The Puffer Forum

hi guys.. im new to the forum and having puffers, so be nice, haha!

so.. i have three green spotted puffers in my 75 gal mbuna cichlid tank. ive had them, for about 5months, and they were doing AWESOME! bright bright colors, playful, just doing great.

last week, the smallest of the three, started to look a lil sick. his eyes were gettin cloudy, and his belly started to get dark. so i took him out, tossed him in the 10gal hops tank, and dosed him with Melafix. The cloudy eyes went away, and his belly cleared up in about 3days =) .. but now.. he has this lil "pimple" type thing, on the left side of his belly ? sometimes its REAL noticeable, and others, i can barely find it. what the hell is this! i dont want to put him back inthe 75 yet, cuase the 2 bigger puffers, beat on him when hes not tip top. and i don want to get anybody else sick. He still eats fine and swims around..

thank you!
-leen

Hello, welcome!!

You're GSP's need at least a 90 gallon tank, with no cichlids, and high end brackish water; full SW at maturity. Read here: http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/ ... togsp.html

Are you talking about US or UK gallons?

hmm ok, well ty for your replies.. and i use US gallons, im from Boston lol.


im sick to death of this "fresh water/brackish water" puffer debate lol.. i swear, one person will say up and down that the GSP are fresh, and another will say brackish, and another marine!

when i bought my 3 lil guys, they were in a fresh water tank, with some mollys, and some tiger barbs. i had done a decent amount of research on them before buying, and couldnt really find a definitive answer as to what thier prime conditions were. so here i am 5months later with 3 decent sized puffers in my malwai tank. So your saying, that i need 90gal tank, for 3, 3inch fish ?!?! i mean that sounds ridiculous! and its never going to happen, haha. i may give up my 30gal for them, but thats all they are getting lol

again, thanks for your replies. And if necessary, i will turn them from the rift lake salt water of the cichlids, to marine salt brackish.

http://media.putfile.com/puffs46

http://media.putfile.com/puffer-fish

here is vid of my 3 guys sorry its small, i took it with my phone

GSPs will get MUCH larger then 3", and if the apropriate tank size isnt provided , it will stunt their growth, but their organs will keep growing, which will eventually kill them.

based on research and observations done by many people on this forum, a single GSP will need at least 29 gallons of tank water to not be stunted.

Yes, when i first began my research on puffers i was very confused as to what was correct and what wasnt, be reassured that all info on this site is the correct information. In the wild, GSPs are born in FW and gradually migrate to full on marine conditions, which should be replicated in the domestic aquarium.

if you cant get a 90 gal tank for them, my advice would be to relocate the cichlids to a different tank, and read up on all the info in our library articles.

hmmm, the videos wont work for me. any chance of posting pics through photobucket? we love pics here.

Just because you've kept them alive 5 months doesn't mean they are healthy (in fact, they are having health problems, that should be a big sign to you).

Once you've kept them alive 10 years or more, THEN you can start to make claims on what kind of water they do best in . That's the sort of information you'll find on this site, facts gathered from people that have been keeping puffers possibly longer than you've been alive. Theyve tested out growth and health and how long they live in different conditions, and the recommendations they give here are constantly found to ensure a healthy life for your puffer.

Simply put, if you take care of them properly, those GSP's will get up to 6" long (not including tail) and very, very round. Very impressive fish, you should look up some pictures of the ones PufferPunk had before they outgrew her 55 gallon tank.

As far as the lump, I know I've read about some people's puffers having some sort of parasite under their skin that moved around, one post even had photos of the worms being pulled out after the fish's death. That may be what your one puffer has. Also though, one of my puffers never has a smooth, rounded belly when he eats, its always lumpy. Then after he digests his food, the lumps go away. Could that be what you are seeing? Some puffers just don't "chew" their food as well I don't think.

lol hey i never said i was an expert to thier enviorment, i actually said i wasnt! haha. <<edited by LL>>. i only came here for help because i LOVE my puffers.

considering thier size now id say i have plenty of time to decide on tank size. for now, they are staying put. id never move the africans, those are my pride an joy.

as far as his lump goes. its deff not from eating, cause its not like a lump, under the skin, that i see them get when they inhale thier food. its more of a lil red dot, that is raised... i think im gonna just hit my local aqurium and see what they say.

the only pics i have, were taken with my phone. i will take some tonight w/the digi though!

thanx for all your replies

really L33n you dont have much time to decide. at 3 inches those gsps will require 1.012 area salinity. (little lower lil higher is ok)

so i would move them to an enviroment that you can give them that asap.

also most parasties cannot live in 1.012 water, as its too low for SW and too hgih for FW so you might also solve your bump issue as well.