The Puffer Forum

Hello. I am new to this site and had a question. i am thinking about getting a greenspotted puffer so ive been reading all i can. on some sites it says to remove the puffer from the tank and put it in a small bowl of water from the tank until the water change is done. other sites say to just leave the fish in there. what is the correct way?

cheese_puffer wrote:Hello. I am new to this site and had a question. i am thinking about getting a greenspotted puffer so ive been reading all i can. on some sites it says to remove the puffer from the tank and put it in a small bowl of water from the tank until the water change is done. other sites say to just leave the fish in there. what is the correct way?

Leave the fish in there. No need to stress it & remove it.

Welcome to The Puffer Forum Cheese-Puffer. If you haven't already seen this article about the GSP please read.

library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

Hi and welcome to the forum.

You will find that most information on puffers, on different websites, is very flawed. I would think that removing a puffer from the tank each time you need to do a water change would be very stressful on it and I would not put mine through that. Your puffer will be fine staying in the tank whilst the water change is being done.

watch out for the bites tho! my gsp likes to nip at me while i have my hand in the water

Get a python water change system or a simular product and keep your hands out of the tank and save your back the pain of hualing buckets.

Leave the fish in the tank for anything less then a mega water change 80% or more, I sometime here of people pulling saltwater fish out during water changes no sure the reason

Pretty much agree w/judge6266's comments. I effectively never do over a 75% change, and usually would do two 50% changes back to back rather than one 75% partial.

To me, the only justification for removing fish from a tank period is if you suspect major substrate issues which are threatening the life of the tank and its inhabitants. Then it is wise and conservative to remove the fish before you work on a potentially foul and deadly substrate. That goes in spades for puffers. They should never have air exposure if you can possibly avoid it, IMHO.

I do weekly 90% WC on my discus tanks. They lay slanted for a minute before refilling. I have never removed a fish for WC.

I do mega changes with my africans and the same thing they stay in the tank, 80% is not uncommon, wish I had more time to do 25% changes a few times a week but I don't so I do a 80 % change every 2 weeks and it works very well I also have a ton of filtration somewhere in the 15X per hour range and don't overstock so you can do things like bi-weekly changes, with my puffer tank it is a smaller tank so a 25% change can be done in an 1/2 an hour with is much easier to fit in then doing hundrends of gallons with my cichlids.

Are you using a Python? 80% every 2 weeks will change the parameters too quickly. The idea with huge WC is to keep the parameters as close to your tap water as possible. Better to do 50% weekly.

+1 to that also.

If you can only do biweekly partials, at least break then into two separate partials. If you can put at least an hour in between them, it will lessen the stress on the fish.