Mar 01 2007
Green Spot Puffer
Common name(s) Green Spotted Puffer, Spotted puffer / pufferfish
Scientific name Tetraodon nigroviridis
Size Up to 6″ (15cm), often smaller in aquaria.
Origin Asia: India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand
Tank setup A brackish tank, with rocks, bogwood or robust/plastic plants for cover.
Compatibility Not overly aggressive, but may still show some aggression towards their own kind, other puffers, or other fish – especially as they approach adult size. Keep in a species tank or with larger brackish fish, such as monos and archerfish.
Temperature 24-28oC (75-82oF)
Water chemistry Brackish, hard and alkaline.
Feeding Live and frozen meaty foods: bloodworm, mosquito larvae, cockles and mussels, snails
Comments One of the more commonly encountered brackish puffers, it is often confused with T. fluviatilis (Green puffer) – or even with with T. schoutedeni (Leopard/Spotted Congo puffer) – a freshwater species. This species can be kept in freshwater when young, but should be adapted to brackish water as it grows, for its long term health.
66 responses so far
I have one of these puffer fish and i can’t seem to figure him out. I spoil the crap out of him with live snails, ghost shrimp, and frozen krill bt he still seems to be unhappy. Below his tail and under his mouth are turning black and i can;t figure out why. I think my water conditions are correct but I;m not sure. I was told he’s a leopard puffer be he could also be a green-spotted puffer. Please someone help I’m scared he’s going to get sick and die
Dark belly and dull colors are a sign that he is not happy. Are you keeping him in a brackish tank? If so what is the salinity of the water? Also what are your levels of Ammonia, nitrate and Nitrite?
Mike
I also have a green spotted puffer, My fish is permantly hungry. begging at the side of the tank when ever anyone enters the room. I lkie to pretend its because shes pleased to see me. I think the black thing might be a sign of something wrong. But also they seem to be able to turn it on and off so I think it is a mood thing too.
I have a question, at mo my fish lives on its own in a small tank. I have a slightly larger tank which is 60L but it seems a waste to give up the tank solely to her. Is there any other small brackish fish that I could put with her. I have two kribensis, I did read they can tolerate brackish conditions. She is about 5inches at mo. Monos and scats would be two big for my tank.
I have two Green Spotted puffers. I got them about 2 weeks ago. One week ago we bought some ghost shimp for them. They really liked that. Since then however the smaller puffer is turning a bit green and lethargic. Puffy also isn’t eating. I’ve watched him sitting on the bottom of the tank and he doesn’t seem to be breathing on his right side. Only his left side is moving. He perks up once and awhile but then he goes and rests for awhile. My husband says he thought puffy hit the lid when he was chasing the ghost fish around. Please help I love these little guys.
Seems like he isnt very happy. I would check your water perameters and salinity. Or in the worst case, it could be parasites..
We have had much puffer tragedy. Any help you can give to save our last puffman is appreciated! We are on our fourth try (9 deaths, 1 still with us) and just lost one of two wonderful 2-inch GSPs, possibly to a swim bladder problem. We have gone to several of our local fish stores for advice, have bought the puffers at different stores, got them small, medium and large, even tried a figure 8 puffer, etc. Always the same result: they eat like crazy, we keep the tank really clean and well-filtered (55-gallon biowheel with a 35 gallon hex)with good salinity and aragonite substrate for the pH…then, between 3 and 4 weeks they stop eating completely and die within a few days. Always our water tests perfect; we test at home and take a sample to the local fish store. Our salinity is between 1.009 and 1.013 consistently. We feed frozen bloodworms and frozen shrimp, and with this recent pair of fish we tried ghost shrimp, snails and a crayfish. The one we just lost ate very very well for 3 weeks, then stopped eating totally, swimming around the surface a lot or laying on the bottom. Her partner sat with her, or swam with her, always together. After about 3 days of no eating, she started swimming nose down/tail up, getting pushed around by the water flow, sometimes whirling like a cement mixer. We took her in to be looked at, she was perfectly fine! Swimming normally, perfect color, no signs of distress. They recommended we “nuke” our tank (drained/stirred up/refilled with chlorinated water and sat for 2 hours, drained, refilled with chlorine-removed water plus Bio Spira…five days later, still wouldn’t eat and finally died. Fish store now recommends Maracyn treatment in case it’s swim bladder disease. Have you ever heard of so many puffer problems? WE MUST SAVE OUR LAST PUFF MAN! Help!
Our puff man died last night, following small water change and addition of parasite treatment recommended by our local fish store.
Any suggestions you have are still welcome! We do plan to try again.
We are baffled, and so are the local fish store people, why we’ve had the same thing happen four times now. They probably sell theirs long before the 3-4 week “wall” we seem to be hitting, so haven’t seen it first hand. Would ordering puffers on line get them from a different source than our stores get, and perhaps avoid a parasite strain? Grasping at straws…
I am so sorry for your loss. It is quite puzzling. I do have a few questions.
1: Did their color change before they died? Did the coloration for from bright Green and White to a dull green and greyish black belly?
2: How often are you doing water changes and what percentage of water are you changing.
2: What type of salt are you mixing to get your brackish water? Is it Marine Salt mix or rock salt?
For Green Spot puffers a salinity of 1.009 and 1.013 is IMO, too high. They are still just babies and should be kept at a lower SG. As I am sure you know GSP’s are actually born in freshwater and then as the get older/bigger they move into brackish and then finally as adults should be kept in a full marine tank. If you are using rock salt or “Aquarium Salt”, dont. You are not getting brackish water you are getting salt water. There are all kinds of minerals and trace elements in the Marine Salt Mix that are crucial the the health and well being of your fish.
I fed my GSP’s live and frozen bloodworms and small snails along with Myisis shrimp until they reached about 5″. Then I fed them Frozen krill as their main food source along with snails. I never had a problem. I fed them twice a day M-T-W-TH-F and then once a day on the weekends.
Puffers are very messy eaters and tend to foul the water fairly quickly. I changed 20% of my water in my puffer tanks every week and gave it a good gravel vac as well.
When you say your water is “perfect”, what were/are the actual readings?
That seems very drastic to me. Doesnt sound like a bladder problem to me at all. If I had to guess, I would say it was some kind of internal parasite. Hence the reason they stoped eating…
To answer your questions:
1) Their color was very good when they died, bright green and white underbelly. These two would hang out near the tank bottom every morning, near a big fake rock formation, and would get gray bellies and sort of “blend in” with the rock. But that would always disappear when they started swimming around when we approached or fed them.
2) With these two fish we did a 10% water change at 1 week for the mess, 20% at 2nd week stirring up the substrate really well, and did the “nuke” technique recommended by the store at the 3rd week which was all new water plus Bio spira. During this “nuke” both fish were very active and good color, in a fishbowl with air stone. No stress. They looked great afterwards too, except the one would’t eat.
3) The salt we use is API Aquarium Salt. That was recommended, but it sounds like the WRONG type to use. It makes me mad we were misinformed, as we ran through our list of problems with 3 different fish stores and nobody told us. They did tell us our aragonite substrate was really good.
Salinity: we were at 1.009 with the smaller ones (first 3 batches, 1-2 inches) but went up to 1.013 with the latest two because they were bigger – 2-1/2 inches nose to fin. We got this info off a Puffernet website, and – again – none of our local store personnel told us we were doing this wrong. Yikes.
Food: we were feeding frozen shrimp and frozen blood worms twice a day one cube each time and 1 dried krill per day which they really loved tearing up and sharing.
We didn’t try live food until it was too late, we were worried about parasites or disease in the live food after all the troubles we had with previous batches. Plus they were loving the frozen foods so we thought we were home free.
Water quality: on our home test kit, Jungle Quick Dip, each was in the “safe” range so nitrate 20, nitrite 0, pH was higher 7.2 maybe? but we were told that’s because of the aragonite substrate. Ammonia test kit was 0 ppm on the freshwater scale, bright yellow. Note: fish stores all told us go by the freshwater scale, not salt water.
We ended up treating with PraziPro for internal parasites, not Maracyn, but he died that same night so I guess it was too late. His only symptom the last day was nose down tail up and “huffing” like he was spitting air into the substrate. His color was great. He was swimming up and down a lot, in the same spot we found his pal dead.
One thing we noticed was both fish stayed their normal size bellies, even after several days of not eating. We thought that was odd. Were they puffed up with parasites maybe?
Fish store now recommends we tear down the tank and start over again, this time using bleach! Is this really necessary, or a good idea anyway? Seems harsh and is bleach ok for silicone?. Couldn’t we just put in some more PraziPro now that the fish are gone, to kill anything else still in there? Or if we wait a week don’t parasites die without a host?
Seems like our local “experts” don’t know much more than us. That’s reality I guess. Would you recommend getting puffers on line or would they come from the same place anyway if we get them locally? It’s crazy to think 4 batches of fish would all get or carry the same parasite that kills them at 3-4 weeks every time.
We want to get more, but of course we’re nervous…
I personally would NOT use bleach at this point. However, you could use bleach to sterilize everything. If you do be sure to rinse everything until their is absolutely no bleach smell. Then place everything in a something that will keep it all submerged and then super dose with Seachem Prime if you can get it where you live. Not only will this remove all ichy stuff dechor does but it will also neutralize any residual bleach.
I would purchase them locally and don’t use that damn rock salt. I get the blue jugs of Oceanic Natural Sea Salt mix that makes 50 gallons of see water and lasts me about 5 months keeping up with my 55 gallon. I pay like $13.00 for it. What are you paying for the rock salt? I would venture to guess much more…
Personally I think that you shouldnt have to worry if you use the correct salt mix.
Kepp me posted…
Hi, I was just wondering how fast these guys I have 2 GPS both vary bright fish about 1.5 inches long. I’ve had them for a week and been feeding krill. I’m not an expert by anymeans but I’ve been slowly introducing them to salt water since they’ve came from a fresh water tank. I’ve had so far no problems with them in my (I know I’m going to get all hell for this) 10 Gallon tank. But both seem to be doing great so far. I have bunch of fake plants in there so they dont eye-ball eachother and both have hiding places expet when feeding and I only hand feed so I have some control over the feeding. My daliy duties to the tank are as followed and done since I’ve own my tank too.
Tank setup:
brought 10 gallons of spring water.
filled aquaruim with 8 gallons of water
preheated aquaruim to 80
added about 3-5 crystals of API aquaruim salt (reason I added this salt is it dosent have all salt water elements and is disinged for fresh water fish. So it’s a good start for inrduction to salt water for them since they came from fresh water tank).
added about 5 dropes of stress coat.
when I added the fish I keeped the water from the aquaruim they came from do to how these tank cycle they have alot of water bactria that help the fish.
Daily duties I do:
add 3 crystals of salt to the water.
Handfeed krill will add snails to there tank later this week
add 3 dropes of stress coat to the water.
Next week I’m going to change it up a little after patial water change 30%. I’m going to add with the 3-5 salt water crystals I’m going to add about a 2-3 pinches of Oceanic salt to the water. I will add some live snails and going to start a 5 gallion tank for live food such as ghost shrimp ect.
Thanks.
We can get the Ocean Sea Salt locally I think, and we will!
About parasites…Knowing how many puffer deaths we’ve had from not eating (and wrong salt), would you recommend PraziPro or another treatment as preventative for our next fish? Do you use anything? We still have PraziPro left, which works on flukes/tapeworm/flatworm/tubellarians…whatever that one is.
Last question: in the past, this hex tank got lots of bright green algae (wiped off easily without scrubbing but very fast build up despite leaving lights off and temp at 75…) Husband wants to add Algae Fix product to this tank, which we use in our outdoor patio pond. Does this even work, or could it hurt the puffers? I say don’t risk it. Bottle says no copper, does not alter pH, do not use with freshwater crustaceans.
Sorry, one more question! My husband wants to know do we completely drain the puffer tank 100% water change since it has the bad aquarium salt not marine salt. Then would we need to cycle the new tank with other fish before getting puffers again, or could the bacteria still be ok on our bio wheel filter without needing to cycle or buy BioSpira again.
The tank is still set up and running now, since the puffers died.
Thanks.
Just stop using the salt and use the good stuff from here on out. No need to completely start over again.
Would just like to comment that API Aquarium salt is actually salt crystals made from evaporated sea water. However in my brackish tanks I use Tropic Marin Sea Salt.
I’ve not had any problems with figure of eight puffers at all, but am suffering with problems with giant spotted puffers.
One came to me brackish and did well for a couple of months and then suddenly died (6″). The current one (5″) came to me freshwater and after keeping him for 6 weeks or so alone in freshwater (60 litre tank) ready to start adding sea salt, he is unwell.
Treated him with internal bacteria treatment a week ago, after he became listless and refused to eat. He’s been increasingly refusing to eat. Second treatment I added small amount of Tropic Marin (about a teaspoon) Now 4 days have passed added another does and some API Aquarium Salt (as on pack 3 tablespoon’s) after 25% water change to improve electrolyte levels for him. Now concerned this seems alot and you all don’t seem to approve of the Aquarium salt!
Symptoms are listlessness, black belly, hollow tummy. Darting about occassionally when he touches something and it scares him. Coming to the surface occassionally, possibly breathing air. Moderately laboured breathing. Sometimes he’s OK and belly is white. Sometimes going slightly diagonal and sometimes he appears to be rubbing himself. Most of the time he sits on the bottom. General depressed deameanour with occassional flurries of activity – like will greet you at the surface if you open top of tank.
Fish almost appears to have had a stroke in some respects?
Water quality is fine. There’s no ammonia, nitrates and nitrite at normal levels. PH not tested. Tank was well cycled before he was introduced – it did house other fish previously.
Does anyone have any ideas to help me? Should I be taking the API Aquarium Salt out if you all dissaprove of it so much? I get very attached to my fish and I don’t want to lose this one and he’s hanging on in there…
With many thanks
Thank you I see why my GSP’s are dying not to mention I got them from OMG WalMart. The only one left is turning black starting at the belly it only takes about 2 weeks at the longest and they die.
If I turn my fresh water into brakish will it kill the coral cats
pleco or Chilid?? Thanks again R
I have some questions about my brackish tank. I am new to the brackish life, and have until now kept very successfull freshwater tanks for most of my life (Currently 6 tanks – 25 gal,35 gal, 45 gal, two 55 gal’s and my 115 gal brackish). In my tank I have two archers, two Mono’s, a needle fish, a snowflake eel, and two GSP’s, and a pleco. I basically aquired all of these fish from someone who was breaking down their own brackish tank. Most of these fish a 3 plus years old except the needle fish who is about 2. When she gave them to me, I tested her water and found that there was no salinity to it, she told me she was using about 1 tablespoon of aquarioum salt per 5 gallons of water in her 90 gallon tank. This obviously was essentially a freshwater setup for brackish fish. Now I know most of these fish start out freshwater then gradually move to seawater as they age. I set up my tank at 1.006 salinity with a marine salt. The fish have been doing fine for the two weeks I have had them, great coloration, active, eating very well, clear eyes etc. The GSP’s however seem to change drastically and constantly. They have completely white belly’s, then they start turning greyish, sometimes almost completely black, then laying on the bottom and all washed out kinda matchng my sand bottom substrate. Aside from when they are resting on the bottom, they are usually active, and even visit me when I am looking at the tank (even when resting on the bottom the color comes back within seconds as they swim up to say hi). They are both eating well, eyes clear etc. Now I am wondering if they are just acclimating to my brackish tank, or if this can be common behavior for GSP’s. There is an abundance of info about color changing, but lots of conflicting info too. Should I be worried or as long as they appear healthy and active and eating well not be concerned about the coloration too much? Am I doing the right thing with my brackish setup, or since they have been in freshwater so long, should I keep them that way (obviously the freshwater hasn’t bothered them too much one of the Archers is bigger than even any of the ones in our City Aquarium 7″) Again I don’t see any true signs of illness or sadness, it’s just this constant coloration change.
as far as your GSP’s color changes are concerned, in my experience a white belly is a sign of a happy puffer and the darker colors mean some kind of stress.
As long as they are eating and active I wouldnt be concerned. It soounds like you are doing all he right things. keep us posted…
Hi,
I did a bad thing!
I bought a Green Puffer from Wal Mart last nght with no research figuring that a fish from Wal Mart would be a pretty simple fish to take care of. I put him in a small tank, then started to reasearch my new pet. I found lots of info to the contrary that this fish (Ralph) was “simple.” I spent all day today gettting a bigger tank set up but am still REALLY uncertain as to what I should do. I bought marine salt, a hydrometer, shrimp (and other foods), some snails but he was in a freshwater tank and I’m scared and unclear as to how to gradually make it a brackish tank. How much salt do I put in at a time? The tank is only 10 gallons, which I know is small, but it was all I could afford. I would much rather try to keep him alive then return him to Wal Mart where he will certainly die. Help!!! Thanks! 
I have kept various sized green spot puffers for 5-6 years now in tanks from 10 gal to 100 gal. Most from Wal mart or my local pet store. My experience is this, they do well in a well cycled tank with some marine salt, I use the fine marine salt made from evaporated ocean but I have used the plain aquarium salt. Excessive tank cleaning and new water doesn’t suit the puffer well, my oldest puffer is in a large outdoor tank with very few water changes and a fair amount of algae on the decorations and rocks. I do not feed too often, waiting until they are concave in the stomach and obviously hungry before giving their fill. Sometimes individuals have different tastes. Some will eat anything but others especially Wal-Mart puffers will eat only the dried krill walmart sells and incidently feeds the puffers while they are keeping them. Good Luck!!! Quit changing the water!!!! Don’t expect them to survive until your water is aged well!!! Use a quality biological filter and keep it working, Bio Wheel is great but sometimes they get stopped and you dont notice and I usually have an alternate filter such as a waterfall type running as well.
Great news! I’m the one with the (sigh) eleven green spotted puffer deaths over 3 months or so of trying to get a brackish tank going. We have 3 healthy puffers now, going on NINE WEEKS!!! (The others all died at 3-4 weeks.)
There was so much conflicting and often downright BAD advice on the internet and given to us by our local fish stores, but your advice turned out to be right on. We are now using Ocean Marine Salt, keep the SG at 1.004 per our hydrometer (for 2-3 inch puffers), we do 20% water change weekly and only feed live foods (ghost shrimp, snails, occasionally crickets) or frozen bloodworms. Nothing dried – I read it can block them up. We also choose to add a product called Cycle (by Hagen) with each water change.
They love the snails so much, we’re starting a snail factory in a separate tank – in the mean time getting free snails from the store where we got the puffers since we trust their water/fish quality. Never buy live food from a place that has poor tank conditions or that contain sick fish!!! Would YOU eat something from their tank? Gross.
One comment about acclimating from fresh to marine/brackish: we got our puffers as freshwater 1.000 SG so to acclimate them to our 1.004 SG we followed your advice about the drip system. It worked great! We put the fish in a 10-gallon bucket in the water they came in – asked for an extra bagful of water from the store! We put a regular airline tube into our tank, held in place by the tank lid, started the suction and bending the tube to crimp it “off” we then experimented with various household clips/chip clip/paper clip/etc. until we got just the right slow drip going into the bucket. (May sound difficult, but it’s not! You can practice into a different bucket than the fish are in, until you get the drip right. Try adding several clips, one at the crimp, and remove them one by one until a drip starts!) We tested the SG every hour and made sure it only changed .001 per hour. It really worked perfectly.
One last tip: plants and rocks are really important for these guys. Even if they are the best of pals, they need “broken lines of sight” to get away from each other and claim their own space. Also to hide from people if they want to, like if you have people over a lot like we do. Don’t worry that they’ll hide all the time; they won’t.
Thanks again for your advice and wish us continued success!
I have two green puffer fish as well.. they are still pretty young and i just got them about two weeks ago.. There’s one fish that is doing great, the color is still there with the black spots and white underbelly, but my other puffer fish is turning a buger green color, almost yellowish and her/his spots aren’t black no more they are the same color as him/her. The white unerbelly isn’t white anymore either, and there are white specks that have developed on him/her.. he/she doesn’t swim around much either, it just sits at the bottom of the tank.. Is she/he sick? And what do you suggest i do to get him/her better?? They are so cute i don’t want to lose them!
Thanks!
I am writing this on Sept. 25. Your puffer may already be gone. It sounds like you have a few problems. Your puffer with the white specks may have the fish disease ick which can be contagious when it takes hold. Either way I would raise the water temperature a few degrees and treat for ick with something from your pet store. I have noticed that if you are feeding freeze dried krill to the smaller puffers they can sometimes get backed up. I believe the food is hydrating and getting stuck inside. Sometimes they are able to pass this and do ok. Sometimes it is fatal. Make sure you feed frozen Krill instead, It keeps well in your freezer and they don’t need much.
My puffer keeps doing a very strange thing-her tail folds up next to one of her sides, then she bobs around for awhile. When she first did this (this morning), my boyfriend tried picking her up with a fish net, and her tail straightened out, but shortly thereafter she developed blackish spotting to either side of her mouth. The exact same situation occurred this afternoon. What could be going wrong and what can I do to help her?
Mine do the exact same thing, and if freaked me out the first few times, but it seems to be just something they do. Maybe they are trying to blend in with my sand substrate and smooth rock at the bottom. I really have no idea, but they always come out o fit after a few minutes and start swimming around again without any problems. I’d like to know what the deal is too though.
This is normal for puffers. I have had numberous different species of puffers and they have all acted this way from time to time
ok… so no one has answered the question. WHY DO PUFFERS GET BLACK BELLIES? my puffer has a black belly and is dark green. she also has BRIGHT blue eyes. what the hell is wrong with her?? she seems fine, but who knows, right?
Dark bellies usually mean stress. How are your water perams?
wow, i read everything.
i bought my gsp at a pfs. totally in fresh water, but maybe because he is a cute little guy still. i only figured out they are brackish water fish when i saw my same gsp in a SALTWATER aquarium in a different pfs! i was like wow i thought they were freshwater? so i now know they are brackish.
mine is still little and i thought was easy to care for. he is in a 29 gallon tank. with a beta lol. pleco, and fidler crab. alot of my fish died, its prolly from this infected puffer. but he is my favorite right now :X lol. so yeah thanks for all the info. i hope my puffer grows. i will let him have the 29 gallon to himself. he is so small for it! but i will get him a partner and more live plants.
im was getting over my tank. but i made it a double tank. 20 gallon on bottom with a 10 gallon flipped over backwards filled up. pretty cool if u ask me. so im back into it. but i dont know what fish to get. prolly just another puffer and some weird fish. thanks guys
I first fell in love with puffers when I met the dwarf puffers. On a trip to Wal*Mart, curious to see what fish they sold, my partner and I noticed the green spotted puffers. Bigger versions of the ones I already adored… I was sold! I bought a 5 gal. and cycled it for about 35 hours then took two little guys home. Two days later, I came home from work and found them dead.
I did some research and bought a water heater along with Instant Ocean salt, some test strips, and a hydrometer. After a few days, I tested the water and everything seemed to be fine so I went back to Wal*Mart (I know, I know… but they seem to be the only place to sell GSP here) and bought one healthy guy, larger than the other two we had. So far, he seems to be doing fine. My only concern are the black spots around his mouth, but they seem to fade. Oh, also, I tested the Wal*Mart water with hydrometer and it seemed around 1.004… my water is around 1.011. Should this be okay? Wish I had read about the drip method before I got him, but he seems to be fine. And before I forget, how long can he be in a 5gal before I upgrade? He’s the only one in there (minus two ghost shrimp he seems to enjoy watching). But he does seem to be a bit bored already.
But anyway, I’ve enjoyed reading these posts… good luck with those who have had bad fate with puffers, including myself!
1: IMO, your first tank wasnt even close to being cycled and the rise in ammonia is what killed your puffer. Puffers are messy eaters and produce alot of waste, which quickly turns to ammonia and so on…
2: a 5 gallon tank is WAY to small for any GSP. You will probably notice him swimming up and down a side of your tank. He is going stir crazy. Imagine if your house was the size of a bathroom.. You would go crazy as well.
3: GSP’s will get about 8-10″ when mature. If you have the bucks and dont want to have to upgrade your tank numberous times, get yourself a nice 35 to 55 gallon tank. You can find them cheap on http://www.craigslist.org. Remember the bigger the tank the happier it will be.
4: In the wild GSPs go from fresh water as babies to full marine as adults. Gradually raise your Salinity as he grows.
5: I kept my GSP in a 55gallon marine aquarium, when he was 8″ and his colors became brighter and he seemed much happier. I kept him with two morray eels and 2 Cole tangs. Very happy camper
6: IMO your salinity is a touch to high for a juvi. I have a hard time believing WALMART kept any salt in their puffer tank as all the fish depts I have seen in Various walmarts were connected and filtered by one large sump filter. If they were running salt all their tanks would be of the same salinity.
What type of filtration are you using? Remember more is better. They require clean water, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrates and less than 20 Nitrates. That will be hard to do in a very small tank.
Thankfully my fish survived, I didn’t do anything to them to treat for whatever they had, i just waited it out.. Only one of my pufferfish had the white spots really bad and the other one was getting them. The only thing i did was clear out the baby shrimp they didn’t eat and in a few days the spots were gone and they were swimming around again. Do you think the baby shrimp might carry diseases? I thought that’s what it was since i cleared them out and the spots went away.. THANKFULLY they all survived!! : )
One question, i talked to a pet store worker and asked them about switching my puffer fish to salt water, he said it wasn’t necessary that they will do just fine in fresh water.. What do you think? Should they be switched, or shouldn’t they? And where can i find marine salt, the pet store didn’t have it… LOL and Walmart didn’t either.. LOL i just thought i would give Walmart a try.. haha!
True brackish water is made with Marine salt mix. Otherwise, IMO, it is just salty water. There are numberous minerals and trace elements in the mix which is beneficial to the puffers. Any fish shop that sells Marine fish, etc. should have the mix. It would be crazy not to.
Yes, brackish puffers can SURVIVE in freshwater. The question si do you want them to develop fully? Or just survive?
Try places like Petsmart or Petco, They should both sell salt mix. Or you can get it online at places like http://drfostersmith.com or http://www.bigalsonline.com.
Petsmart usually gives you free shipping if you spend over $50. Here is a secret if you have a local Petsmart. Look on their website and print the page with the product and price. They will match it locally. You can save upwards of 30%
Thanks a bunch for taking the time to respond and pointing me in the right direction!
how can i tell when to turn up the salinity level. my puffer is about 1 1/2 – 2 inches long, ive had him since he was only about 1 inch long. is it time? i have other fish in my tank? do you think they will mind the salt? i have a small 10 gallon not in use but i dont want to put him in there. ive never seen a full grown GSP so i wouldnt know the stages. help?
They dont get real big. I have yet to see one over 8″ish. What I do is gradually raise salinity every month or two. I would raise it like .001 monthly.
Depends on the other fish. For instance, Mollies can be acclimated to live in full marine.
Hi
I Have 3 puffer fish in a 170 Liter tank about 1 month. 2 died but that was before I added some sea salt.
One of them still got “the black belly” from time to time but he looks fine at the moment?
What would be the perfect water conditions for the puffers? And how do I check the water for p h , Ammonia and Nitrates? what do you use to check these things?
Please help me…
Go to your local fish store and buy a test kit.. I wouldnt worry about Ph as much as Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate, especially NITRATE as the only way to get rid of that is water changes.
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone had an experience like mine. I bought 9 green spotted puffers at Wal-Mart about 6 weeks ago because they were so cute. They had ick, so I treated them with salt and higher temperatures, and the ick went away. All seemed to be going Ok for several weeks – they were extremely enthusiastic eaters of bloodworms and mysis shrimp. Then today, I fed them some frozen tubifex in the afternoon, and 2 were dead by evening. No signs of anything on them, but I am worried about the rest. It is heartbreaking to lose one, let alone two in such a short period of time. Ammonia and nitrates are zero.
Thanks.
These kinds of things sadden me. Unless you have a rather large aquarium and adequate filtration 9 GSP’s is way to many. Numerous sites state even small GSP’s require a minimum of 20 gallons per fish. They are very messy eaters and produce alot of waste. What are your water parameters? Please dont say my water is fine. Do water tests and post results. What is your salinity? How often do you do water changes, etc?
I have a Q. I have two GSP. They are really active and they get feed regulaly. I know how to tell if they are stressed or there not but i have noticed something really bazziar. While i was cleaning there tank one of my puffers turned yellow his belly was still white. And he is moving around. I’m really scared i dont want to lose him. If you can help i greatly appreciate.
No need to double post. If it were my GSP’s I wouldnt worry about it. Watch your water parameters, see that they are still eating, and do your water changes….
WATCH FOR DIFFERENCES IN BEHAVIOR..
i bought a puffer fish at walmart and it isnt eating the food i give it i feed him some kind of tropical food it said it can be givin to any kind of fish but he aint eating it. also it always like goes to the top of the tank n like breathes in something then it goes all crazy like its having a spaz attack then it lays at the bottom of the tank and then like 3o minites later i check on it and its okay! help me please i dont no wut to do!!
Puffers need either frozen, live or soaked freeze dried foods. I have never seen them eat flake foods or pellet foods.
Have you checked your Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels? If not, do so, if you have what are they at?
How often do you do partial water changes?
I have a few questions. I bought 3 GSP and 1 figure 8. I am returning the figure 8 after reading up on them and the pet store guy telling me they’d be fine since they were in the same tank at the petstore. (not true!)
The GSP vary in sizes I got a really big one,med, and a small one I haven’t figured out the sizes yet. They are in a 40gallon tank mostly freshwater with cycle in it.
They came from brackish tank and I did the drip system into the tank when I got them with the water they came with. They are eating fine I got snails, frozen bloodworms[1 a day], and ghost shrimp in there.
but my question is how can I turn the freshwater tank more into a brackish tank. I noticed you said Marine salt mix and do a drip into it, but what should it be at 1.004? I am going to buy a hydrometer today and try and figure it out…
what do you think the cleaning should be? I was going to do a gravel vac cleaning and 20% water change weekly. I have an aqua clear filter for the size tank I need think it goes up to 50 gallon I was thinking of getting a bio wheel filter as well? would that be over kill?
That would be fine. Sounds like you have a good handle on things..
I have a question, we have had puffers for about 3 months now. We started off with 2 and lost 1 of them. We did alot more research and got the tank to where it needed to be for puffers. We have now added 2 Scats and 5 more puffers slowly. The original Puffer is still doing really well. The rest of then are doing pretty good except for one that has a black belly. I am wondering if we have to many fish on the tank; though? Would you reccomend getting rid of a few? I hate to get rid of any they are so cute and fun to watch! They do seem to get along well.
We have a brakish tank of SG 1.012. The tank is 75 gallons. Lots of dense plants some dry coral rock and a nice cave we made with rocks and slate.( they love that thing). A crushed argonite bottom. The ammonia is 0, nitrate, 10 nitrite 1-1.5. We change about 20 gallons weekly.
Sounds like you are on the right track. A black belly is a sign of stress. Personally, I think you might have too many puffers in the tank.. How large are they?
I have two green spotted puffers. One is doing just fine and I just went to check on them and the other one is at the bottom of the tank using its right and back side to swin. But there is some discoloration on its left side. What is going on with m puffer?
Does it look like the other one might have kicked its ass or has been picking on it?
Nope it doesn’t pick on it at all. The discoloration is kinda a white color. It’s moving the left side now too.
hmm, hard to say without actually seeing it. It could be stress related.
Well it ended up not making it today. Thank you for your help though.
Thats sad.
Hi there,
I know there r a lot of question u’ve been asked, but know I do have one too.
As so many as I could read here, I’ve bought spotted puffers at Wal Mart.
I bought the one which was swimming up right away to see me and also was very active. His fins r in a perferct codnition no nipping or anything else to see.
Of course – I took a second one, his tail fin is little bit nipped on but otherwise he was the best choice among the others.
They r now in a 30 gallon tank. After a week, I did see pretty much one on each fin of the puffers, one little white spot.
OK – that must be ick
After a day and the spots where still there I went to a local pet store to ask an they said it would be ick.
The guy sold me “Jungle Ick Guard” – of course I’ve used it right away, I was reading puffers could die because of ick within a few days, and red everything on the bottle afterwards – how smart !
There was standing not to use one scaleless fish.
They turned into a very sad grey with black spots after second time use. The yellow spot on top of their head going down to the back was still there. Thought that would mean they r happy when they do have that yellow spot.
Well I’ve learned different….
Today they r green again – tank god !!!
One has very pretty and clear black spots, the other one has only the clear black ones at the end of its tail. On its head and down his back it looks like a cloudy color almost like there would be a slimy film covering him, the spots r still black but not a clear, shiny black.
What could that be, did u ever had anything like that on ur puffers ???
I’ve bought him like that, but the other one looks so different and now I’m afraid he could be sick.
Both eat good……”slimy” is swimming up and down the glass tank wall most of the time, but also explores the rest of the tank.
The “clear” one is all over the tank and from time to time he joins “slimy” to swim up and down.
I’m a new owner for puffer fish, a regular freshwater tank we do have since 5 years. Right now I’m reading my butt off getting informations about puffer fish, but it’s allways best if u r able to ask someone with experience.
If u do have any suggestions for me, please let me know.
First off I wouldlike to say that all these people raggin on wal-mart over and over is not cool. It really makes no difference where you buy your fish from bvutthe level of care you give it!! It is not the stores fault YOU got a pet you lacked the knowledge to take care of!! REALITY check you want the animalits your responsibility to learn to take care of it PRIOR to buying it. I have been reaising various freshwater tropicals for over 18 years and have always done research on the fish before I buy it. regardless of Wal-mart or not!! some LFS dont know squat about pets either yet you deem them better than this that orthe other store. and although not recommended i have gotten sick fishand nursed right back to perfect health. I have two GPS and a figure eight all together in a 35 gallon tank and they are all flourishing under brackish conditions. also common sense would tell you since this happens with many fish not just puffs that a darker color change isnt anything good. also keep inmind thatwhen getting ready to make acclimations like fresh to brackish brackish to marine etc. it pays to keep a good eye on your fish andtry moving slower than recommended as not all GUIDELINES work for all fish they are unique just like you or me too not like a honda…. also dont try to run before you can walk… meaning dont try a fish that isnt for beginners if thats what you are…
I also have a green spotted puffer. I just cleaned it’s aquarium about 3 days ago and moved it back into there from a smaller one. It’s been in there for less than 24 hours and when I woke up this morning, it had a clear film over it’s eyes. It kind of looks like a little bubble. I’ve been trying to research this, but I keep coming across Ich or Velvet Disease. I’m not sure which to treat it for?
I just feed him and he ate a little, not nearly as much as he usually does. Also, I switched him back to the little holding tank we have set up for treatment. When I did so, he started to jitter and shake his body as if he were having seizures or something. He also keeps bumping into the glass.
So, help? Any suggestions?
It is not Ich, Ich are little white dots, very easy to diagnose. From the what you have posted it sounds like some kind of fungal infection. I would treat with a broad spectrum anti-fungal medication.
Well, I bought my puffers at walmart, and yes like many other pet stores, they have them in freshwater. I called another pet store at one time looking for snails, and that store said no they don’t need snails, they will be fine. and after looking around on the web for about 9 hours reading about puffers, it is obvious to me that many people have different opinions on the proper care of puffers. My problem with walmart is that they don’t specialize in caring for fish or pets. I have gone in four times in one week after I bought my puffers still to see the tanks not being cleaned out from dead fish only to gather more. It was always a different associate helping me and they had little knowledge to my questions. finally I called the store manager telling them I do not approve of the condition the fish have to live in. It’s like they throw food in the tank and just scoop them out throw em in a bag to sell them. no gravel, no plants, etc… I feel sorry for them and would consider buying them there again just to fix them up. however, a place like petsmart is better due to the fact that fish etc.. is their entire business so they are trained more properly in this area. and dedicate more time to properly care for them and their needs. how many times have you gone into petsmart and they asked you questions about your tank set up, size, how many fish you have etc…. walmart has never done this to me. just simply stating my opinion on that last post. I am greatful for this site after I have been researching and found this site, I now have made my decision on what the best care is for my puffers. And yes I bought them at walmart not doing my research first, my stupidity of course, however unlike many tropical fish, being how the puffer is so controversial on caring for them as it is, anyone selling the puffers should have a care sheet posted or warning . not just a lable saying ” green puffers, 4.57″ and throw them in a bag and say here you go!!!
I have saved a few puffers from Walmart over the years as well. Sometimes you just can’t help yourself. About a yr ago I was in walmart with the wife and as usual I had to just go look and see what they had.
There was this one lonely little green spot in a tank with three others that looked like they just recently died. He had the look of eminent doom and was begging to be saved. I had to take him. With a little extra care and the proper diet, etc he made it and is quite healthy and very happy..
I have 4 puffer’s since oct 2008. one of them I recently looked at him and has lost his weight or puff… hes all sunken in and looks sickly. they are in a 40gal brackish setup. everything checks out i’m not sure what it could be?
are they eating? How often are you doing water changes, etc?
Judy are your fish coming in brackish water or freshwater when they are coming from the pet store, I would suggest testing the water in the bag they come in to see what it is before you go to all the trouble of making it a brackish tank, I have 5 puffers and they do really well in freshwater, I have had no problems with keeping them solely in freshwater, that way you can have other fish in there with them like algae eaters and other fish, I have a 29 gallon tank with 4 puffers, a baby redtail catfish (who will later be removed when he starts to get bigger) a Plico and 2 goldfish, its seems to be a really good mix in my tank, because both the catfish and the plico keep the food residue and algae to non exsistance in my tank, the goldfish constantly are picking at the bottom stirring up what little food might be there and then the plico comes and cleans it all up. I have still not done a single water change since I have had them, it is Crystal clear and everyone in the tank is as happy as can be. I have never messed around with brackish water, and only lost one awhile back due to internal parasite. Hope this Helps!
hi i have four green puffers in and 120litre tank three of them are fine but one has turned quite dark and sits on the bottom of the tank not moving much has he got swimbladder disease? his belly is white by the way!! tested the water ammonia levels are 0 please help i dont want to loose him x
he didnt eat anything when i fed them last night either x
@frankie
Don’t be an idiot, where to buy a fish is one of the first things an aquarist should consider. The level of care a fish has received, and the way it has been raised, prior to buying it from a retail store, matters just as much as what you do when you get it home.