The Puffer Forum

hello everyone and merry christmas! i was feeling very good about the holidays because i seemingly had my 55 gallon looking great and the elephant nose fish i put in a month ago were thriving. i was gearing up to take pictures and enter contests. then i had a green water issue and did a fifty percent water change...and the elephant noses died.
and how does this relate to puffers? well, the elephant noses were swimming upside down and clearly dying & i wanted to put them in my hospital tank. BUT, i had a three inch green spotted puffer i rescued from walmart in it. i did not want to chance him finishing the elephant noses off.i have two gsp in my thirty gallon already,but they are small, about a inch.
the walmart guy was punching the tank when i showed interest,telling me he does it all the time to see if they would 'puff',but they would only run and hide.
well, i was horrified as he cheerfully went on to tell me the puffers were probably eating the other fish in the tank or scavenging,since he had no idea what they eat.i knew i would save one, since they looked big and healthy,but was not sure what i was gonna do with him.he assured me they get along with each other and i could put him in with my smaller puffers.
i did not trust that. the gsp's i have came from the same tank/shop as little guys and i am assuming they have lived together all their lives-and after a dominance fight,are doing just fine together. the question is,how big will these guys actually get and can i keep them all in the same tank? can i go ahead and add the walmart puffer after five days quarantine? i may have been able to save my elephant noses if i had not already rescued that puffer...i simply had no where else to put him. the other tanks have oscars and brichardi cichlids.
~poisson

GSP's get about 6" with the proper care and tank size. You need at least 30 gallons per puffer. There are some great articles in the library about keep GSP's. When you get a chance read them. GSP's will not mix with elephant nose they require different water.

well, the elephant noses died...i knew it was the water that was causing the stress and wanted to hospital tank them,but the rescued puffer was already in it.i guess the real question here is will i be able to put the rescued puffer in with my smaller ones & crayfish...i realize if they grow to six inches the 30 gallon will be too small,but right now they are all small. do they fight and kill each other?

Sometimes. You could cycle the 55 as brackish for two of them that get alone, and keep the new one solo in the 30, ultimately.

I moved this to BW puffers, since it will get more responses here.

Reading about the Walmart guy punching the tank made me wish bad things on him. Arghh.

your question about aggression in a small tank, i had two small gsp in a 29 gallon and i swear, they stressed eachother out just due to proximity because i never really saw too much overt aggression. oddly, the one with the more aggressive tendencies was the one who died. the one i have left has thrived all alone. the tank looks a bit spare, but hes healthy, active and is quite personable now at 3"

I have 2 GSP in a 30g for now. They are both under 2.5 in and get along fine (one is 1.5 in and the other is almost 2.5 in) The bigger one was acting lonely (pacing glass, laying on the bottom, etc) unless we were in the room. We took a change on getting another one and were lucky. They get along with only a little fighting ( more like tug-o-war) at feeding time (the small one is more aggressive.)

How is the nitrate in there?