Green Spotted Puffers
Posted by Sarah on April 18, 2008
While browsing at The Tropical Fish Shoppe last Friday, I came across a tank filled with adorable Green Spotted Puffers.
Jeff and I had originally considered getting green spotted puffers when we decided to get a puffer, so I was already familiar with their care requirements.
I’d just decided that I didn’t want any Shell dwellers, so I had a fish tank open, with no prospects.
We ended up getting two green spotted puffers, Spot, and Stripe.
I recently read that most dogs are now named “people” names, and the old fashioned names like Spot and Rover aren’t used any more, so I thought it would be funny to name one of the fish Spot.
Besides, they do say puffers are the dogs of the fish world.
Rover just didn’t seem like a good name for a fish, and Stripe has a little line of connected dots along his right side, so Stripe seemed like a good name.
I do keep calling him Spike (Spike is our male adult bushynose pleco), so we might have to change Stripe’s name.
Spot and Stripe are doing very well in their new home, although we are going to have to get some more plants to break up the line of sight so they don’t see each other as much.
Spot tends to chase stripe around, but we haven’t seen any evidence of biting yet.
Biting ususally causes black bruises where the puffer was bitten.
The day after we got the puffers home, Jeff decided he should hold some krill in the tank and wave it around to see if the puffers would eat it.
Spot wouldn’t come near it, but Stripe came out of nowhere to get the krill.
You should have seen how fast Jeff dropped it!
Now both of the Green Spotted Puffers will eat out of Jeff’s hands, although he is careful, since the puffer’s teeth could wound him.
Our Figure 8 puffer, 8-ball doesn’t eat out of Jeff’s hands yet, so Jeff is happy that the Green Spotted Puffers Do 
.
The picture above is a picture of Spot a couple of days after we got him. Isn’t he cute?
Do you have puffers?
What kind, how many, what are their names?
Leave a comment and tell us about them!
Benjamin said,
Hi there! My daughter and I rescued an adorable little guy from one of those huge chain MART type stores….you know….lol Anyway, the poor little guy was in a 5 gal. tank with 4 other fish, two of which were dead, and the other two which were larger were tormenting him badly.
We rescued him before we really knew what we were getting into, but with some ongoing research and quick tank adjustments, our little green spotted is recovering well and seems lively and happy! We have had him about 2 weeks now, his fins have healed and he doesn’t hide all the time. He is about 3 inches long, and eats freeze dried krill and I grow pond snails for him which he gets 3 or 4 three times a week. I put four ghost shrimp in with him 10 days ago, but he seems to have to interest in them. I see him toy with them, but he doesn’t eat them.
We named him Zoom and he currently he is in a 10 gal. tank with 2 gourami, 2 small goldfish, and a few split tail guppies and they all get along well….so far. I understand puffers get a little nippy, but so far he plays with the others but no one has lost any fins or other body parts. I know the 10 gal. is small, but I have plans to upgrade the tank right after the first of the year.
Thanks for the website and I will be back with updates soon! We love our puffer and hope to get him a friend soon.
Sarah said,
Hi Benjamin, I’m glad that Zoom is doing well.
My puffers ignored their ghost shrimp for a few weeks, then all of a sudden they decided to eat them.
If you do decide to get him a friend you might want to get two, to help spread the aggression out so one doesn’t get picked on all the time.
You might also want to keep the 10 gallon around in case the puffers do start to get aggressive.
I’e heard of someone who kept his puffers with mollies for a long time, then woke up to find that his favorite molly had been bitten in half.
I’m not trying to scare you – but I don’t want you or your daughter to lose a favorite fish.
Thanks for keeping us updated, that will be exciting.
I always love hearing about other fish, especially puffers.
Fred said,
Sarah said,
Welcome Fred, do you think all fish are ugly, or just the green spotted puffers?
cassie said,
hi! I have just adopted a figure 8 puffer. and i was wondering, how often do i need to feed him the ghost shrimp?? we bought a few, and put one into the tank with him, it was like watching the movie “Predator” lol. He toyed with him, taunted him, and finally went in for the kill!! lol!! as i do not want to over feed him, i was really hoping for some information! thank you! great site by the way!
Sarah said,
Hi Cassie, Puffers under one inch should be fed every day, and puffers over an inch should be fed every day.
They should also have variety.
Congrats on your new puffer!
I love Figure 8’s.
Trevor said,
I have 2 puffers a gigantic beast of a puffer called shrimp & a small puffer called galioth (LOL). Along with this i had a puffer that was about the size of shrimp yet still along the size line of galioth and he died due to poor water quality :C.The puffers live in a small tank yet they love to swim up and down in the corner.they also swim around the moniter for the tank.i have 3 tanks 2 fresh and 1 salt so i farm pond snales form 1 of the fresh fish tanks.my brother dared me to eat a large one for 20 dollers.i feed them live shimp from petsmart and petco.
P.S. FRED LIKES MEN!!!!!!!LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Sarah said,
Hi Trevor, welcome!
Did you eat the snail?
I wouldn’t do that for anything!
anonymous said,
In response to the ghost shrimp, they are a carrier of ick, which can kill puffers and is hard to treat with “over the counter” treatments of ick. These treatments kill the ick, but also kill the puffer as it burns their skin. Just be weary of mixing puffers with ghost shrimp.
Rachel said,
Hi, I am new to puffers and just got 3. I saw them at a pet store and they looked terrible. They weren’t in brackish water, there fins were ripped, and there tails were tucked against them and the stomachs were mostly black and they were with a bunch of tetras. I had an extra 15 gallon at home and took some water from another tank so it was all cycled and a filter, heater, and an airator and got some crushed coarl gravel to keep the pH low (is that ok? I heard they need a low pH and that coral will lower it). I have slowly been changing the water to brackish and they seem to be doing much better. I have been feeding them bloodworms and small snails and am hatching some brine shrimp eggs for them. They are about an inch and a half right now and I know they need a much bigger aquarium soon and plan to get atleast a 30 gallon if not bigger and if I am unable to I will bring them to a really good fish store specializing in fish and reptiles that will take care of them. But for now any pointers on how to keep them happy and healthy would be great!
Thanks!
Sarah said,
Hi Rachel,
Good luck with your puffers.
I wouldn’t try to change the ph or the salinity too much nowat once, since the puffers are obviously stressed and unhealthy. It’s recommended to only change the salinity .002 per week, so the puffers have time to get used to the change.
My puffers really liked krill, and that and the snails will help keep their beaks trimmed.
Unfortunately, in my experience once the puffers stomachs turn black they don’t make it too much longer.
Good luck with your puffers – please keep me updated.
I’m scared to get more because of all the bad experiences I’ve had.
teagal said,
I have 1 green spotted puffer who my boyfriend named SPOT and then I have a circle 8 puffer I call Runt.
He is the runt of the litter.
I love my little puffer friends and hope to keep them many years.
They like bloodworms and shrimp best (so far).
Spot is the pig of the 2. He gets the shrimp before it hits the water . . ha ha ha
Sarah said,
Teagal,
They sound so cute!
Jeff makes 8-ball, our Figure 8 puffer chase the shrimp around when he puts it in. He’s so funny looking swimming after it as fast as he can.
Jennifer said,
I just bought a 10 gal tank & 4 green spotted puffers about 3 weeks ago. (I started out with 1 puffer and 2 mollies…but the mollies were the ones tormenting the poor puffer….so we took them back and got 3 more puffers.) I feed them freeze dried krill and they just go nuts for them. Mine are only about an inch long each…so still young. I am curious as to why my tank gets cloudy so fast (within 3 days of cleaning), and why they hover the bottom back corners of the tank…They were pretty lively for the first 2 weeks, but the past few days since I cleaned the tank, they hide and for the most part only come out to eat or when they are hungry. They don’t have any physical signs of ick…but I noticed 2 of them rubbing on the plants and rocks…I’m worried. My daughter and I love these fish, and she would be devistated if they died. I have a heater that is set at 78*F, so I don’t think they are cold, but that is one area they hover a lot, next to the heater. I have the aquasafe, stresszyme, and easybalcance for their tank, and follow the directions very carefully (I remember all the work my father put into his tanks when I was growing up). We welcomed these little guys into our family like one of us, just like our cat, so if we were to loose them would be hard, especially for my 3yr-old daughter. Please help!!!
Sarah said,
Hi Jennifer.
If you have green spotted puffers then the tank is very overcrowded (they can get up to 6 inches), and that’s probably why the tank gets so cloudy so fast.
You probably haven’t undergone a full Nitrogen cycle if you recently started the tank, and since puffers are so sensitive it’s recommended that they only go into a fully cycled tank.
How are you cleaning the tank?
Are you just changing a percentage of the water once a week, and treating the new water with Prime or another dechlorinator?
If the puffers aren’t eating all of their food and the food is decaying that could be contributing to cloudy water as well.
78-82F is a good temperature range for green spotted puffers, so the temp should be good.
They may just hover by the heater because it provides more cover – it might not have anything to do with them being cold.
I’m not familiar with aquasafe, stresszyme,or easybalance, but it looks like stresszyme and easybalance both help the bacteria and biological filters.
If I were you, I would stop using them and use Prime to decholorinate the fish tank.
I’d also change 25% of the water each week or whenever the tank started looking cloudy until it got back on track, then I’d start doing the changes every 2-4 weeks.
If the fish were stressed by that large of a water change I’d do smaller more frequent changes until the fish started acting healther and the tank stopped getting cloudy.
Of course if the problem doesn’t clear up in a couple of weeks, and you’re sure the cloudiness isn’t caused by the water you’re using to change the tank I’m not sure what I’d do.
Anyone else have any suggestion?
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