The Puffer Forum

Is there anyone on that has kept gsp
And has had them for more then 4 years together
With other gsp
If I want to here from you
As I said in my posts I have 2 adults and 3 that are about 1 year old
That all live together sleep together and eat together
And want to know how yours do together

I only rarely admit it, but I kept 4 GSPs purchased together in the wrong water conditions (soft acid FW, heavily planted in too small a tank (20H) for a number of years purely as a utility. They were the disposal devices for excess snails from my Cichlid fry grow-out tanks at home. Their diet was 100% small ramshorn and common pond snails. They never grew at all. They were severely stunted at ~ or <2" TL. I kept them on my desk at the lab and brought in snails daily M-F, no weekend feedings unless I had to come in for some other work. After 8-9 years I traded them of to a co-worker, who kept them in the same tank on his desk another year or two until he took them when he moved to another job elsewhere in the country. After that I lost contact with him, so have no idea how long they lasted. That was all 40 or more years ago.

By then I had realized that I was keeping them incorrectly and afterwards kept them only individually in much larger tanks in BW or SW. Those fish all grew to full size.

I cannot in good conscience suggest stunting as good fish-keeping practice, and co-housing GSPs is generally a moderately high-risk process. Often one or more individuals becomes hyper-dominant (as do a number of Cichlids) and damages or kills other tankmates. It may be a gender thing, as we cannot sex GSPs often.

Other than DPs (dwarf puffers) or SAPs (South American puffers) I suggest keeping puffers individually as singleton specimen fish. That is the safest and most controllable condition IME.

Since you asked & I answered in your other thread, I am locking this one.