The Puffer Forum

Hi everyone I have a Green spotted puffer in a 34 gallon tank and I was wondering if I could put any other kind of fish with him being as he is so small and the tank is big. I was tempted to get a figure 8 but I stoped myself knowing that the tank is probably too small for two puffers and that the gsp should have 30 gallons. So I was wondering if I could put a few bumble bee gobies in the tank. Would it be ok to put two or three of them with my puffer?

i had bumble bee gobies in with my gsp and it worked out ok.
i think you have to remove the bbgs as you increase the sailnity to a certain point as the bbgs wouldnt survive.

i remembered being told that on here when i had mine

GSP will eventually eat the BBG. I really thing the 34g is better left to the single puffer & no tank mates.

lesleyanndunn wrote:i had bumble bee gobies in with my gsp and it worked out ok.
i think you have to remove the bbgs as you increase the sailnity to a certain point as the bbgs wouldnt survive.

i remembered being told that on here when i had mine

Thats cool that they got along, but too bad they can't stay together. I'm not looking forward to making my gsp's tank full marine, I am quite happy leaving it brackish for now. How many gallons do each bumble bee goby need?

Pufferpunk wrote:GSP will eventually eat the BBG. I really thing the 34g is better left to the single puffer & no tank mates.

I'm a little fearfully of that being as they are so small, but my gsp is alittle more timid than most puffers. He is around 4" and his previous owner had him in full fresh water in a community tank for about a year before I got him, at least that is what he told me. Now he is in brackish water with some ghost shrimp. I haven't seen him eat them yet, but your probally right that 34 gals is best for one gsp. But I still really wish I could add something in there.
What's the smallest tank that two gsps can live in, or one gsp and one figure 8?

You can't keep a GSP & F8 together. Not only do they have different salinity requirements but the GSP will triple the size & mass of the F8 & can kick it's lil butt.

Your GSP will be perfectly fine in high-end BW but you'll be doing 50% weekly WC on that tank forever, rather than smaller WC with the SW filtration of live rock & protein skimmer.

A 34 is not big enough for a GSP and anything else at all.

RTR wrote:A 34 is not big enough for a GSP and anything else at all.

I agree, I am sure that within a year or 2 you will find that 34 gallons will be too small for their activity level, size and bio output. 30 gallons is a minimum, really a more practical size for a single GSP is 55 gallons IMO.

midnightsunPuffer wrote:
I'm a little fearfully of that being as they are so small, but my gsp is a little more timid than most puffers.

No he is not. A GSP will smile and be all cute and cuddly and not think twice about ripping another fish apart. In addition, the get more aggressive with age. So, even if he is nice for now, he won't be for long.

If you really want tank mates, you best option is to upgrade the tank size and go full marine. Once at full marine, your chances increase *slightly* for finding a tankmate.