CathyGo
Fish Fanatic
I am now the not so proud owner of an EXTREMELY skinny green spotted puffer. I only have a 20g tank with fish who's fins he'd shred so he will need a new home that can accommodate him. I got him from a WalMart today. They started out with 12 gsp in okay shape 3 weeks ago and when I went in today he was the last one alive and VERY skinny. His belly is completely pinched in. I've never seen a fish this skinny that's still alive. They are trying to get their fish section sorted out(too many deaths) and promised me they weren't ordering puffers or dragon fish again since they all died and the puffers starved. I normally don't do a pity purchase but since he was the last one and they'd already agreed to not order anymore I didn't see much harm in at least trying to save him. I already provided him with a bunch of snails(he needs those right?) and will give him some frozen food later. Is there anything else I can do for him? He's isolated in a kritter keeper within my 20g to save my other fish. He's about 1-2 inches long right now. I'd keep him(so much personality!) but I can't get another tank. My tank is freshwater with a tbls of aquarium salt added.
Any suggestions or adoption offers welcome. If somebody in the El Paso/Ft. Bliss area wants to take him off my hands I'd be very grateful.
Any suggestions or adoption offers welcome. If somebody in the El Paso/Ft. Bliss area wants to take him off my hands I'd be very grateful.
I bought a divider to give him more room and better filtration. One of my killies keeps squeezing through a tiny gap in the divider but the puffer mostly ignores him. I stuck some extra hornwort in that side to give the killifish someplace to hide. He's so much more interesting than my other fish but I'm not ready for brackish and need a tank that can survive up to a week on it's own because of military obligations. I have an auto feeder that serves my other fish well but it won't work for the puffer.
I walked in today and found 3 had already died. They also had "Mixed Fruit Tetras" which are DYED fish. I observed a lot of fish had died in the less than 12 hours since I had last been there. The tank temp was 80-82 degrees without much surface agitation. I could see fish gasping at the surface and just laying on the bottom breathing rapidly. I called their corporate and complained while I was still standing in front of the tanks. 1 800 WAL-MART is their phone number if anybody else wants to join me in complaining about their practice of selling gsp and dyed fish. Not sure how much good it will do but it's worth 5 minutes of my time while I'm waiting for the bus. 
