i bought the puffer and his belly is black. he has been in there a week and now his belly w its spotting white is that normal? he only have one other tank mate a smaller green spotted puffer. since i have added the new little one to the tank the larger one hides allot. am i doing something wrong?
Green Spot Puffer
- Thread starter Gilbertg78228
- Start date
If you are working with Green Spotted Puffers (GSPs), T. Nigroviridis, you should understand that they are a brackish to marine fish.. Although they can live as juveniles and short-term in freshwater, they need high amounts of salt to do well.
A black belly is a sign of these types of puffers being stressed. It should be pure white. If its black with white spotting like you say, it might be T. fluviatilis or sabahensis, but not likely as they are usually harder to come by.
There is a good chance your puffer has internal parasites, as they are very common in juvenile GSPs.
More than likely it is due to poor water quality, lack of tank size and simulation, and some other underlying stress or poor quality to begin with.
Do you add salt?
Do you have any ammonia, nitrite, or nitrates?
What size tank?
How many decorations?
What are you feeding?
You might check out **************.com, as they are experts in puffer husbandry and will be able to set you off on the right foot.. but if I were you I would do alot more reading next time before deciding you want to try GSPs again.. (I am speaking in past tense because this puffer will probably die, sorry, just being honest.)
A black belly is a sign of these types of puffers being stressed. It should be pure white. If its black with white spotting like you say, it might be T. fluviatilis or sabahensis, but not likely as they are usually harder to come by.
There is a good chance your puffer has internal parasites, as they are very common in juvenile GSPs.
More than likely it is due to poor water quality, lack of tank size and simulation, and some other underlying stress or poor quality to begin with.
Do you add salt?
Do you have any ammonia, nitrite, or nitrates?
What size tank?
How many decorations?
What are you feeding?
You might check out **************.com, as they are experts in puffer husbandry and will be able to set you off on the right foot.. but if I were you I would do alot more reading next time before deciding you want to try GSPs again.. (I am speaking in past tense because this puffer will probably die, sorry, just being honest.)
ok `the one with the dark belly is about 2.5 inched and the smaller one is just over an inch. they are in a 50 gallon tank. i have one table spoon of Marine Salt per gallon. i have not tested the tank yet. it was running for about a week before i put them in. the bigger one with the dark belly was the first to be in there. his belly looked rather empty so i game him about 20 ghost shrimp. he eat all of them and was swimming all around the tank most of the time. he really liked playing in the bubble wand i have in there. well when i put the smalled one in there a week after i had the larger one in there. his whole routine changed, now he hides and his belly is dark again. i have ghost shrimp in there for food. i know he has been eating but his belly isn't getting large like the small one is. i figured he was sick or stressed. what can i do? i will post pics as soon as i can.
Good sized tank. Good starting salinity.
Ammonia spike is my guess..
Although your tank ran for a week, you hardly had any good bacteria established. When you had a single puffer in the tank, it was not a big issue, as the bacteria was developing. When you added the second puffer, and started feeding more often, it caused a spike in Ammonia.
It takes 4-6 weeks to establish good bacteria.. and although you may have established a small amount of bio-filter, not enough to handle the puffers. You only have as much good bacteria present in your bio-filter, as ammonia that has been released consistently over the last few weeks.
Ammonia is more toxic the higher your pH. Adding marine salt increase your pH to around 8.3-8.5, making Ammonia extremely toxic.
Puffers don't seem like they would put off alot of waste, but they do. It may seem like you have a huge tank in comparison to the fish, but they are messier than you think. Cut back feeding. They always beg for food. Feed them freeze-dried krill very sparingly while trying to re-establish the tank.
Start doing water changes, make sure the salinity of your water is the same that your changing. Swings in salinity can kill off your good bacteria.
I would recommend adding a combination of chemicals by Seachem. Prime to neutralize your Ammonia, Nitrite.. and Stability to help establish your bio-filter.
Good luck.
Ammonia spike is my guess..
Although your tank ran for a week, you hardly had any good bacteria established. When you had a single puffer in the tank, it was not a big issue, as the bacteria was developing. When you added the second puffer, and started feeding more often, it caused a spike in Ammonia.
It takes 4-6 weeks to establish good bacteria.. and although you may have established a small amount of bio-filter, not enough to handle the puffers. You only have as much good bacteria present in your bio-filter, as ammonia that has been released consistently over the last few weeks.
Ammonia is more toxic the higher your pH. Adding marine salt increase your pH to around 8.3-8.5, making Ammonia extremely toxic.
Puffers don't seem like they would put off alot of waste, but they do. It may seem like you have a huge tank in comparison to the fish, but they are messier than you think. Cut back feeding. They always beg for food. Feed them freeze-dried krill very sparingly while trying to re-establish the tank.
Start doing water changes, make sure the salinity of your water is the same that your changing. Swings in salinity can kill off your good bacteria.
I would recommend adding a combination of chemicals by Seachem. Prime to neutralize your Ammonia, Nitrite.. and Stability to help establish your bio-filter.
Good luck.
ok thanks for the info. i will try and get some pics up tomorrow. question would some monos and a snow flake eel be good tank mates for them? what temp should the water be?
Yeah Monos, (both work well with Puffers {sebae, & argentius)- both along with your spotted puffer will need increased salinity when adult. Half to full strength sea water. Specific gravity between 1.012 and 1.025-- ideally at 1.018. get a good hydrometer or refractrometer (measures salinity) -0--- when young slightly brackish (sp.g 1.005) gradually increase salinity as fish get older.
75 liter Brackish tank with
3 jewel cichlids
1 common spotted puffer
4 monos sebae
1 scat
all juveniles
75 liter Brackish tank with
3 jewel cichlids
1 common spotted puffer
4 monos sebae
1 scat
all juveniles
very nice... i am thinking about getting 3 gsp's with alot of hiding spots and just make a show out of it......keep up the good work keeping them healthy and for the spots on your puffer that could be anything from fin rot to just the way the little guy normally looks so I say u should look it up.