[[NEW HERE]] Need help w/my GSP's. :)

[Gongol]

ello Puffer Forum!

My name is Margarita, and I just joined the forum to better inform myself about GSP. My husband recently bought me 2 GSP's from Walmart, and I had some questions.

1. I thought GSP's were freshwater fish.? But I see a lot of people recommending to add salt. We also have 2 GoldFish & an AngelFish in the tank, is it safe?
2. My GSP's keep chasing & nipping on the fins of the GoldFish...what can I do to stop this?
3. One of my GSP has white spots on the top, is this a sickness? Anyone have any suggestions?
4. I recently started feeding them Frozen Brine Shrimp, and I bought 2 snails ( but they haven't bugged w/the snails), any more suggestions on what to feed the fish??

Thank you for reading my post. Your suggestions & comments, will be most helpful!

[LongGrain]

green spotted puffers are a high end brackish water fish and do best in around 1.018 sg while they mature. By the time they are adults they should be in a full marine (salt water) habitat. If your other fish are freshwater, they will not be able to tolerate the saltiness. Plus they need at least 30g of space PER gsp, so unless you have at least a 55-60g tank, I would forget about keeping two of them.

GSP's are very aggressive, and need a lot of space, they normally don't get along with other fish, so tank mates are very limited.

This could be ich. There is a thread about a heat/salt cure method that works well for treating this disease in the hospital section if that happens to be your diagnosis.

shrimp, small snails, blood worms, etc will all be good food for a young puffer.

Make sure to treat for internal parasites as well right away, as many gsp's come with them from walmart. I'm going through the same thing you are right now. I brought my gap home from walmart not knowing how to take care of him, and now I've spent the last 2 weeks and hundreds of dollars trying to get him healthy. They are a lot of work.

[Gongol]

I thought I would need a new tank or separate tank. I have a 50 gallon tank right now.

My GoldFish had a bacterial infection and we treated it. Would that same medication be good for internal parasites? Or do I need something different?

[bertie 83]

Let's go back to basics and research each fish seperately

[hadla]

really wish walmart would stop selling puffers. the gsps need marine salt(like instant ocean), not the salt you can buy at walmart. it would probably be cheaper to find a local aquarium store and buy gallons of saltwater from them. here is the best place to find out about gsps: http://greenspottedpuffer.net/

[Pufferpunk]

Actually, the best place to find out about GSPs is RIGHT HERE!
viewtopic.php?f=68&t=28469
viewtopic.php?f=66&t=28566

How big is this tank? How attached are you to the other fish? You have 3 different kinds of fish that need 3 separate tanks. The goldfish are cold water species & produce a TON of waste, which isn't good for any of your other fish. The angelfish is a tropical (warm water) freshwater fish. Your puffers are very aggressive & will rip apart the fins of your other fish & eventually will probably kill them. Please read my article on their care. After you have them properly housed, we can discuss the white spots, which if are the parasite, ich, all your fish are infected.

[hadla]

well im sorry i forgot the articles were in the forum. i was only remembering the pufferpedia being down. and besides i think she started that site from the info on here.

[Pufferpunk]

Exactly!

[Gongol]

i have 2 puffer fish. what size tank do you guys recommend i get?
I want to go ahead and separate the fish. To solve the issue with the fish.

[Pufferpunk]

2 adult GSPs will need a minimum of 60g but a 75g would be preferable. They will be the size of 2 Nerf footballs.
The angelfish alone will do OK in a 20g high or 29g. The GF need a 55g for the both of them, as they will grow to around 12" each. 90% weekly WC are recommended for them.

[Gongol]

thanks for all the advice. I used some ich treatment on the puffer fish, and so far I am getting good results. But while I was treating it for the ich, I noticed one of my puffer has a white opaque slime thingy on one of it's eye. We thought something got caught in it's eye, and tried taking it off, but no luck, it's still there.


Any suggestions? Is this bad?




(we went ahead and added salt & raised temperature of tank as well)

[El Scorpio]

Does the opaque slime thingy look like a puffy piece of cotton, by chance? Any way to get a pic of this anomaly?

thanks for all the advice. I used some ich treatment on the puffer fish, and so far I am getting good results. But while I was treating it for the ich, I noticed one of my puffer has a white opaque slime thingy on one of it's eye. We thought something got caught in it's eye, and tried taking it off, but no luck, it's still there.


Any suggestions? Is this bad?




(we went ahead and added salt & raised temperature of tank as well)

[Gongol]

I went ahead & made a post in the HOSPITAL section w/pictures & a short video of my GSP.

Here's the link:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29431

[Gongol]

Okay, I am finally going to the store to buy a new tank for my GSP's. (my current fish tank is overcrowded....40G tank w/ 3 GoldFish, 1 AngelFish, 2 GSP's, 2 small crabs).....

I have 2 small GSP's...less than 2'. Which tank size would you recommend now for them????? I am on a low budget at the moment (i'm planning on buying a huger tank later), but I know separating them from my other fish is the best thing to do right NOW. To help prevent any other sickness to my GSP's.

I also read the article on how to start a Brackish Aquarium for them, they haven't been exposed to salt yet, since I bought them at Walmart as "freshwater" fish, so how do I begin the salt......I don't want them to die, if I expose them too quickly.

I also went ahead and ordered Maracyn for one of my GSP's. I posted about it earlier this week in the HOSPITAL section. He has this weird thing on his eye, and its getting WORSE, which is worrying me, and I am hurrying to get them into a NEW tank! o.O

Any information would be great. Since I am going to the store today, just want to make sure I make these changes correctly.!

Thanks for reading!:)

[bertie 83]

you are best of with a min 75g for the gsp. increase salt at .002 ppm per week until you reach the optimum