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It's only been a day so far, but I'm curious as to whether anyone has run into puffers that do not eat other fish. My roommate just purchased three green spotted (aka leopard) puffers from the local petco (about 1-1.2" in length each), and was intending on keeping a species tank (so that we could watch them hunt the goldfish, as we've seen the LFS do with a couple other species, although slightly larger - those puffers were quite vicious!).

After adding some aquarium salt and adjusting the temperature, the puffers were added to a cycled 20gal with a goldfish and a guppy.. and nothing has happened so far! Any ideas as to whether we've been caught in the opposite situation of most (wanted vicious, got passive - whereas most want the reverse)?

Overall, green spots do tend to be less aggressive than some of the other species of puffers. However, as they grow and mature, over the next 10-15 years if kept properly, their personality may change and they may become much more vicious.

I would highly recommend reading this article about them, it will give you good advice on keeping them happy and healthy.

Just curious, how long have the puffers been in the tank with the fish?

I've only kept dwarf puffers, but I ended up with a pair that were very very peaceful. Recently the female died and the male seemed quite lifeless without her. Since I was doing some arranging with my tanks anyhow I took a chance and put him in my guppy fry grow out tank. He's been so much more active now, eating better, and watching him you'd think he believes he's one of them

Ok...is the goldfish in this tank supposed to be a feeder? If not, goldfish get too large for a 20g, are cold water fish, and I'm not sure how they tolerate salt.

There is actually a spotted puffer and a green puffer...[link=this link]http://puffernet.tripod.com/confusion.html" style="COLOR: #FFCC99[/link] helps identify the differences. Since you also mentioned the name leopard puffer it I think you may have T. fluviatilis.

Apparently they are brackish to full marine puffers. Guppies can tolerate some salt but I don't think to the extent that the puffers require.



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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Actually, that link is very incorrect. Both species pictured are T. nigroviridis. Unfortunately that particular site is full of incorrect information about keeping puffers.

T. fluviatilis actually looks like this.

However, I did overlook the fact that you have three in a 20 gallon. These puffers should really have 30 gallons each to live happy and healthy lives. They are very messy fish and create a huge bioload, as they grow to six inches,they would be too much for a 20 gallon to handle.

Theresa_M is correct, as they grow up, they prefer high end brackish (~1.018) to full marine conditions and really seem to do best when provided with them.

Also, goldfish and any other feeder fish are not really good for puffers as they are very fatty and over time will cause liver problems and eventually death. Again, I would recommend reading the article about them that I provided in my last post.

HTH

Thanks for the links, I'll definitely pass them on for my roommate to look at. Now I'm not sure which puffers we have! Looking at the pictures, it seems as if you're right and the green puffer is the most likely match.. I'll have to take a look when I get back to the apartment. I wonder if he may have more than one species, since I did notice that one was much brighter than the others (although I know this could be for reasons other than a different species).

The goldfish is indeed intended to be a feeder, although nothing has really happened so far to indicate that it will actually be eaten. The guppy is also a small feeder guppy and was intended to be eaten in case the goldfish feeder was too big. It is also still swimming around!

the only puffers I've seen for sale at Petco have been T. nigroviridis, or the green spotted puffer. I'd be very surprised if you had real t. fluviatilis (green/topaz/ceylon puffer) as they are very rare in the hobby.

The puffernet link lists three different puffers, shoutedeni, fluviatilis, and nigroviridis, however, all the pictures provided on that page are of the same exact species, t. nigroviridis. They are variants within the species, but are all the same. T. shoutedeni is almost never seen in the hobby any more, t. fluviatilis (green/topaz/ceylon) is very rare here in the US, it took me over six months to find one. T. nigroviridis, the green spotted puffer/leopard puffer, is by far the most common, and probably the puffer that you have, even if the individuals look a little different.

Check out http://www.pufferlist.net]http://www.pufferlist.net[/link] for more information and everyone is welcome at [link=The Puffer Forum

Last edited by puffer_archer at 20-Apr-2005 14:57

Puffers, in general are notorious for individualistic behavior, i.e. the species as a whole can't be confined to one set of behaviors.
However, many puffers as they grow larger and more confident in their environment, turn into grumpy old men, and simply kill (but not for food!) any other tankmates. This usually happens at night, and the owner comes down the next morning to find bits of former tankmates floating around, and a very innocent looking puffer!

Secondly fish in general and goldfish in specific are the -worst- thing you can give a green spotted puffer (T.nigrovidis, aka GSP. GSPs are molluscivores, eating shrimp, snails and clams. Fish are high in fat and will cause liver damage if fed for a prolonged time to a GSP.

Puffernet - while I give the guy credit for trying to clear up some myths and get some facts out about puffers, there is a lot of bad data at that site, and weeding it all out is a big task. If youre looking for good information about puffers, wetwebmedia, http://www.pufferlist.net, and http://puffer.proboards2.com/index.cgi?board=general are the best sources out there, with links to other good sources also.

thanks for all of the information - my roommate actually ended up getting two more puffers (and may return the spotted when everyone gets to grow a bit more) - they're all about 1" i would suppose. the newest ones are unidentified (we will need to look into it) from the LFS, but very active hunters even at their small size. i will also have him look at the extra links you have passed on. he's definitely keeping it a puffer tank (if any other kind of fish goes in there, it's because it's going to be a feeder!). i think he will end up keeping the previous 3 and feed them the recommended diet (although they did try to tear away pieces of the fish after the two new ones killed them) as long as he can, as well. thanks very much for all of the help, info and links!

Last edited by ookluh at 21-Apr-2005 01:46

Are they brackish or freshwater?

Kim

the new ones are definitely brackish, and the prior ones are kept with them in the brackish water as well. both species seem to be doing quite well so far.

So you have five puffers in a 20 gallon tank? That's majorly overstocked, especially since at least 3 of them grow fairly large. You really need to take some of them back. Plus, if you don't know what the new ones are, how can you be so sure that they are brackish water?

I was refering to the new ones.

Kim

BW is not made with aquarium aslt. Please read the GSP article you were linked to & read up on BW too.