The Puffer Forum

Hi. I recently bought a “Congo puffer” at a local fish store. When I purchased the puffer It was labeled as a “pure fresh water puffer”, “Very peaceful”, “up to four inches” and “very rare”. I added the puffer to my 20 gallon community tank and every thing seemed to be going just fine. My only worry at the time was that when I would look up spotted dwarf Congo puffers online the pictures that would come up look nothing like the puffer I purchased. It almost looks identical to a green spotted puffer. At the store I got it from they also had some green spotted puffers in a separate tank but they slight differences. When I added the puffer to the tank initially it had very bright and vibrant colors. Now two weeks later, it spends most of its time laying down on the bottom and the puffer dark. The puffers stomach and face would turn dark but when I would come up to the tank or tap the glass it’ll start swimming again and regain some of its natural colors but the puffers stomach would still be somewhat dark. Once I wake it up or get it to start swimming it’ll swim around for an hour or two then go back to resting and turn dark again which I know can be a sign of stress. Now I’m worried if it’s unhealthy, if I have bad water, or if I got sold a green spotted puffer. I know green spotted puffers are a brackish fish and they would not survive long in fresh water. What makes me to believe it’s not a green spotted puffer is that I have it in a community tank with some other smaller fish like cardinal tetras, guppies, killies and the puffer fish is completely fine and doesn’t bother and of my other fish. I know green spotted puffers would not work in a community tank. It has a normal appetite. I feed it frozen blood worms and once a week a half shell clam.

What I want to figure out is species of puffer I have because it does not look like a Congo puffer from the pictures online. I also want to keep my puffer happy and healthy and the way it is right now I don’t think its either.

Gh- 120-180
Kh-240
Ph-7.5
No2-0
No3-10-20

Temperature-78F

Any feed back would help, thank you!

Welcome! Sorry but you have been duped! Thatis a GSP. The reason it isn't attacking your smaller fish is because it hasn't adjusted to your tank--yet. Give it time & it will wipe them all out! Congo spotted puffers run around $250 retail. I would certainly give them a piece of my mind & discontinue shopping there!

library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

I did find a website that showed the a rare Congo puffer compared to the green spotted puffer and the pictures looked very similar. At the store I bought it from they had gps in a different tank and they had different coloration than the Congo puffer. Also on the tank I got the Congo puffer on it said that online they sell for 150 and they were selling it for 30 which didn’t make any sense to me.

Sorry that happened to you.
For future reference, most (if not all), puffers are not community tank compatible.

Also on the tank I got the Congo puffer on it said that online they sell for 150 and they were selling it for 30 which didn’t make any sense to me

Sounds like a BS way to get $30 for a GSP.
What are your plans for it now?