Hello! I have always kept fish, even if at times it was only a
betta or two. I dearly miss my 20 gallon tank I had years ago, but for the last year I have had a 5 gallon and two 1/2 gallon. The 5gl had 2 Long-fin Zebra Danios, 1 Oto, and 1 Black Khuli Loach. The two 1/2gl each have a Betta.
On 7/11/09 I went into a
LPS and was surprised to see little Puffers in the
FW, not the
SW, section and quickly went to the store owner to ask questions. The main information I was given is that they are FW, will get to be 2-3", may nip my Danios' fins, and eat frozen bloodworms. I still was unsure and asked if I they sold fast or if I could maybe come back for one in a couple hours. Sadly, I had noticed they were bagging fish and it turns out they were shipping fish to their other store, which is far away, and all the Puffers would go too. Since there was no telling if or when the store would get them again I picked one out and brought him home.
I ended up taking the Danios to a store I knew would adopt them 7/13/09 morning because they got very fat from eating the frozen bloodworms I was giving the Puffer and I feared if it kept up they would explode.
When I got back I fed my Puffer and decided to Google what the store had called him (
green spotted puffer) to get more information about his care. I was shocked at what I found. Everyone says they need BW/SW and get 6". I was also saddened because this meant I could not keep the little 1" cutie.
I learned of the Dwarf while online and began calling all the stores I found on Yellowpages.com. I found two stores that carry Puffers, both currently sold out. The first only carried
GSP and Figure 8. The second carried all 3 usually. I went ahead and drove to the second store, since many of the other places I had called had referred them and I wanted to see their store and ask more questions.
I told the shopkeeper the information I found online and described my Puffer. They said from their experience that he would only get 3" and could live years in FW. He said if I see his stomach turn black, which could indicate stress, I could add a tablespoon of ocean salt per 5gl to help. I was sad to learn he may eat my Khuli though, since he looks like a worm. So, I got several small snails and went back home with hopes I could keep my Puffer.
On 7/14/09 I fed him some frozen bloodworms and yesterday and today I fed him 5 snails in the morning and some bloodworms at night. He has remained very happy and active with a white stomach. He already knows when I lift the opening in the lid it means food.
I am still confused about what exactly I have gotten myself into and want to do what's best for my Puffer, so I may get a single DP instead when they get more in (hopefully in a couple weeks they said). I tried to take some pictures of him, but I had some trouble getting okay pics since he woud not sit still and had to crop the pics to a size I could upload.
If you can tell from the pictures, then please let me know if he is a GSP or not. Advice is welcome too! Thank you for your time and assistance!!
Click on the link where I wrote 'green spotted puffer' and it will take you to an article on them that I wrote 
