The Puffer Forum

I have 1 GSP in a 55 gallon tank. He is currently only about an inch and a half long. I am thinking of getting one or two tank mates for him. What fish are compatible with GSPs?

A single tomato clownfish or small school of damselfish.

Lol. Just realized I forgot to mention that the tank is light brackish water. Are those fish good for brackish?

No, this will be for when you get the SG up to marine.

What would be good tank mates while the tank is still brackish?

I wouldn't worry as you should soon be marine. Wait till then

but I thought GSPs are brackish fish?

samaragirls wrote:but I thought GSPs are brackish fish?

When GSP's are adults they need to be in full marine water

They are high-end BW fish. we suggest bumping them up to marine, so you can incorporate live rock & a protein skimmer to the system, for much more efficient filtration, saving you lots of $$$ on $alt with less water changes necessary. There are no tank mates that can follow your GSPs into marine.

BIG +1 to PP's post.

i have a brackish gsp tank .. i have sand at the bottom and a flounder they have been together 6 months and are fine tankmates.. u must have sand for the flounder to hide or hes gonna be puffer food... my puffer ate a goby dragon...

I dunno why but I got some Red Clawed Crabs for food and my GSP's totally ignore them so I got a cleanup crew now.
(While Fiddler and Hermit Crabs get picked to death, strangely enough.)

samaragirls wrote:Lol. Just realized I forgot to mention that the tank is light brackish water. Are those fish good for brackish?

What's your exact SG level.

Honestly, pufferfish prefer to be alone most of the time. Many of them will just eat their tank mates after a period of time, anyway.

I am not trying to be nasty, but six months in the life of a puffer which should live 15-20 years is totally trivial. For starters, you are dealing with an immature puffer and an immature flounder. Without huge tank up up-grades soon both fish will be stunted and live short polluted lives.

As for the red-claw crabs, how big is the tank and the puffer? The red claws will make great snaks for a mature GSP.

Short term cohabitation versus total life cycle are really quite different things. In the time I have been on the web, I have begged lots of folks to give us follow-up after 2-5 years. To date no one has done so. That is still far from a full life cycle.

Here we do aim to keep puffer alive and healthy for as long as possible. Short-term co-habitations are really meaningless in the long run.