Puffers

Whats the water perimeters that you guys keep your puffers at?

My mother has a 10 gallon tank with some puffers, and she keeps loosing them. I personally think its where she bought the puffers that is the problem, I have always had fish die with in weeks of getting them from that place (i think they inject the fish with growth horomones, havnt proved it yet though).

Right now her PH is at 7.8
Salinity: 2.6
Water Temp: 77
Nitrates and Ammonia are 0 (just checked like an hour ago)

Any tips would be great ; )

What type of puffers are they and have you asked the retailer what salinity they're keeping them at? Do you drip them into the tank and if so over how long a period?

They are my mothers, I do not know how she acclimated them. I also have no clue what breed they are. The retailer she bought them from, are pathetic, my little cousin knows more about how to keep fish then they do. ; )

So it would not surprise me if they didn't have any salinity in their tanks at all.

Are they the little tiny dwarf puffers? These guys are pretty distinct because they top out a little over an inch. I have yet to see a place that keeps them in brackish and have never found anything definitive stating they needed it. I've always kept my dwarfs in full fresh and they've done great. How long do they generally live after she gets them? Now, if they're green spots or figure 8's you definately want to find out how the store is keeping them. Some start them in fresh other's go straight to brackish. It probably depends on the supplier's conditions as these species can both migrate between the two. The only other species I've ever seen for sale(other than the true cut and dried saltwater species) was a "neon green puffer". It was a gorgeous fish but I never did get a positive i.d. on it's species or care requirements. I brought it home and kept it in freshwater. It did great for about a year then crashed fast so my guess it that it was another migratory species. Does you mom by any chance have a picture of one or could she google search and try to find on similar?

They have green spots.



Like the one in that pic.
My mother is computer illiterate so that doesnt help lol

She has lost 4 so far, generally they died 1-2 weeks after she bought them. I found a local breeder and got two more for her, they are kept in 2-3.5 PPT which is what we are keeping them at now, and they are doing fine.

I'm just figuring that it was the place she was originally buying them from. No matter who I talk to, they always have problems buying fish from that place, they just up and die. So it might be that retailer, I told my mother to stay away from them and stick to our regular LFS or recommended breeders.

sticking with a place you can trust is always your best bet.

had trouble a when i started a puffer tank. added a powerhead with bubbler attatchment and doubled my salt since they are brackish..... living great

wow i always liked the puffers tho, Good pic btw legion!!

throw some salt all up in that tank!!! as they mature puffers NEED to be introduced more and more to saltyer waters! a full grown adult puffer is pretty much a SW fish when ist fully grown
another thing about GSP (green spotted puffers) is that they are really aggressive towards others even their own kind. that can prolly be another reason why theyre dying. every time i see em in the LFS theyre fins are torn they have bite marks all over em and they get sick pretty quick ( at least thats what iv heard) so its kinda best to get them a BIGGER tank! or to get rid of a cpl! the less of them in that lil 10g the less agressivness

Thanks for the tips!