Green spot puffer

[AlexsDaddy]

I stopped in an lfs that I recently found. Was the first time that I had been in there. They had a green spot puffer and I instantly fell in love. It was so cute!! Had this little smile on his face and everything! I have never had experience with a BW tank before, and was wondering if a gsp would be a good BW fish to start out with. I have read that puffers are really sensitive to their environment, and am concerned that with just starting out with BW, I might do something wrong and kill the poor guy. I have a 15g tall that I would like to use, but this might be a bit small as it's footprint is only 20" x 10". I have also fellen in love with the figure 8's. They are smaller so one of these might be better in this tank. I want to set it up with sand and live plants with a home made CO2 reactor, and some blue stone caves. Does anyone have any good sites that I can look at so I can continue my research? I have found a few, but more would be quite welcome. Has anyone used blue stone in an aquarium? I don't know the technical term for it. My dad calls it pennsylvania blue stone. Remember when you were a kid, you used to pick up stones and scribble or wright on other stones with it, well blue stone, well, wirtes blue. I just really like puffers, and don't want to do wrong by them. Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any and all advice!!!

 

[cluster]

i bought one today

 

[AlexsDaddy]

What size tank do you have? Do you know alot about them? Sorry, but I really want to learn as much as I can before I take the plunge. The SG is around 1 for them right. I'm gonna do another search on google and see what else I come up with. Thanks.

 

[cluster]

i dont know a WHOLE lot about them, but i been reading up on them alot and he is in a 29G

 

[AlexsDaddy]

What sites have you been looking at. I can't seem to find any. Thanks.

 

[cluster]

i look around this site and just google green Spotted Puffer and a few links come up

 

[SirMinion]

Ok, Greenspot Puffers require:

• Brackish Water, geting stronger as they mature and can go all the way to full marine. Only babies live in freshwater.
• Live or frozen meaty foods
• crunchy foods (like snails) to wear down their teeth
• Very very clean water, preferably with a current.

Like all puffers they are aggresive, with the level of aggresion increasing with age. Because of this they cannot be kept with other most fish as they will kill them, although small plecos are usually left alone.

They are very prone to viral, bacterial & fungal infections, but are very sensitive to medications making them hard to treat.
Melafix is 100% safe though.

 

[Zombies]

As long as you do your research, make sure the tank is cycled with the salt added then their ok to start out with. I did a Brackish tank just for those puffy faces. Only thing is I had troubles finding plants that are good for the tank since they eventually go full marine.

 

[CFC]

A SG of 1.000 is freshwater so GSP certainly need it higher than that, a SG of 1.005 would be the bare minimum and this should be increased as the fish grows until eventually being between 1.018 and 1.020.
Plants are pretty much out in a brackish aquarium unless you use fake ones, some hardy plants can tolerate the milder brackish water up to a SG of around 1.006 but above this only Java fern will grow and that too starts to wilt in conditions above 1.012.

 

[andywg]

Little bit off topic, but...

I know they grow big and need pruning and could take up half the tank, but don't mangroves grow ok-ish in brackish tanks. I know a lot of salties use them as nitrate filters and seem to recall reading somewhere that they can be used in brackish and even FW.

However, I await a response to tell me I'm wrong

But I do realise that in a 20" X 10" it would not grow in a way that would look fantastic (and I think you need a fair amount of room above the water).

HTH

 

[CFC]

Live mangroves will grow very well in brackish water but are difficult to get going as they need masses of light, really they require a ceiling suspended metal halide lamp of around 250w or more. They also require you to have to leave the top of the tank uncovered which means that any fish with a temdency to jump will quickly end up on the floor which poses a problem choosing stock. Finally due to the size they grow to the minimum sized tank you can even think about growing mangroves in is a 80g as the root systems will quickly spread and could crack smaller tanks.

 

[AlexsDaddy]

So my tank will end up being too small for a green spot then. Maybe I'll go with a figure 8 then. They are cute little guys too and are "supposed" to only get to 2.5 inches. I have read that they can be aggressive and territorial as well, so probably only one then. Thanks everybody!

 

[cluster]

im doing research on putting the GSP in my 20G till spring then he will be moved to a 35G but would he be ok...for 3 months? the 35G will be SW so i would wait till he hits 4" in the 20G