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I ended up getting a green spotted puffer from my bf lastnight. He is in almost fresh water now. I'm wondering how much salt he needs.

Also, im curious about his diet.

here is a video i made of him lastnight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie0u_JdP6Fo

puffers eat snails, blood worms, prawns/shrimp, small crustaceans, and sometimes pellets...

i suggest blood worms and snails, snails are a necessity, so you might want ot start a culture of them... with a few ramshorn or pond snails, a gallon or larger jar, and a piece of lettuce changed out everyay. set it in a window and you are good to go! you can pick up the lettuce and feed the puffer the snails that are on the lettuce piece... try to feed the larger snails too...
they sell blood worm dispensers that you hang in the tank and they slowly wiggle out and the puffers much as they please (best to use live worms for that)...

if you have any prized snails in the tank say bye bye because the puffer will make a meal out of them...

you can try other live foods such as glass shrimp and other worms if you please, but make sure you buy them from a reliable source.

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Thanks for the info!

I was researching them pretty much all day - found out they need salt and a lot of it - i put 5 tablespoons in when i got home from work.

Also - i fed him a shrimp with chopsticks. It was fun =D and he loved it!

Very nice fish. I love their faces. He's the only one in there now?

Saint Paul, Minnesota USA 20g Freshwater Started June 10th 2008
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Yesm, hes got the pad to himself. I just orderd 100 snails from aquabid - so we will be working on trimming that beak in a few days

Will he get this big?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDSJEw7NRdw&feature=related

Saint Paul, Minnesota USA 20g Freshwater Started June 10th 2008
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haha, maybe.. mine doesnt have the spines out all the time though - his skin looks smooth.

I dropped 5 small apple snails into the puffer tank. He torments them non stop, it's cute =D

glad hes doing well! keep him fed and that beak trimmed down and you should have him for a long time!

glad hes doing well. make sure you dont shock him with too much salt at once and make sure you are using the proper salt 9 if you ae supposed to use marine salt, then get some along with a hydrometer to keep the specific gravity measured...!)


\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Green Spotted Puffers do not get anywhere near as large as porcupine puffers, but they can get apparently reach almost 7". They do not have large spines like the porcupine puffers do.

Yes, you are supposed to use marine salt. If you are going to add something to the tank, especially something like salt, you need to be able to measure how much is in the tank; a hydrometer can do it but I'm a fan of refractometers if you're willing to put in the extra cash. They're much more convenient and more accurate. Add a little salt at a time so you don't shock him. I don't know how salty green spotted puffers need their water, though. I could go out on a limb and say 1.010, which is an average brackish condition (full saltwater is 1.025, for comparision).

Snails are going to HATE the salt, though, they'll die in hours, if they don't die in minutes.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I dropped 5 small apple snails into the puffer tank. He torments them non stop, it's cute =D

Make more videos of him!

Saint Paul, Minnesota USA 20g Freshwater Started June 10th 2008
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Lastnight I figured I would save the snails from being eaten.
I put them in my breeder tank and gave one of them to my bf, not knowing they were dead.

They are all floating this morning

I guess I can cross that off my list of life goals.....

55. Giving someone a dead animal as a pet

hahaha poobles. if you got them from petco or petsmart youmight be able to sneak their guarantee by taking in your breeder water as the test water... (your supposed to bring in a sample for them to check to make sure the water was safe for the animals)... if not you are surely a little out of pocket, but not too badly... if you really want to get some snails for the puffer to eait make sure their rams horn or pond snails as these rebreed better in a tank so you wont ever run out! (although dont put them all in with him, leave a handfull in a large jar to get a culture going and make sure you have never ending supplies!)

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Thanks for the info,

I actually bought 100 ramshorn snails off aquabid they should be here shortly.

Im wondering how to breed them propperly. I had put 25 mts snails into my breeding tank i think they all died - i havent seen any movement. Im not sure whats wrong.

well poobles MTS are gravel dwellers... they probably wont been seen much ever! the do come out at night a bit so you can try checking then...

as far as the rams horns, just put them in a healthy freshwater tank and let them do their thing! although they might be a pest in your tanks for fish so i might suggest a 5 gallon tub or somthing... all you really need to do is toss ing a few veggie clippings every morning and take them out at night... they will prolifically breed no matter what!

if you got different colored rams horns put them in different containers that way you can sell the excess snails on aquabid... and check for genetic purity so that you can have healthy and pretty things to sell (the unbpure can go in another tub or jar and breed for the puffers food!) i made the mistake of putting all the colored ones in one tank together and now they are all brwon and ugly! but if you dont care then its all good

make sure you maintain a good water quality for the snails and possibly add a calcium or iodine additive to the water so their shells grow nice and hard (that way your puffers beak gets nicely filed down!)

hows the puffer doing?
Swimmingly???


\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/puffers-in-focus/an-introduction-to-green-spotted-puffers/

An Article on GSP written by a former FP member who's specialty was puffers

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

ok, here is a new video of the puffer and me feeding him.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZnW6DUlO5Nw