Can I house differant types of puffers in same tank

[kookydave]

Howdy all, I am new to the puffer world and totally love the little guys. I currently have 4 green spotted puffers (I think, got them at Wal Mart.) They are in a 55 gallon brackish tank. I would like to get some other types of puffers but I do not know if I can have them in the same tank or not. I would like to get a couple of figure 8 or maybe a spiny puffer. If I put them in the same tank will they hurt one another? Or worse will they die?
Also I do have one little puffer that will find a spot on the bottom of the tank and just sit there and turn a brown color, is that normal or is he sick? If he is sick what should I do to try and help him? Another puffer seems to have buck teeth and always gets food stuck in his mouth, what should I do to help him if anything. I really appreciate any help yall can give me in this matter.

[busybones]

What size are your GSP's? You may have to upgrade the tank once they are adults, each GSP requires 30 gallons of water. You cannot house any other fish with your GSP's. First off you wouldn't have the room needed for the other fish and second, they GSP's would more than likely harm or kill your new fish...

It sounds as if one of your puffs are sick. How did you cycle your tank before adding the fish? and what are your tank readings? Ammonina, Nitrite, Nitrate, ect.. Have any of them suffered any injuries? Do they appear to have IP's (internal parisites)?

A spiny Puffer or porcupine is a full marine fish and cannot survive in brackish waters...

You need to introduce snails into your GSP's diet. This will help to keep the teeth trimmed down. If the teeth are too big, you may need to clip them yourself or find someone who can. A photo would be helpful..

Hope this helps and welcome to the forum!

[kookydave]

I do not know what all that stuff is you said about nitrates and other stuff. About cycling tank I dont kow what ya mean. Walmart folks told me to fill tank put the aqua safe in it with aquarium salt then add fish and that is what I did. It is a 55 gallon tank. I am a newbie when it comes to fish tanks. I was told to put live bacteria in the filter and someone did that. But as far as ph and all that other stuff I have no idea. In the tank right now 4 GSP's, 2 angels, 2 plecos, 2 ghost catfish, 1 neon tetra, 1 fiddler crab, 1 molly

[busybones]

Ok...The walmart people aren't very educated in fishkeeping and only want you to buy more stuff...You will need a good water testing kit (a liquid one API is good) to make sure that your nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia are at safe levels..Your Nitrites need to be 0, Nitrates 20 or lower, Ammoina 0. If you don't get your water at a safe level you will lose all of your fish to Nitrite poisoning. I understand that you are new to fishkeeping and it's ok to ask all the questions you'd like we want to help you save your fish

Please read this, it will help you understand the cycling process.
library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

Your tank is way overstocked and this will cause you some problems as well..Puffers produce alot of waste and need a certain amount of water per fish..Heavy filtration is a big plus. here is a profile on the puffers you have. It will give you some much needed info on how to care for them ect..

ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Nigroviridis/

[LilGreenPuffer]

Oh dear. You have some serious problems. You have a seriously overstocked, uncycled tank and incompatible fish. Please don't think about any other fish right now. You are going to have trouble keeping these ones alive.

Your tank is not brackish right now. It is freshwater. That kind of salt doesn't make brackish water; it is actually a medicine.

First, read this article. library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/ Do you understand what's going on now? Not good!

Where did the live bacteria come from? How was it put in the filter? How long have you had the fish in the tank?

Now start calling around to local pet stores and see if they will take these fish off your hands. DO NOT return them to Wal-Mart. All returned fish get flushed, while still alive.

Forget about the buck teeth for now. Later, you can trim them, but it is not an issue at the moment.

Edit - Whoops, busybones beat me to it!

[bigfatfish]

Hey kookydave, always good to have a new member. I hope you will get all the help you need on here, but I think you will need to find new homes for lots of your fish . I have a 55 gallon (UK) BW tank with 2 tiny GSPs in (I lose them sometimes cos they are so small) & I wouldn't dream of adding anymore fish. People think I am mad to have such a big tank with those 2 little specks of fish, but they have the potential to reach 6" long each & kick out HUGE amounts of waste. I really hope you will find a solution to your problems & don't listen to Walmart!!

[kookydave]

The live bacteria came from my neighbor that used to have salt water tanks. He came over and took about a cap full of the stuff and sprinkled it on the back of the filter. He also told me to take about a quarter of the water out and refill it every week or so.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Was it from a bottle or straight from a tank? If it was from a bottle, what brand? If it was from a tank, was it just some water from the tank? Was it for/from a saltwater tank?

Those are regular weekly water changes he's talking about. In a properly stocked and cycled tank, water changes should be weekly. But you need to be changing a lot more right now, since you're doing an emergency cycle.

[kookydave]

The bacteria he put in there wasnt from a tank or anything it was in a powder form thet he got from a small bucket. So how much of the water should I take out? I just filled the tank like 3 days ago.

[busybones]

You'd need to be doing large water changes right now...From 50%-75% I'd say daily. You need to declorinate the new water before adding it to the tank and make sure it is very close to the same temps as your tank is right now.. Once you get your water healthy you'd need to do at least a 20% WC once a week. As LGP said you will need to take some fish out. I know that it may not seem like you have too many but to the fish it is like cramming ten people into a hotel room and expecting them to be healthy and happy. Walmart should have been more responsible when giving you information I'm sorry they didn't try to help you more

[kookydave]

Will I be able to keep all four of the puffers or should I get rid of all but one of them? I have a 10 gallon tank that I was gonna use for snails and ghost shrimp can I place any of the other fish in there? I forgot to ask how do I make my tank brackish water? I was told GSP's do better in it.

[busybones]

You can keep the puffers in there for a little while but they will need a bigger tank as they grow...30 gallons per fish. You could get away with housing two in the 55 gallon with heavy filtration when they are grown. I'm not sure about the other fish being in a ten gallon...You'll need to research each fish and find out what their min. tank size is and if they will get along with other fish. Remember you'll need to cycle the ten gallon inorder for it to be healthy enough for the fish to live.

Here is a great post on making your tank brackish.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19348

[LilGreenPuffer]

Powder? There is no form of bacteria for tank-cycling that can possibly exist in a powder form.

[busybones]

Powder? There is no form of bacteria for tank-cycling that can possibly exist in a powder form.

That's what I was thinking too...

[kookydave]

He also gave me this stuff called chemi-pure and told me to put it in my filter. The bottle says it is the original Ion Filter Medium, that promotes aerobic bacterial growth and nitrification, removes dissolved organics. Well the problem is it wont fit in my with my filter. Shold I use it or no.