The Puffer Forum

Hello everyone. First I'd like to say Thank You to everyone that has shared on this forum. I have been doing a lot of reading over the past few days, and I learn something new everyday.

I am new to the fish scene. I have always been a fan of fish. I just never got around to having my own. I got into puffers last year. I was at the bay over the summer with a bunch of friends and we caught a bunch while fishing. I would say we caught at least seven puffers over a 2 day period. The largest being 12 inches in length. I'm not sure what kind of puffer they were, but they were a dark brown and just their belly's would puff really big. Cool fish indeed.

So present day, I have acquired a 10g tank from a friend and am in the process of running the cycle. I plan on getting a 55g over the summer, keeping the 10g for snails, etc. The local fish store sells GSP's in FW, but when I bring them home I plan on starting them in a brackish tank with SG 1.002 and slowly raising to 1.006. If there is any advise, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Check out our article on GSPs in the Puffer Library.

I'd wait until you had the 55G, they act way different than in the 10G. Also, I'd say just cycle the tank at 1.006 and just acclimate them to it over the course of an hour. What I'd do is cycle the tank at 1.006 and put them straight in, the low of a salt level wouldn't hurt them IME.

The 10 gallon is for snails.

Also, it's awfully difficult to get a tank cycled with salt present, it just seems to take forever, the bacteria establishes better at freshwater. But I agree that you could already have the tank transitioned at 1.005 and drip acclimate the puffs.

I do agree, seven.

Thank you, thank you! Everyone has been very helpful. There is just so much to learn, but nothing is beats experience, which I lack. So, thanks for all of your advise. I guess I can start practicing with cycling and getting the SG levels correct.