Large Puffers...any problems?

[studmaster]

The little guy in my avatar is now a huge monster He's a brackish water GSP, that I have now in full marine.
He's about 4-5 inches long and very round. He's got a massive appetite, will aggressively eat until he almost explodes. I know it's my responsibility to limit his food, but if I do, he will destroy everything in the tank. One day of not feeding him and he bit most of the coralline algae off the live rock.

Does anyone else have large GSP's that are extremely passive/aggressive? At times he sees his reflection in the glass and he bolts and hits the sides of the tank VERY hard. He's hit the glass top of the aquarium so hard he lifts the glass lid up and sprays water on the floor. He gets spooked very easily and when that happens he's like a bull in a china shop. He's always been that way, I had 3 GSPs when they were all one inch long and they were all very passive unlike Zephyr. Anyone else run into this type of behavior? He's in a 50g tank with a couple mollies and their small offspring (which he snacks on). Getting a larger tank isn't an option at this point.

Water Parameters (in case it's related)
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:10
SG: 1.023

[Pufferpunk]

Unless you are keeping corals, it's a waste of $alt to keep the SG that high. 1.020 or even 1.018 should be fine.

[studmaster]

Unless you are keeping corals, it's a waste of $alt to keep the SG that high. 1.020 or even 1.018 should be fine.

Because Zephyr eats so much, there is a lot of waste. Unless I do a 40% water change every week, I need the marine environment so that I can have a lot of live rock, protein skimmer, and macroalgea in there to reduce the wastes. The chaeto wouldn't grow well in lower salinity water, and I would imagine a lot of the life in the live rock would start to die off if I were to reduce the salinity that much.

In hindsight, instead of getting the protein skimmer rated for 75G tank, I should have gotten one for 150G. I wish I had room under my tank for a sump...., throw in a tonne of chaeto and my nitrate problem wouldn't be one. With the amount of nitrate removing methods I'm employing I shouldn't have any nitrates.

Are you suggesting to lower the salinity to improve his mood? He's always been like this....from 1.005....all the way up.

[Pufferpunk]

Live rock & cheato should live at a much lower salinity. I'm just trying to save you some $$$ with all those WC. Check into the vitamin C thread here too.

[pufferpuggirl]

Can I just ask how old this puffer is? I'm curious how long it took for him to grow to this size. I am hoping to have mine long enough to see them grow to their adult size, I think it would be cool to have one that size. Your guy sounds like a real character with his appetite. Any chance of seeing a photo?

[studmaster]

Live rock & cheato should live at a much lower salinity. I'm just trying to save you some $$$ with all those WC. Check into the vitamin C thread here too.

PufferPunk: is this the Vitamin C thread you are talking about....or is there one that explains why Vitamin C helps nitrates?

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13501&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=Vitamin

[studmaster]

Can I just ask how old this puffer is? I'm curious how long it took for him to grow to this size. I am hoping to have mine long enough to see them grow to their adult size, I think it would be cool to have one that size. Your guy sounds like a real character with his appetite. Any chance of seeing a photo?

Hi Pufferpuggirl,

I've had him about 1.5 years...I got him when he was probably a few months old. From what I read they don't normally grow this fast, but like I said Zephyr's appetite is insane....makes me think he has some sort of growth abnormality or something. I took a couple pictures 2 months ago....but it wouldn't do him justice, I'll try to snap a couple picks tonight if I can.

He does have "character".....although I make my girlfriend keep an eye on him anytime I do anything in the tank with my hands. I really like all 8 of my fingers. Also his spazzing is a challenge. I have to make sure I never leave the top of the aquarium open for longer than I have to. I slammed it down once just in time to keep him from launching about 8 feet from my tank. I also had to relocate the tank from my bedroom, to my living room because he was spazzing in the middle of the night, which would wake me up.

[pufferpuggirl]

Before I moved my Ceylons into their bigger tank, they were "spazzing" all the time, and would threaten to jump out of the water when I was doing water changes, although luckily they never did. It's mostly the bigger one that causes the trouble ("Yorkie") even now, when I'm vacuuming the tank, she will come up to the surface and splash so badly that water goes spilling all down the front of the tank, and this isn't a small tank either.

Can't wait to see a photo of Zephyr

[busybones]

I'd love to see a video of your puffer I bet it's funny to see him jumping around like that

[studmaster]

I'd love to see a video of your puffer I bet it's funny to see him jumping around like that

Actually it's more scary than anything else. He hits the sides and top of the tank HARD! I try to downplay it, but in the end I'm worried that he will really hurt himself one time. He's already poked his eye twice where it turned white and swelled up. I had to use antibiotics....and even then I was almost sure he was going to lose the eye. I used the example of a bull in a china shop to describe him....a more accurate description would be "a bull shot out of a gun in a china shop". He goes from 0-60mph in a millisecond. Then hits a side of the tank....or top, or some live rock.

[busybones]

Wow...It sounds pretty scary. I hope you can find some sort of solution to your problem..i've never had a problem with my GSP's being out of control like that but if I did I'd be worried to death for them. Poor fella

[Pufferpunk]

Vitamin C acts as a carbon source, helping the nitrifying bacteria to eat up nitrate better. No need for cheato, it will disappear with out it's "food".

Any chance of seeing a photo?

You've seen my adult 6"ers in the Library, right?

[Jivenjune]

Isn't this Zephyr? I remember reading a post on him awhile back when he hurt his eye. Saved the pic because I thought he was such a neat looking puffer hope you don't mind.

[studmaster]

Isn't this Zephyr? I remember reading a post on him awhile back when he hurt his eye. Saved the pic because I thought he was such a neat looking puffer hope you don't mind.

haha, yep that's Zephyr I'll let him know he has a secret admirer

He is pretty neat....I'll get a picture of him when he's feeling a bit less shy....and when he's not freaking out.

[studmaster]

Vitamin C acts as a carbon source, helping the nitrifying bacteria to eat up nitrate better. No need for cheato, it will disappear with out it's "food".

Any chance of seeing a photo?

You've seen my adult 6"ers in the Library, right?

Zephyr is not close to as big as PufferPunks 6"ers......but give him a year or so. I think Zephyr is closer to 2 years old now....I said less earlier.

Pufferpunk: I had no idea VC could help get rid of nitrates....I didn't read that anywhere until you mentioned it....now that you have I've been reading a bit more and ordered that buffered type from iherb. Does it only work in Marine tanks...or FW too? I would love to get rid of the chaeto in my display tank (I don't have a sump). Thanks for the lead....this could save me A LOT of frustration.