The Puffer Forum

Hey everyone, has been a while since I have posted here, at first, my Green Spotted Puffer, Bowser. Was growing very quickly. About half an inch per month. But, he is now at 2.5 inches. And has not grown in months. I have no idea what the cause of this would be. Or if it is normal. I am currently running 300 GPH filtration*55 gallon tank, hopefully I can find a cheap aquaclear 70 for xmas, *Winks, * tank stays a stable 80 degree Fahrenheit. Water changes are done once every 7 days, about 15%. *Pufferpunk said that 50% weekly wasn't necessary for a 55 gallon tank for a 2.5 fish alone in there* Salinity is, well. According to my LFS'S meter, 1.012. According to mine, 1.016. So, somewhere in the brackish range. He eats Mysis shrimp, Brine shrimp, Krill, Carnivore Combo, Bloodworms, Trumpet snails the size of his eye or smaller*Aye, I know that these aren't reasonable, my figure 8 has been on them over a year, I'm still searching for pond and rams.* and occasionally I toss in a few Live Ghost Shrimp. He used to be fed twice per day, however, I have reduced that to once a day. When I took his water to my LFS on the day of the water change, Nitrates looked to be about 5. A week later, the day he was due for a water change, before the change, the nitrates where up to about 40, I don't know if I require a protein skimmer, heavier waterchanges, or what else. It has been a while since I have posted here, and any insight is helpful. I still have not gotten a proper liquid test kit, though.


Thanks guys. Hoping this is just a natural growth and not some form of stunting.

My first guess would be that he has the golf ball with tail body shape where he will just get rounder and fatter and not necessarily long, for a while at least. As opposed to GSPs with a more stream lined "fish" shape. I must note that IME the golf ball shaped ones can be slow to moderate growers, the round shape seems to take a while.

Second guess is that the food he is getting may not be enough for him. At 2 inches I imagine it takes a lot of brine shrimp and blood worms to fill him up, in addition some of the foods you mention are not the most nutritious..

It would be cheaper for you and better for the fish to start hitting the seafood market for whole shrimp, mussels, clam, prawn, *hammered*crab legs, earth worms and things like that...

here is a feeding article
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

And aquabid.com is a great place to find ramshorns and ponds.

i have input about the nitrates. you said that at one point they were 5, then a week later were up to 40. i dont think they should be jumping this much. i would keep an eye on what your feeding and maybe feed a little less. my nitrates dont jump that high between water changes. maybe a 5ppm jump but thats tops. do you use any vitamins to soak the food in? do you dump the water with the food back into the tank when you feed? your close to me, kind of, if your willing to drive i can meet you at a local mall or something and sell you AC70(s) for cheap. i have two that are just sitting around and i dont see myself using anytime soon. my GSP seemed to take forever to grow and suddenly in a matter of two or three months he grew from like two inches to about 4 to 4 1/2

Purple- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjuHixFYbhM - This video is in July, he's the exact same size now.


Jus- thanks bud, we'll see if we can work something out. I'll keep you posted. I tested his tank today after waterchange, I bumped him up from .18 to .19. When will he need a skimmer?

i believe any point past like 1.016 a skimmer will start working. so the sooner the better. he has a similar body shape to what mine had at that size so the growth rate might be similar. i really started to notice him growing once he was in high brackish-light marine so you should hopefully see some sort of growth soon. got mine almost 3 years ago and hes about 5 1/2 inches

Thanks, Jus. Hopefully his growth will kick in soon, any skimmer suggestion's for a 55 gallon? Thanks.

when i got to marine i felt like i needed one asap so i just went and got the Red Sea Prizm HOB skimmer which was only like $60 marked down from 100 and it came with the surface skimmer upgrade for free which was marked at 60. it was ok, i had trouble with it over time though with it keeping the water flow at the same level i set it to. even after deep cleaning it had the same issue. with the right setting it will collect a lot of crap. you want to get something that is reputable, but most of them are very expensive, like $200+ depending on size, features, HOB/in/out of sump, brand. your best bet would be to look on craigslist as you keep raising the SG and try to find a good deal

jus85411 wrote:when i got to marine i felt like i needed one asap so i just went and got the Red Sea Prizm HOB skimmer which was only like $60 marked down from 100 and it came with the surface skimmer upgrade for free which was marked at 60. it was ok, i had trouble with it over time though with it keeping the water flow at the same level i set it to. even after deep cleaning it had the same issue. with the right setting it will collect a lot of crap. you want to get something that is reputable, but most of them are very expensive, like $200+ depending on size, features, HOB/in/out of sump, brand. your best bet would be to look on craigslist as you keep raising the SG and try to find a good deal

Would a Seaclone 100 be reasonable for a 55?

wasnt he in a small tank for a while, maybe he is stunted

xrayjeeper83 wrote:wasnt he in a small tank for a while, maybe he is stunted

No, he was added to a fully cycled, fully prepared brackish 55 gallon, same tank he's in now. It was my figure 8 who is in a smaller one for a while.

Maybe they grow weirdly? Feight is still tiny, I expected her to grow a lot more than she has.

Seaclowns are garbage. I like the Backpac.

Pufferpunk wrote:Seaclowns are garbage. I like the Backpac.

Could you provide me with a link to a Backpac suitable for a 55g? Thanks.

I assuming you're looking for a HOB?

Depending on how heavily you're going to stock it, you need the single or double cup.
VERY reputable company.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CPR-BAK-PAK-Protein ... 500wt_1156

This one looks really good too:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Eshopps-75H-Hang-Pr ... 240wt_1139

Or the larger version:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Eshopps-100H-Hang-G ... 854wt_1139

I might go with the last one--bigger is better!

A bit of spare capacity in a skimmer is cheap insurance IMHO. I also trust CPR equipment.