The Puffer Forum

ok. im a bad puffer mom. i had never introduced my gsp to clams. however, today they had clams on sale for $1.99 lb. so i bought 3 clams. cracked one open and dropped it in. WOW. my puffer looks like a golf ball and is now super bright and zooming happily around his tank.

and i feel like a good mom because i picked up an 60ish gallon acrylic aquarium with built in overflow that is most likely going to become his home once he gets big enough for me to put him in full marine (i will be continuing to acclimate him slowly)

I think you can keep 2 GSP in a 55..I'm not sure. But...Good thing he like CLAMS

i know i could probably keep two, but i actually really like the idea of him being the king of his tank. besides, it would be such a pain in the prat to set up a second tank to acclimate another puffer to the sg spot is in. so i think hes going to be a solo fish in a fowlr tank

Okay..Sounds good

Sounds like a puffer in heaven!

Will you be my mommy?? hehehe

good heavens, i wish i could afford something equivalent for myself! alas, i spend a lot of my money on the scaley and finned beasties

Sounds like your a very good mommy to me. My puffers love clams, mussels, shrimp and crab. I buy the blue crabs from the fresh seafood department cut off all the legs then cut the body into 4 pieces and feed them 1/4 of the crab. They go nuts over it! My husband is the one that told me to try it. I usually buy 3-4 crabs at a time and freeze them.

i dunno if id be able to share a blue crab with anyone

i miss the east coast sometimes

in a 60G marine tank you could get him a marine friend or two... many of the clown species and dwarf angels would be fine in there...

as well as a blenny or such like. Good thin is they come pre-marine acclimatised. ...

I know the Pufferpedia says differently, but I can't imagine even a single 6" GSP in a 60 gallon. My 3.5" GSP is in a 55 by herself for now, but in about a year I will buy her a 100+ gallon tank because I feel that a fish that big needs some elbow room. I hate to cramp my fish.

a gsp will have loads of 'elbow' room in a 60G ..

rule of thumb is 6 x total length of fish.

I think it's just that I tend to think in terms of what's optimal (or as close as I can get to it), versus what's the minimum I can get away with.

Generally our recommended minimums are meant so that the puffer can live comfortably in that size for life. Obviously the bigger, the better, but our minimums are designed to ACTUALLY be the minimum, as opposed to the typical "bare bones" minimums that a lot of fish stores dictate... if that makes any sense at all, haha!

i might look into some blennies or something. i just will keep my eyes open for signs of stress or aggression. this goes both ways. we tried tossing in a feeder fish (a fry from my tanks) and spot just swam over and looked at the other fish like "hello, who are you?" then swam towards me begging for a treat. we fished the feeder out and havent tried again since. i think ill just stick to clams and shrimp and such.

after seeing him in a 29 gallon after all this time, i cant wait to see him in a 60. hes still got a ways to go before i want to move him. hes only about 3" long right now. he has no companions. i still need to collect more pieces of base rock. im doing this stuff in stages a piece here and a piece there to help out my budget. finding the tank the other day was a boon. ive decided to get rid of the crushed coral once i switch him over. i like the dark aragonite stuff. i also want to collect more dark base rock. i need to make some friends who have saltwater tanks to maybe give them a piece of base rock to cure for me. i think im going to ask my folks to either split the cost or just get me a good protein skimmer.

what is a good protein skimmer brand?

I have a HOB Octopus skimmer, which has served me very well. It can be a little temperamental at times, but compared to other skimmers, it's considerably less tweaking/maintenance for its outstanding performance and relatively cheap price. Mine was $200, but from the reviews on other skimmers and reviews from people who switched to this Octopus one, it was well worth it.