The Puffer Forum

For those of you who've read my thread in the Hospital section will know the situation. Briefly, I've rescued a figure of 8 and a GSP from a colleague. F8 died last night, GSP was worrying me last night but now seems to be swimming happily (don't want to tempt fate here). Water quality, temp, aeration and filtration all fine and stable. Water has become very cloudy though, literally overnight. Has been kept previously in FW so for the immediate time-being I'm not worrying about salinity.

Basically I'm trying to read everything I possibly can about the species. I've read Pufferpunk's excellent library pieces and think I'm getting the hang of it. Really wasn't prepared for this so need "in a nutshell" advice.

* Are there any chemicals/compounds I can add to help the GSP? Any favourites? - I don't feel he's out of the woods yet.

* Feeding regimes - he's approx. 2" atm and so far I've fed only bloodworms (frozen blister pack). I've bought fresh supermarket mussels though. I assume adding a mussel now will cloud the water further? Should I wait a while before feeding this kind of food?

* Plants - what're the best plants for the GSP? As I wasn't intending on puffers, the only decoration in the tank is a rather complex plastic root system which he's not bothered investigating.

* He seems very active when swimming but occasionally rests on the bottom, with his gills not moving. Worrying or normal?

* Snails - what're the best kind? First day I got them, I fed pond snail and ramshorn. Are there others for the GSP? Favourites? There's only one LFS I actually trust, but it's a trek to get to so if I can somehow get snails easier it'd be good.


Basically, I'd appreciate any info possible. Investing in a bunch of new stuff just before christmas isn't ideal, but I'll do my very best for him. I'm sorry for all the questions in this post but I'm on a very steep learning curve. Oh, I'm in the UK if that's important.

Thanks in advance.

All I can tell you is that ramshorns are good snails to feed and they breed quickly and as for plants the only brackish ones are java fern and moss.

Has been kept previously in FW so for the immediate time-being I'm not worrying about salinity.

Agree.

* Are there any chemicals/compounds I can add to help the GSP? Any favorites? - I don't feel he's out of the woods yet.

Melafix and Pimafix are tea extracts that many of use routinely for treatment of puffer issues. Neither products have a negative impact on nitrifying bacteria. I would avoid stronger meds especially if you are not treating a specific disease.

* Feeding regimes - he's approx. 2" atm and so far I've fed only bloodworms (frozen blister pack). I've bought fresh supermarket mussels though. I assume adding a mussel now will cloud the water further? Should I wait a while before feeding this kind of food?

You might add "people" shrimp from the local grocer, freeze-dried krill or any of the other foods mentioned in PPs GSP article. My GSPs love mussels but they are messy so I usually feed those just before the weekly water change.

* Plants - what're the best plants for the GSP? As I wasn't intending on puffers, the only decoration in the tank is a rather complex plastic root system which he's not bothered investigating.

Plastic. Commercially available live plants will not live in mid/high BW levels. Plants and other decorations should break lines of site from one end of the tank to the other. This will encourage the puffer to explore and reduces pacing.

* He seems very active when swimming but occasionally rests on the bottom, with his gills not moving. Worrying or normal?

Are you sure that his gills are not moving? How often and for how long each time? I don't think this is a problem but it wouldn't hurt to have some more details just in case.

* Snails - what're the best kind? First day I got them, I fed pond snail and ramshorn. Are there others for the GSP? Favourites? There's only one LFS I actually trust, but it's a trek to get to so if I can somehow get snails easier it'd be good.

Pond and Ramshorns are good and easy to raise. Avoid MTS. Most other snails are probably too expensive to routinely feed to puffers.

Only plants I would recomend are Mangroves. They arn't that common, but the LFS might beable to snatch some for you.

ybenormal wrote:Melafix and Pimafix are tea extracts that many of use routinely for treatment of puffer issues. Neither products have a negative impact on nitrifying bacteria. I would avoid stronger meds especially if you are not treating a specific disease.

Ok, no problem. Have only treated with ich treatment when they first arrived as I do with all new fish, just in case.

ybenormal wrote:You might add "people" shrimp from the local grocer, freeze-dried krill or any of the other foods mentioned in PPs GSP article. My GSPs love mussels but they are messy so I usually feed those just before the weekly water change.

ok, will wait with mussels until water is stabilised (fingers crossed) - have also bought shell-on prawns from supermarket - would these be ok? Otherwise, have lost of frozen bloodworm and freeze-dried foods anyway to feed.

ybenormal wrote:Plastic. Commercially available live plants will not live in mid/high BW levels. Plants and other decorations should break lines of site from one end of the tank to the other. This will encourage the puffer to explore and reduces pacing.

Bought live plants today, again to try to aid stabilising the tank. I've threaded one through some decoration, and the tank is nicely broken up, but he's definitely pacing and hasn't bothered exploring anything at all yet.

ybenormal wrote:Are you sure that his gills are not moving? How often and for how long each time? I don't think this is a problem but it wouldn't hurt to have some more details just in case.

Well. This I'm not too sure about. The F8 did a lot of this too, before dying, and his gills definitely weren't moving even when his eyes were. The GSP doesn't seem to move his gills when he's 'resting' like this, but then I can only get so close before he spots me and torpedoes off.

ybenormal wrote:Pond and Ramshorns are good and easy to raise. Avoid MTS. Most other snails are probably too expensive to routinely feed to puffers.

Ok excellent. Acquired a load of tiny ramshorns today so have placed a few in. He hasn't noticed them yet, has shown no interest, but then he's not eaten his bloodworm either today - yesterday he was ravenous.

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated.