Puffer Help

[edmlfc]

A few more things you need to know:
Green Spotted puffers need to be in brackish water. They are not freshwater puffers, even though the lfs may tell you that. They need brackish to stay healthy. Min. tank size is 30 gallons. They need to be fed crunchy foods such as shell on shrimp, snails, mussels in the shell, clams in the shell, crabs etc. to keep their teeth worn down. If you have any questions please ask me. I will do my best to help you.

When you say your nitrates are fine what is the exact number. For a puffer the nitrates should be 10 or less, 20 is pushing it but acceptable. I had a GSP pass away when my nitrates hit 40. If you cannot get the test kits for amm and nitrite do daily water changes or bring sample water to your lfs. Don't let them tell you the water is fine. Get the "exact" numbers.

[djmatthewblack]

I have been raising and feeding it pond snails. It isn't eating the frozen bloodworm again today, but I know if I put a snail in there it would wolf it down. It isn't puffing though right now.

I don't have a large enough tank. I've been waiting on a tank for over a month, a large one to move most of my fish into freeing up a 20 gallon, but I don't know when the guy who builds them is ever going to call me. If you know anywhere I can get something in the 100gal, 4ft wide size, please let me know.

I've been trying to make the water brackish, I even bought a refractometer but I can't get the salt levels up, I've been trying to do it slowly, but I am too wary of adding too much salt too fast.

[edmlfc]

You can raise your sg by .002 points each week and it won't kill any of your bacteria.

The most important thing you need to do right now is get the amm. and nitrite tested. Keep up with water changes, do them daily if you have too. Don't worry about the brackish water right now. If you have amm. or nitrite in your water it will kill your puffer. If someone is close to you maybe you can get them to test your water.

After we figure out your water parameters then we will work on your sg. It's not that hard and I can walk you through it.

[edmlfc]

A few questions I should have asked first.
How often do you feed your puffer?
Was your tank cycled before adding the puffer?
What kind of filter do you have?
How long has the puffer been in your tank?

All the other questions I had you already answered.

[imagirlgeek]

I have a test kit and am in Sugar Land. You are more than welcome to bring a water sample over here for me to test.

[edmlfc]

If he goes over to your place to test his water give him a dirty filter to jump start a cycle to help with amm. levels.

[imagirlgeek]

I can handle that. Got plenty of dirty filters in this house.

[edmlfc]

I thought you might say that.

[fishboyt]

Are you using aquarium salt or marine salt?

[djmatthewblack]

The tank was a fully cycled planted tank only housing mystery snails before the puffer moved in. I can buy more testing supplies, they are just so expensive I have a hard time purchasing them. Most of the time I don't need to test, only when things go wrong. All but one of my tanks is planted and they always have zero nitrite, and low nitrate. It seems like the puffer was just being weird or the water change helped. Using marine salt.

I can't understand why it all of a sudden isn't eating frozen blood worm. I put a snail in and it obliterated it, and it use to have that same sort of excitement about the blood worm. Now it just makes a mess all over the tank. What other food should I get?

[edmlfc]

Earthworms, people shrimp, crab, clams, mussles, squid, ocotopus, crayfish. Most of these you can find in the fresh seafood department at the local grocery store. I always freeze it first, defrost it in tank water and vitamins then feed when ready. I only feed my puffers every 3rd day. This keeps the water in check. I also do a 50% water change weekly. Annabelle is only 6" in a 125 gallon planted tank and I still do 50% water change on her tank every week. My nitrates are always 0 in her tank.

Your tank is too small for a gsp unless he's less than 1". The amount of waste they produce will make your water quality bad. This is why you really need a bigger tank or you will need to do large water changes daily, at the least every other day.

It would help you cut back your feedings to every 3 days. I started feeding my gsp every 3 days at 3". Before that I was only feeding them every other day. He's fat, and definately not starving. They don't need to eat everyday.

[djmatthewblack]

Thanks, I will start with cutting back on feeding. I have been overfeeding to get it to grow fast. It will get a larger tank as soon as it is available, hopefully soon, I really want a bigger tank. What do you mean you defrost in water and "vitamins" It is about an inch or more but I just don't have the tank ready for it.

[imagirlgeek]

I started feeding my gsp every 3 days at 3". Before that I was only feeding them every other day.

How do you get away with that?? Homer literally smacks the tank so loud that I can hear it in the other room if I haven't fed him by noon...EVERY DAY!! If I even skipped one day...<shudder>...I don't even want to think about it.

[fishlady]

How do you get away with that?? Homer literally smacks the tank so loud that I can hear it in the other room if I haven't fed him by noon...EVERY DAY!! If I even skipped one day...<shudder>...I don't even want to think about it.

i don't over feed RA but i can't stand that little face looking at me like..."hey mom where's the grub"?.....nope can't take it.....i don't give him but 2 thinly sliced slivers of squid soaked in vita chem.....he loves it....)

[edmlfc]

When I say soak in water I meant tank water. Get a small cup of tank water put their food in it, add vitamins and wait for it to defrost, then feed. Sorry I wasn't more clear on that.
It dosen't really matter if you over feed them, they won't grow any faster. They will only get fatter and possibly end up with fatty liver disease which can shorten their life span.


Ladies: You cannot give in to the begging. It's not good for the puffs. With Fahaka's I would only feed Annabelle every other day. Fahaka's are different from GSP's. They grow much faster. Where as a Fahaka can grow 1" per month a GSP may only grow 1" per year. You have to get hard and be a semi-bad mom. I always feel bad when they are begging but I know it's better than the alternative. Once they get larger you will need to cut the feedings back to every 3 days. Get ready ladies I see alot of crying over begging puffers in your future. Just look at Elvis, he gets food every 3 days and begs for food every time he sees me in a room. Does he look like he's starving?) My little chubby baby.