The Puffer Forum

so the other day i decided to go to a local fish store i've never been to because i needed more marine salt for my green spotted puffer. i like to go to new places just to check out what kind of fish they have and see if they're properly caring for them. for starters, the shop reeked of cigarettes. it was dirty and unorganized. the guy came out from the back in a tank top covered in tattoos. (not to stereotype people with tattoos, i have one myself) so he starts going on a rant about how he "hand-picks all of his fish" and takes unhealthy fish from other stores and saves them and how he loves them and whatnot. so i decided to ask him if he had any green spotted puffers and he told me he had a "jumbo one." so he took me in the back where a tiny 5 gallon tank housed a full grown beautiful 5 inch long green spotted puffer. he was beautiful size-wise but was obviously extremely unhealthy looks-wise. black sunken in belly, unhealthy looking eyes, ect. so i started talking to the guy about the puffer and he could tell i was rather annoyed. i began telling him that he should have him in a MUCH bigger tank and that he looks very unhealthy and sad. i then asked him what the SG of his tank was AND HE ASKS ME WHAT DO I MEAN?? HE'S A FRESHWATER FISH!! so i flipped out telling him that they're brackish fish and when they become full grown like his was they need to be kept in full marine conditions. he began telling me that i was completely wrong and that he was a professional and all this BS! i wanted so badly to buy the puffer (which was priced at $40!) but i don't have a tank that can house him=/ i'm praying someone has saved him by now because if they haven't he's surely dead. i'll never be going back to that shop again. people disgust me!!

Glad that wasn't me there, I tend to not be so nice...First off, if the fish was doing great WTF does it look like that? Secondly, $40 bucks is ridiculous for a GSP..especially one that is half dead..

"people disgust me!!"

So you are a? ...

greenspottedlover wrote:"people disgust me!!"

So you are a? ...

im human and most of the time i hate people too... mostly just the dumb ones

I.Puff.Too trust me i wasn't very "nice" lol i got the point across clearly.... and exactlyy! he tried to tell me that it looked fine. and when i told him i wish i could buy him just to get him healthy he goes "well i can do $35 if you'd like him" like seriously...?

and greenspottedlover you know what i mean

volcomkrew4life wrote:I.Puff.Too trust me i wasn't very "nice" lol i got the point across clearly.... and exactlyy! he tried to tell me that it looked fine. and when i told him i wish i could buy him just to get him healthy he goes "well i can do $35 if you'd like him" like seriously...?

and greenspottedlover you know what i mean

lmao...

volcomkrew4life wrote:I.Puff.Too trust me i wasn't very "nice" lol i got the point across clearly.... and exactlyy! he tried to tell me that it looked fine. and when i told him i wish i could buy him just to get him healthy he goes "well i can do $35 if you'd like him" like seriously...?

and greenspottedlover you know what i mean

yah I'm just being dumb.

Fully mature GSPs may not "need" to be in full SW. We do that and recommend that because it is far easier and cheaper to maintain high water quality in full marine conditions than in mid-level BW. So far as I know, no one has done the testing to determine what water conditions are best for mature GSPs for long life and health in captivity. But it is highly unlikely to be FW, and certainly not in small tanks.

Small tanks for hunter-predator effectively guarantee pollution and poor health from that and from grossly insufficient exercise, regardless of the water's nature.

A 5" GSP may be fully mature, but is not really fully grown - many of us here have significantly exceeded that size, as we should - the wild size is larger than that. You can bet the fish under discussion did not grow to that size in that tank.

It really is a waste of time and energy to argue with folks like that store operator. Save your battles for ones where you have some hope of winning or at least enlightening the other person a little bit.