The Puffer Forum

My son picked out a fish the other day, and after ID'ing him and reading up, I think he is a Green Spotted Puffer (Tetraodon nigroviridis). I understand that this guy can start out in fresh, but ideally, he needs very brackish water or full on Salt water as an adult. I would prefer to keep my tanks all freshwater (have kept Brackish tanks about 12 years ago) so I'm looking to give the guy to someone who may want him locally and then search for a freshwater puffer.

You might just say 'return him to the LFS for credit' but it was one of the chain petstores, and I'd rather give him to someone then return him to the tanks of death He's been treated for parasites and he eats dried ship and bloodworms. Oh, and he cleaned out the entire Malaysian Trumpet Snail poplulation in that tank.

Markus

Hey, you might just want to get a second tank running. Brackish tanks arn't too much to handle. Puffers are very intresting and have great personalities. If you keep him a while you will be hooked.

Honestly, just give it a shot. Your not losing anything, you've only got a great experience sitting in your tank.

I know they're great fish; I just was hoping I wouldn't have to go all the way to 'salt water'. Do they do well in just brackish water? The few articles I've read say they need full on salt water to be health...

Markus

If you get the right setup Marine isn't that hard, though I do break the laws of keeping fish...and puffers especially. I have a basic 75 with 3 fluval 304's and I use to have LR till tank incident (thats another thread.) But at the moment I have a ever so basic marine tank and I feel its as easy as a fw tank, no joke!

I'm putting on my asbestos firefighter jacket, strapping on helmet and other protective gear...wait for it....

He's in a 10 gal tank. I had plan on keeping him in there until he grows a bit, and then putting him in the larger tank. It's got a heater, aeration, a HOB filter, and currently live plants.

From what I understand it's nearly impossible to keep a 10 gal salt water tank because of constant chemistry tinkering...

Well, the good news is that you will not have to worry about maintaining a stable 10G SW tank. The GSP will outgrow the 10G tank long before it is ready for full SW. The bad news is that, given proper care and feeding, the GSP will also outgrow the 10G tank faster than you might think.

No flaming here. In fact, I admire your decision to do what is right for the fish whether that be to keep it and provide a proper environment or to donate/sell it to someone else that will. We're here to help if you decide to keep him though!

Would a 20 Gal setup work for him if he got up to 6 inches or would 30 be better? At that size, would he tolerate anyone else in the tank?

30g or bigger is best for this fish. The main reason we recommend full SW is the fact that you can use a skimmer. With the addition of live rock & a deep sand bed, you'll save tons on salt for large water changes. Your puffer would be perfectly happy though, in high end BW, w/o a skimmer, LR or sand. You'll just have to continue doing 50% weekly water changes then... $$$

Please do read my article on them in our Library.

Six months ago, I was in your shoes, having just adopted a GSP bought at Walmart by a friend of my son against my advice (for his community tank!). I took it in because I had a spare tank and because I'm a sucker for strays & unwanted creatures. That GSP is doing great & I think he's easy & fun to keep.

If you do decide to keep him, I think you'll find they have interesting personalities and interact with you - which makes for a good aquarium pet. There are some negatives - some people don't like having just 1 fish/tank (I think its fine). And, as you raise your salinity slowly as he grows up, you will eliminate your live plants. I can't think of other negatives. I've kept small brackish tanks since the 1960's & even hauled my own saltwater before Instant Ocean came out. I think there are advantages to brackish water over freshwater as the salt prevents many common freshwater diseases from starting.

I must warn you that they are addictive and can steal your heart. Since adopting this GSP, I've gone out and bought a F8 and he's great too. Good Luck!

The F8 is happy in his own tank, BTW - I wouldn't combine them.

So yeah, as you can see from the others...SW tanks arn't too bad

Guess I'm on my way to get some Instant Ocean and a hydrometer...

Yippee! Another happy puffer!

Yeah, I've already started to pull the Java Moss out and swap in rocks and such from my other aquariums. I'll have to get some plastic plants to liven it up in there for him since the salinity increase will rule out those plants.

Java moss will survive in BW up to 1.005, so you have some time for it.