still don't understand how can GSPs be stunted in a small tank if they are healthy and eat normally. Isn't it growth rate is proportionate with the amount of food intake?

Joshcwj wrote:I still don't understand how can GSPs be stunted in a small tank if they are healthy and eat normally. Isn't it growth rate is proportionate with the amount of food intake?

A small tank does not allow a fish to grow appropriately. The body stops growing, the internal organs do not.

Growth rate is not dependant on food intake either. .. I mean, most fish in the wild only eat when they find food, which isn't as often as they are fed in aquariums.

Having a puff in a tank to small is not good..