The Puffer Forum

Hi my name is Dustin, I am currently an owner of both a GSP and a F8. I originally had them together both in a 10 gallon tank. I could not have a bigger tank at the time because of living on my college campus. When both puffers were in the 10 gallon they got along fine and really well. The GSP was my first one that I had for about a month and the gsp i have had for about 3 weeks now, coming up on 2 months for the gsp. I got a 29 gallon tank, and have put both of them in there. I noticed later on that the gsp had more vibrant colors and looks healthier. Also the F8 is more active and comes and says hello to me and even eats dried shrimp from my hand. Though the GSP is still shy or afraid of me this time and never comes to the front to say hi even after having it this longs. I also notice is that is sleeps alot at the bottom and will get up to to swim around, but I never really see it eat when I put the food in there. It is clearly visible that the F8 goes to town whenever I put food in there. Lastly I heard shrimp pellets were good, they are very tiny and wen you put them in there they sink and expand. I think this is false info and plus it is not hard for them to chew, looks more like bottom feeder food.

Hello and welcome to The Puffer Forum. I am afraid that you are going to have to get another tank for your F8 they both require a different salinity to thrive. Couple of great articals.

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

library/puffers-in-focus/fig8/

Shrimp Pellets aren't the best of food. Another great link.

library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/

What are your questions?

Keeping both of those puffers in that size tank is going to cause them stress = lowered immune system = disease. Now your puffer has ich...

First off, welcome.

Now there's a lot of things that you should know when you're taking care of puffers. Firstly, as the other replies have said your puffers need separate tanks. Your Green Spotted Puffer will need at the very least 30 gallons to him/herself. Your Figure Eight puffer needs at the very least 10 gallons to him/herself, but remember more is better.

Now, for other things that you may or may not know. You need a LOT of filtration for puffers, they're very messy. That is the same reason they also need large tanks. With every filter there's a GPH (Gallons Per Hour) filtered. You should have ten times GPH filtered for your tank size. For example if you have a ten gallon you should have one-hundred GPH from your filter. So in your 29 gallon you should have two-hundred and ninety GPH filtered. However, with puffers people recommend having extra filtration. I myself like the brand Marineland for filters (I like Emperor and Penguin). I believe all of them come with what's called a bio-wheel; it helps remove unwanted things in the water like ammonia.

Of course besides good filtration there's lots that you need. You need a gravel vac, a water testing kit (the liquid kind is most recommended), a hydrometer, Marine Salt (not aquarium salt, that is for freshwater fish), a heater (the kind you can control the temperature are best), a thermometer, some way to aerate the tank, and any other cleaning supplies you think you may want/need.

Now, hopefully you know that both of your Puffers are brackish water fish. Your Figure Eight is a low end brackish and your Green Spotted Puffer is a higher end brackish, who will need to be moved to full marine (salt water) by adulthood.

Now I know you said that your Puffers are getting along good now but there are many reasons to not have them together, and attitude is certainly one. Firstly as said before they require different types of brackish water. Also, when your Puffers get bigger and older they will most likely become more aggressive, the Green Spotted one especially. A lot of people have said that they had a Green Spotted Puffer with (Insert random fish here) for four or five years and one day the GSP woke up on the wrong side of the tank and took his friend out.

Now tank cycling. This is one of the most important things in successful fish keeping. You need to make sure both your tanks are fully cycled before introducing your puffers to them. Tank cycling is even more important with Puffers than other fish (in my unprofessional opinion) because they're scaleless and therefore are harmed more easily by these things.

Oh, and water changes. No one can express how important water changes are. 50% (half of the water) on a weekly basis is recommended. Puffers are very messy fish, so they need lots of clean water, often. =]

Okay, so I feel like I'm going on and on. Let's narrow things down here some.

So you're going to need separate tanks, three heaters (will explain shortly), two filters (or more), two hydrometers, water testing kit, Marine Salt, decorations, and a substrate (Something on the bottom, sand is suggested. A lot of people used aragonite or crushed coral, which helps to keep an alkaline pH of around 8, water conditioner (if you're using tap water) some way to aerate the tank, a pump, a large bucket that's close to 3/4 the size of your largest tank, and lots of patience and love.

You need the large bucket, heater, and pump for making brackish water. If you're not sure how to do that, here's a great article: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19348

As far as food goes the article you were given about food for puffers is a great article, be sure too have a good look. Also I recommend setting up a breeding tank for snails because you're going to need lots of 'em. A five or ten gallon with heater and filter is good for this. They eat algae wafers too.

If you have anymore questions (I'm sure I've forgotten quite a few things) just have a look around the forum. It's an excellent place to learn about all kinds of puffers. Good luck! =]

That's a lot of great info (except I much prefer Aquaclear filters) but I'm not sure the OP is coming back...