The Puffer Forum

Hello everyone! After many years of having fancy goldfish and various tropicals, I have recently started my own brackish puffer aquarium. After doing some research (which led me here) I am apparently a common story as I had got my 3 puffers at a local Walmart which is frowned upon. They are Green Spotted Puffers ranging from 1 to 2 inches in size. Despite being extremely shy, they seem to be doing alright after having them for a week. I have invested a lot into giving these guys a good home already.

TANK SETUP:

55 Gallon Aquarium
1x Emperor 400 Power Filter
2x Maxijet 1200's placed on opposite sides of the tank that operate on a timer every 45 minutes during the day
1x 300 watt heater (Current Tank Temps range from 75-79 degrees)
1x Air Pump
2x Air stones running on opposite sides of tank inside deco
1x 36"-48"Marineland LED Lighting System & glass hood
A Refractometer (current water reading at 1.006)
Instant Ocean Mix
Lots of (Dead) Coral Rock
Lots of live & plastic plants
A few pieces of driftwood
Sand & Gravel Substrate
Tetra Safe Start Bacterial Solution good up to 75 gallons
A small population of Ghost Shrimp & various snails that the LFS supplied me
A couple of small Fiddler Crabs (Dime to Nickel size)
Frozen Food (shrimp & bloodworms)


Pictures Attached

Hello and welcome

that 55 isn't going to be big enough for those 3 gsp as they require 30 gal each. Are you planning an upgrade or another tank soon? Also, be prepared to take the tank to full marine when they get bigger, and don't be surprised when your snails, crabs and shrimp disappear and you have fat and happy GSPs.

There's a very thorough article on your puffers in the Library section here.

There's a very thorough article on your puffers in the Library section here.
Be sure to post about your puffers in the BW Puffer forum.

Thanks for the welcome and for the insight.

Darielm wrote:Hello and welcome

that 55 isn't going to be big enough for those 3 gsp as they require 30 gal each. Are you planning an upgrade or another tank soon? Also, be prepared to take the tank to full marine when they get bigger, and don't be surprised when your snails, crabs and shrimp disappear and you have fat and happy GSPs.

Can you define soon? I have always wanted to get a 90 or 125 gallon but I don't have the budget and space at the moment. Of course when the time comes I hope to find a really good deal on one thru Craigslist as that's how I got my two 55's. (the other one has several fancy goldfish living in it)

I also have a 20 gallon with various tropical fish and feeder guppies and a 2 gallon with ghost shrimp, and snails that I am trying to grow into a colony for my GSP's. I visited several Pet and Aquarium Shops for moss and snails to get me started.

By the time they are 2", they need 30g each. Did you read the article?

I was actually just looking at this one when you posted: ug.php?g2_itemId=341

I could break out my dads old custom made 30 gallon aquarium that he has in storage and evacuate my fancy goldfish into it and place one of my GSP's in the 55 gallon they are currently residing in since it is already cycled. One of my GSP's is really small and gimpy compared to the other two, however I chose him due to the fact he was the first to get up off the bottom of the store tank and meet me at the glass as if he was trying to tell me to rescue him. He actually followed my finger while the others either stayed in the back or ignored me.

Should I be concerned that the other two are still extremely shy after one week? I had goldfish that behaved like this but it usually only lasted for a couple days.

Thanks for that detailed article. I have changed my tank around a bit and I will definitely look into getting the third puffer separated. I just noticed tonight the poor little guy was hiding in a cave in the bottom corner of the tank and when he slowly came out to greet me I noticed something i had not seen before which was that he has a nick out of one of his back fins and a small circular scar on the side near his tail which seems indicative of a bite from being bullied from the other two that are slightly larger and fatter than him.

He is about 1 1/4 inch while the others are 2 inches. They were bought together at the same store. Of course it could be possible that his injuries were already sustained before I got him.

More pics of the improved tank setup:



The two fatties:


And here is the little guy:

Nice decorating job. That last puffer does look poorly. Treat for IPs.

A+ on the decor job.

very good decorating job! as mentioned i would treat for internal parasites because of the 3rd skinnier puffer. jungle parasite clear fizz tabs are one recommended type by people here. i dont think the directions mention medicating food, but i would break off a part of the fizz tab and put it in the defrosting food(bloodworms, mysis, etc) and let soak for a bit. if the puffer doesnt seem interested in eating it might smell the meds, in that case add some fresh garlic to the food to entice them to eat it. the tank size has already been mentioned so i dont have to point that out. besides the treatment and under sized tank, looks like your doing your job researching and planning for the soon to be future

Thanks for the input as I tried to make the tank as welcoming for them as possible.

Sadly the little runt passed away before he could fully benefit from treatments. I guess the transfer and isolation stressed him too much or he was already too far gone. The other two seem to be doing great and have not been as timid as they used to be but they are still a little skittish and are not eager to greet me at the glass just yet. I have noticed that one puffer has a dull olive green color while the other one is a bright yellow/green. Should I be concerned about the dull green one? Both have white bellys which seems to be good.

the only thing i would do is keep your eye on parameters as they are very sensitive to bad water since they are scaleless, and maybe continue treatement for the parasites as a precautionary move

I will. And my puffers are looking and acting great and the water quality is perfect and crystal clear. They were starting to cautiously greet me at the glass and I got them to eat out of my hand with a whole piece of uncooked shrimp tonight! These guys are little piranhas! They nearly tore the shrimp out of my hand and they got nice and fat so I had to pull the shrimp out of the water and I was shocked to discover that they were clinging onto the thing for a brief moment as I completely pulled it out of the water! These guys are incredible! I wished I had filmed it!