The Puffer Forum

Hi everyone. I have been reading about puffers for some time now, and I have purchased a couple small GSP's. Unfortunately I happened upon them in Walmart, as I now see that many of you have. I wasn't planning on getting any yet, but there were 5 poor puffers in a tank with a bunch of what looked to be feeder fish if you ask me. Their tail fins were demolished. I was appalled! I couldn't buy all 5, but I got 2 of them and they are in a 10gal QT right now. Once they are deemed healthy, they will move up to a bigger tank.

I have a few questions.

When should I start introducing salt? I will probably at least wait until they move to the larger aquarium, since it is currently set up as freshwater right now. And then add .002 at a time until it reaches their desired level. But should I wait longer?

I have some freeze dried baby shrimp and bloodworms. I plan on getting some snails to reproduce soon so I can give them babies that are small enough to eat. What else should I have on hand?

Any other advice would be great.

Here they are...

IMG_5442 by muffywrx, on Flickr


IMG_5444 by muffywrx, on Flickr


IMG_5447 by muffywrx, on Flickr


This last one shows the fin They both are like that ...

Wish us luck ...

actually they don't look too bad.

Have that test kit handy and keep that water nice and clean.

It's on hand Should I purchase a saltwater test kit for after I start adding salt too?

not yet. It won't be any good for a while yet. You have time to get the gear in order.

Ok. How will I know when to start?

actually they don't look too bad.

I was thinking the same thing. Be sure to add Melafix to help with those ratty tails. Add an airstone too. Is the filter on them cycled from another tank? Don't worry about salt right now.

Welcome. Here are a couple great articals to get you started.

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

library/puffer-care/the-story-of-puffy- ... ed-puffer/

Thanks everyone!

Checked back at walmart tonight ... they were in with danios after looking again. WTF? They are nipping SOBs. Poor GSPs! Okay, but the other 3 were gone. I hope they went to a good home...

Mine have been sleeping some. I don't know if they are eating. They aren't *shy* per say but they don't eat in front of me. I have tried bloodworms, even randomly tried some cichlid granules that sink some and I did see one try and eat a granule the other day. I hope they are okay.

I am picking up some snails in the morning ... hopefully I can get some for free (pest snails) and get them going in a 2 gal plastic "tank" that I have... Throw in some algae wafers or something and hope for the best? I read the article but it wasn't that informative.

I also will pick up some ghost or red cherry shrimps and breed them out for the puffers (well fed) and oscars and JDs... Hopefully I can get a good stock going.

I just hope my little puffers are okay. Am worried about them. Tested the water about 18 hours ago and no ammonia or nitrite so I'm not worried there. Just hopefully they perk up. Bellies are still nice and white.

Oh - and when I migrate them to a bigger tank, I was thinking about doing some live sand and rock for them to chew through. Is this a good idea? Can I add live sand and rock in freshwater before I have added any salt to it or are they strictly SW things? I'd probably do something like half pool filter sand and half live sand. I am going to do pool filter sand in my 125, so I figure that would be a nice mix.

Otherwise, what can I put in now for them to chew on if I can't do live sand/rock?

Live sand is not live, but live rock surely is. The bacteria will die in freshwater. I'm not certain what you mean by chew on, they may, in saltwater of course where the organisms can live on live rock, pick some at copepods/amphipods on the rock, but they don't eat the rocks or sand.
Hopefully someone can provide you with a link to help you learn the basics of saltwater, off hand I don't have one, I'm sorry.

If removed from an established SW tank, the sand is certainly "live". I think seven might have been referring to "sand in a bag". That sand is dead. You can certainly add aragonite sand to a FW tank & use it as you raise it to BW, then eventually SW. I assume you are starting to make these guys BW after you know the tank is stable?

AH. Well this all makes a little more sense now. I saw a post where the puffers ate the organisms out of the live sand and I wanted them to be able to do that but was unsure if it would work or how to get them ... I have heard of puffers nibbling at live rock? But if not, what can I get for them to nibble on besides food?

And I guess what can I get them to start eating? I put some freeze dried bloodworms in again and they started buzzing around the bottom hunting ,... but I can't tell if they got anything. I'm assuming so. Like I said I'm going to get snails today, but what else?

Check out the Feeding articles in our Library.