Green Spotted Puffer Fish

[Joluko]

I just made the mistake of purchasing some Green Spotted puffers. I say mistake because I didn't realize how aggressive they were. Right now they are the only 3 fish in an 180 gal tank. Would anyone here happen to know what other fish types I can safely mix in with these guys?

Thx a bunch.

Jol.

[FMarini]

Hi;
you mean these little (under 4' long) sharp nosed puffers?? (Canthigaster sp) or did you purchase a brackishwater green puffer by accident?
i ask becuz valentini puffers or spotted tobies are not aggressive and actually hide quite a bit. So unless the other fish are food items they should NOT be aggressive.
This is a big problem using common names, your green spotted puffer could be some other fish.
Go to fishbase.org and search for toby (using the common names). Is your spotted green puffer one of these??
Lastly please provide some more info, like what are the other fish, and any additional info which maybe helpful.

Lastly, if this puffer is tearing things up...remove him.simple enuf
HTH
frank
PS there aren't too many marine green spotted puffers, so its probably a Toby

[Joluko]

Brackish would be the key word here. Unfortunately I did not realize this till after purchase time as well. Fortunately though, I have read of numerous accounts of them being kept in full marine without any problems.

My only concern at this point is what other fish I can put in the tank with them. There is currently no other fish in the tank. These puffs have the whole 180 to themselves for the time being; at least until I find something that can get along with them ok.

[kayla]

Hi there.
I just wanted to write and say that I have a green spotted puffer (yes, the brackish green spotted puffer.) in my reef tank and he is very peaceful. He doesn't hurt anyone at all. I even have inverts in that tank. He even lets the cleaner shrimp crawl all over him. And yes, I did know he was a brackish fish when I got him, but he was not doing very good in the brackish tank. So, I had read in a magazine that they like full strength salt just as well as brackish, so I transfered him to my reef. And he has improved so much since then. He looks like a little fat ping pong ball now. :) Although I can't promise all green spotted puffers are reef safe, mine has been great so far. Although, he does like to pick bugs from the sand bed, but it is so worth it because he is now my favorite fish. Hope this helps some. But, yeah, I think your puffer would be fine in full strength salt water. Good luck.
Kayla

[Joluko]

Thx for the feedback! ;) It's been two days and they seem to be doing quite well. I did have trouble getting them to eat though, well, at least until I tried the chicken. WOW! :eek: They ate that down like mini-parahnas. Lol. So far my two snails are doing ok too. Guess I'll just have to keep an eye on them. They are definately "adorable" if you can say that about fish.

Best Regards,
Joluko

[kayla]

The two snails you referred to in your last post, are they turbo snails? If so, you shouldn't have much to worry about. My puffer does bite at them (to grind his teeth down...I assume you know their teeth continue growing and must be ground down by biting on objects such as shells.) But the good thing about turbo snails is that their shells are quite thick and hard and my puffer has not been able to do any damage to them. As far as food goes, mine is quite a picky eater too. About the only thing I can get him to eat (besides, the bugs and stuff from the sand bed) is krill. I will have to try chicken as you had mentioned. How was that chicken prepared or did you just feed it to him raw? I would of never thought of feeding him that! Good thinking. :) Well, please keep me posted as to how your little guy is doing. And yes, I find puffers quite adorable!
Kayla

[Joluko]

Yes, two small turbos. So far they're ok....well, I'll find out when I get home.

I had read somewhere of someone doing the chicken thing so i gave it a shot. Didn't have any raw but I had some the maid just finished cooking so I washed it "thoroughly" under tap to get off all the cooking spice, etc.. I then ripped it up to small "pinched" strands and put it in the tank. I also took off the outer skin just before I washed it to make sure no butter or junk got digested. Just plain chicken.

Wow. You'd think they hadn't eaten in a year. It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen watching those bellies bloat up...

Even if I don't keep em in this tank...I'm definately keeping them.


Regards,
Joluko
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