I also fell into the petstore trap...

[CaptainMorgan_SOS]

Hey everyone,

So to start off i am new to Puffers and actually new to forums, this will be my first post, on any forum, ever.
So... i have this 20 gal(tall i guess) which i had created a nice little place for fish, in my mind. It's got dark flourite on the sides wih a sand pathway down the middle leading to a beach up front. in the back corners i made boxes out of black slate and then filled them up with the flourite. i planted giant micro sword in the back, some kind of thick leaved, purplish sword in front of that on the left, and on the right the micro sword surrounds my underwater filter so it doesn't stick out. then along the rest of the flourite there is little clovers planted everywhere.
The tank was originally designed to house some German Blue Rams.

ok sorry for the whole background thing... so i went to the pet store to get these rams and on the way to them these little "Happy hot air ballons" greeted me at the front of the tank as i walked by and i coudn't help but do a double take and then a complete 180 to check these little critters out. one of the girl that worked at the store came up to me and i asked her about these little guys with their white bellies and green backs with black polka dots. she then proceeded to tell me that 6 wuld be perfect in the tank i was setting up. so i bought 2... i got home and while they were suspended in their little bags, i did some quick research and this site was one of the first that popped up. i quickly realized the pretty pet store girlwas wrong. so i went over to my buddies room and snagged some marine salt. i put about 1/4 cup in for fear that if i put too much in they would flip out and roll over dead because of the sudden change(they were being kept in freshwater at the store). then i released them and they just went crazy chasing down and eating 3 crayfish and 6 ghost shrimp and an unfortunate fancy guppy. so now they REALLY look like balloons!

I have been keeping an eye on them and i noticed that the most colorful one with te whitest belly(i named him Bumble) goes in the corner and just sits on the gravel by the airstone in the back right until the one with the black edges around his white belly(i named her Giblet) comes to check him out. then they float around the tank,doing loops around each other until Bumble gets tired and goes back to his airstone corner behind the rock. then Gibet ges about her way, gliding around the tank.

i'm moving out to a bigger apartment in july and i hae a 55 gallon that i plan on setting up for them immediately when i move out. So does their behavior sound normal? what else should i do?

Sorry for the long post. This is a GREAT site and any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Dave

[edmlfc1]

Welcome to the puffer forum. Congrats on your new buddies. Keep a close eye on your water param. You may have to do some large water changes until you can upgrade, depending on how big your puffers are You should be ok for a few months. As far as their behavior just keep a close eye on them and make sure they aren't aggressive to each other. You might have to put a divider in the tank if you start to see fin nipping. Sounds like your doing a good job so far.

[CaptainMorgan_SOS]

So these little guys are so cool!! i have been watching them on and off for a coupleof hours now and they justcome to the front of the tank to see me then one gets feisty and they chase each other arund the tank, not nipping and not swimming really fast,more like follow the leader. one leads and then they switch.
These guys are eating machines!! they have just claimed another 2 ghost shrimp, 3 more guppies and 3 snails. should i takeout some of this "food" so they don't explode? and you said large water changes... how large and how often? and will kuhli loaches be able to survive the increasing brackish conditions? there are4 of these squirmy guys hiding in the tank too.

[CaptainMorgan_SOS]

and i found out by your links that these are Green Spotted Puffers. they really get Nerf Football size?!

[edmlfc1]

I don't think the loaches will do good at all in brackish water. When I say large water changes it will depend on your water test. Puffers are very sensitive to amm. and nitrite. Nitrates should be kept under 20. So lets say your nitrates shoot up to 40 in a few days. You will want to do a 50% water change to get it back down to 20. Or you could do a 75% water change to get it down to 10. If you have a spare tank it would be best to move all others out. Puffer's will eat until they blow up. They just don't know when to stop. And yes they can get to the size of a nerf football, that's why they require 30 gallons each. Also they are very messey eaters, this is going to be the problem with water param.

Another thing, you will need 10x filtration on your tank. For a 55 gallon you will need a filter that turns over 550 gallons per hour. The larger the filter the better for these guys.

[edmlfc1]

How about some pictures? I love seeing puffer photos.

[trekenk]

They are eating machines for sure.

[CaptainMorgan_SOS]

please bear with me as my camera is ancient and i can't take closeup pics of the little guys without them being too fuzzy to see...

Fist setting up tank:


Tank setup, you can see one of the crazy loaches flying across the screen:


standing up:


you can see Bumble gliding on the left side close to the top, near his favorite spot and Giblet is on the right side at the bottom just left of the slate about to explore a cave tht runs under the slate and comes out in front of the other peice of slate just under the far right leaf of the anubis:


I promise to get a better camera within the month so i can take good closeup pics of the little guys.
I took out the bushy reddish plants because the puffers wouldn't go near them, now they love to zig zag throught the micro sword.
I had to take out the emerald cory cat because surprisingly he was attacking both the puffers.

If anyone has any suggestions on wat to add or remove to make life better for thse critters please let me know, more plants, less plants, more water flow, less(the filter works like a water jet at the top and the current can be adjusted), anything would be most helpful.

[marksrush]

Welcome! GSPs are wonderful. And like most puffers, they are not the easiest fish to keep. Gorgeous tank! Very nice indeed.

Read this: ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Nigroviridis/ and this: library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/ and some of these: library/category/feeding/ and maybe this too: library/puffer-care/alone-but-not-lonel ... o/#more-42. And of course anything else you can find on puffers, but if it says something different that what you see on this site, it's probably wrong. The more you know, the better equipped you are to give your new pets the care they need to live their full 10+ years.

[CaptainMorgan_SOS]

Here is the new breeding grounds for the pond snails which also houses 2 Hillstream loaches(they do really well because the tank is Very oxygenated), the evil Emerald Cory who was terrorizing the GSPs, a Huge Apple Snail, and about 10 Pond Snails. the water level is low because it a) makes the filter water create bubbles for extra oxygen and b) i heard snals lay their eggs above the water line and this is the best way to breed them:


A snail crawling on "Tiki"s Ear, it has stuff growing onthe shell, as with a few of the othe snails, is it snail eggs?:


The huge Apple Snail with his shell covered in algae who gives the Hillsteam Loaches and the little snails occasional rides around the tank:


Hillstream Loach with a deathgrip on the front glass:


I'm also expecting over 50 Pond Snails to come in the mail which i will put in here. should provide a steady food source for the GSPs to hunt. Does anyone know if the stuff on the Pond Snails shells(looks like tiny little brown balls that are stuck to the shell) are eggs or is it someting thati should be worried about feeding my GSPs?

[EliWhitney314]

wow great stuff.

[Pufferpunk]

Your tank is lovely but none of those plants (that I can tell), will survive BW.

[CaptainMorgan_SOS]

sowhat kind of plants will be able to survive the incresing brackish conditions? or am i just going to have to brek down and get fake plants? if so i've always had trouble with ALOT of algae growing onfake plants. and from what i'vebeen reading, there are no brackish algae eaters, correct?

[edmlfc1]

That is correct, most live plants will not handle brackish water at higher levels. There are a few like java fern that will handle low end brackish. Most people use plastic plants and once a month or so, put new plastic plants in soak the ones you took out in bleach water solution and rotate to keep the algea under control. If you do the bleach water solution after soaking make sure you rinse it several times until you cannot smell the bleach at all.

[riggers]

sowhat kind of plants will be able to survive the incresing brackish conditions? or am i just going to have to brek down and get fake plants?

Have a read of this:

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=143235