New to the puffer

[Perry the Pufferfish]

Hello, I am new here and to puffer fish as a whole. I have had small aquariums in the past, but never any unique species. I have 38gl Tall tank, that my bro in law gave to me a couple years ago. We couldn't ever sell it, so I am finally putting it to good use. It came w/ an Eclipse PFE3 filter hood/ light combo. I threw out the filters when he gave it to me, so I purchased new filter material for it (the bio wheel and the flat filters). I would be cycling it right now but my fiance had plans for the table he used as a tank stand when we got it. So I am building a nice stand for it this weekend, and hopefully Sunday I can go purchase my substrate, and heaters and decorations, and I can start cycling this tank. So then hopefully w/in a month I can purchase Perry the Puffer fish, and give him an awesome new home. Perry will be a GSP by the way. I forgot to ask the LFS the other day if they kept theirs in brackish or fw, so I will have my tank setup to his current conditions, and slowly make it brackish and ultimately full marine once he matures.

Love that there is a forum dedicated to these little guys. I have wanted one for a very long time, but I knew I didn't have the time to properly care for one. So now that I do I cannot wait. Oh I also am going to try my hand at snail farming w/ a 10 gal I have that's empty.

[Pufferpunk]

Sounds like a great plan!
What are the dimensions of this tank?

[sevenyearnight]

Welcome to the cult, er, forum!

[Perry the Pufferfish]

30 x 12 x 23h. Thanks for the welcome, I'm sure I will have plenty of questions and searches on this site, I've been lurking for a month or so now, but there is still alot to learn.

[xrayjeeper83]

Welcome to the cult, er, forum!

lol x2

[sevenyearnight]

I have that tank, does it have the mirror backing? If so, I'd suggest covering it. Something about that tank's shape, I guess that it's so tall, seems to encourage glass corner pacing. Just saying, a GSP pacing in a corner pretty much constantly is enough to drive anyone mad. If it's not set in stone, I would highly suggest getting a Figure 8 over a GSP for that size of tank, unless you don't mind setting up a larger tank for the future. At 7", that tank wouldn't really be adequate. And even at much smaller sizes, they are an incredibly active puffer and they love to have space to swim. I'm not saying that you absolutely shouldn't get a GSP for that tank, just that for long term, I would say it's not the best shape/size. A Figure 8 is a smaller puffer at around 3" adult size, so that tank would be fine for long term home.

[Perry the Pufferfish]

No mirror backing, although it might have had it originally. I think it is Marineland and he bought it paired w/ the hood. In March I am getting a bigger tank for my birthday, so it will have a bigger home soon enough. For 5 months he would be fine in there wouldn't he? I don't know exactly how fast they grow, but i'm sure its quite fast. I was actually planning on putting a black background on it, and using the Tahitian moon for substrate, that way all the deco and plants will really pop out.

[xrayjeeper83]

perry the pufferfish do you watch a lot of disney lol

[sevenyearnight]

Nah, they don't grow *that* fast.

[Perry the Pufferfish]

perry the pufferfish do you watch a lot of disney lol

Where's Perry? Yes I am a bit of a Disney nerd, mostly the parks though, only a couple shows I watch of theirs now. But they have the crazy eyes like Perry, so I figured it fit.

[ILoveLola]

hi & welcome! I lurked for awhile before joining too turns out it was a good idea, everyone here is AWESOME.

[xrayjeeper83]

I love that show, ive found myself watching it with out my son around lol

[Perry the Pufferfish]

I know that you are not supposed to move a puffer by using a net and taking them out of water. But I also read that you shouldn't mix LFS water that he comes in w/ your own aquarium water. So here lies my problem, how do i transport him from bag to tank, without mixing their water and mine, and not lifting him out of water? I have searched but cant really find anything on this. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I don't have him yet so this isn't an emergency or anything, but I just don't want to kill my puffer the first day I get him.

[sevenyearnight]

This is a really good question.
What I've always done was after the drip acclimation, I will gently pour most of the water the fish is in out, and add more tank water, and repeat a few times. My hopes are that the small amount of lfs water will be greatly reduced enough, and then I can scoop them out with a container, lower it in to the tank and allow the fish to gently swim out.
There is probably a better way to do this, but this is what I've done.

[bertie 83]

+1 to the above , i also add wait then remove. If you Do this enough times you should remove the majority of the lfs water.