The Puffer Forum

Hey guys, this is my first post here.

I recently visited WalMart and was looking at the fish. I wanted something nice to look at to accompany me at my desk.

I looked at the green spotted puffers. ADORABLE! They greeted me at the glass and appeared to be smiling. Plus they were kinda fat. I liked that!

So I got them home and did a little research on them.

Firstly, I learned that walmart is notorious for not knowing anything about (and keeping bad care of) their fish.

So, now I have two green spotted puffers in a FRESHWATER two-gallon octogonal aquarium sitting nicely on my desktop. It has air bubbles, rocks, a light, and a small plant inside of it.

Firstly, will they live in fresh water? It's been about a week, and no problem. But maybe this is because they're little (from what I've read?). They're about an inch and a half to two inches long. I really don't have the funds/time to keep up with a saltwater large aquarium.

Secondly, is the aquarium too little? They appear to have enough room.

Thirdly... I picked out the fish I wanted. The fattest one. He appears to be healthy. Then I just told the walmart guy to give me any other one, I didn't care which. Well, this one has white spots all over it. And it's belly is not white like the other one. It has black spots (more like smears) on the bottom of it. He is noticeably skinnier than the other fish and at times seems reluctant to eat.

I thought it wasn't eating because the guy at walmart told me to buy them tropical flakes. They didn't touch it. So then I read that they are meat eaters and like crunchy things, so I had some goldfish pellets laying around and they seem to be crunching away at those.

So, I guess my third question is actually two questions. One, does this fish have ICH? I've read up on it. Doesn't sound too good, but sounds cureable. Secondly, what kind of food should I buy them?

I really like these cute things. I just hope they don't die on me.

Please help me if possible.

Kind regards!,
-Scott

Oh my.. first read the GSP article in the library.

Your biggest problem right now is the tank they are in. GSP's need about 30 gallons each, these fish grow to the size of a small football!

Worse than the size, the tank isn't cycled and puffers are very, very sensitive to ammonia and nitrites, so they aren't going to do very well at all as those levels build up. You are going to have to change out their water with new, clean water daily to help keep things under control, Amquel or Prime will also help with that. (ignore other products like Cycle, Stress Zyme, etc, they cause more trouble than they are worth).

Then you need to decide.. return the puffers or start plans for a larger tank. A 75 would be just about right for 2 of them.. bet that's not what you were expecting!

As for the freshwater, they can survive a while in freshwater but its not the best for them. They often die in a few months instead of living to be 10 or years like they should. If you decide to keep them, you'll need marine salt, not aquarium salt and a hydrometer. Don't raise salt levels too fast, nice and slow.

For the ich, well, puffers do have body spines that look like white dots often. If the spots look like grains of sand, that's most likely ich though. If you do keep them, raising the salinity is going to help cure that so you'll kill two birds with one stone.

The food they like best is generally pond snails. They also like frozen bloodworms, live blackworms and a variety of other things that will be listed in the article in the library.

Good luck with your research and decision!

Wow.

30 gallons each? Walmart had about 20 of them in a tank that looked like a 10-15 gallon tank. Err...

Guess I can't be keeping these as desktop buddies.

I guess i'll keep them for a couple months in the freshwater, then as they get bigger and need more care I'll give them to someone more knowledgable.

Frozen bloodworms sounds good. I can get those easily.

Thank you for the info, although it wasn't what I wanted to hear. I like the little guys.

*pouts*

[edit] I have something called "aquasafe" for the water.

I'm sorry to say, they won't last a week in that tank. You are dooming them to a horrible death. You need to get at least a 10g tank & buy Bio-Spira TODAY, to cycle it with. They will only last a few months, even in a 10g. It would be best if you kept only 1. Do you actually know someone more knowladgeable that can keep these fish in a large SW tank? They don't do well w/tank mates either. Walmart is a horrible place, for selling these fish!

I agree with PP... If you really want to keep these guys for more than one day, invest in the 10 gallon aquarium kit at walmart... it is only like 40 dollars... That will last you until you can afford a bigger one or find them a new home... Also, they do not eat flakes, even if they will take them it is only because they are so starved they will eat anything. You need to get them some real food (read the GSP article) asap or they won't make it. If your fish has ich, then you need to raise the temp to about 84-86 degrees and add some sea salt to their water. Please understand all of us here have been keeping these fish for many years and this is all advice to help you keep yours just as long! Good luck!

I agree completely.

Either return the fish or give them away now, don't try keeping them in freshwater for a few months because they won't do well at all and you can damage them (healthwise) for life.

Its very hard to find someone to take them in, because they often eat corals and are quite the killers, so anyone with an established marine tank isn't going to want them in there.

I disagree they won't eat flake or prepared foods(pellet). My green spotted puffer is far from starved, I've had her for near 9 months now. Maybe she just trusts me but she eats anything I give her including peas. I supplement with lots of frozen/live foods as well so the prepared foods aren't a staple diet. It is nice to be able to feed her a nice hard pellet though

It's OK to add flakes to their diet if they'll eat them, but certainly not a good staple.

I think we scared the fellow away.

No, I am here. Just deciding what to do.

I do have a 10 gallon aquarium. It's currently occupied by just an algae eater (he killed all my old goldfish). Can puffers live with the algae eater or vice versa?

Yesterday, I gave my puffers some live worms. The healthy one sucked up 3 of them quickly. But the sick one seems to only want the goldfish pellets.

I'm thinking of putting the 2 puffers in the 10 gallon tank for now. But I don't have any decorations for it as of yet and I read that the puffers get really bored easily. I guess having them bored for a few days till I get decorations is better than them dying in my 2 gallon tank.

Turns out our algae eater died a long time ago and the tank had just been sitting in my sisters room for like a year. Shows how much I keep up with things, eh?

Anyhoo, I got the 10 gallon tank cleaned and setup. It's full of water, put the aquasafe in it. It's got the filter running and the bubbles running. It's been cycling (is that what it's called?) for about 3 hours now. How long before I should put them in there?

That isn't cycling.
http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library.php?p=17

I personally suggest taking them to a LFS or something now.

I would as well.. a 10 gallon tank simply isn't enough. Its a little better than a 2 gallon, but there's the same problems.

These are very messy fish that are sensitive to their own wastes and any stress...

Return the sickly one (probably isn't gonna make it in that tank anyway) & give the healtier one a chance at life. Get Bio-Spira NOW & add it to the filter.

The skinny dark/black one probalby has internal parasites, and will not live unless they are taken care of. I recently took on a tank of 5 GSP's with parasites, two not eating, one barely eating, and two eating well. Only one, Shakespeare, is now left, and he's in a 30, after parasite treatment. It's unlikely the dark skinny one will live without treatment for internal parasites, a medicine like geltek or prazipro will do the trick. If you return the sick one and put the remaining puffer with some biospira into the ten, he will probably last in there 3 to 6 months before needing a 30 or more gallon "adult" tank, which will also have to gradually increase in salinity to full marine as he grows up. I see this as the only possible chance of keeping these fish, if you can't upgrade to at least a 30 later, there is no way you can keep these fish, and belive me, I have personally tried to give one away to a competant owner, and you wont' find one. I had to buy a 30 gallon tank to keep my survivior Shakespeare. I just liked him too much to see him suffer in a tiny tank anymore.