he ate himself to death...

[jackdp]

This morning I wake to find our pictus catfish stuck to the filter intake. He has been around for at least 7-8 years. I can't help but think that 2 days ago I bought some new sinking pellets for him. Upon dropping 3 into the tank, he immediately swallowed them whole (he was a big boy about 3-4 inches). On the bright side, he was only in a 15 gallon tank and has kept it for himself these past 5 years and would terroize and/or eat everything else we put in. So now we can expand our horizons again. Anyone ever keep green spotted puffers? Can they do well in a 15 gallon tank?

 

[m_e23]

Everything I've read says the require at least 30 gal. Plus they eventually need full marine conditions.

 

[Jarred Darque]

yeah spotteds will need a larger tank tehy ned to start out in brackish conditions, and be slowly moved to full marine conditions before full growth is achieved

 

[jackdp]

Thanks, maybe I'll look into dwarf puffers. I'll have to see if the LFS ever gets them in.

 

[joannde]

I just got dwarf puffers today - at Petsmart of all places.
I'm so sorry about your Pictus. I had one years ago and he was by far my favorite fish. I'll never forget the time he got stuck in the net and barked at me; I felt so bad and we were both very happy when I got him unstuck .... I still think of that fish from time to time ....

 

[kmgriff72]

If your fish was 7-8 yrs old, maybe he was just old and died.

 

[EXM]

Kmgriff72 may be correct but I keep guppies and have often over fed them with the result of them eating beyond the point of them errupting their guts.

 

[3newbie3]

question for KXM--how exactly do guppies "errupt their guts". You're kidding, right?

 

[EXM]

No, they would eat so much that their stomaches would rupture from intake and would die shortly after. I am not kidding you.

 

[coldmachineUK]

Sorry to hear about the pictus loss Could be old age as someone said, but possibly the wafers didn't go down too easily. Sometimes we plan for things but there's no way we can think of everything so don't blame yourself

On the GSP front: you'd need 30G minimum for one (they grow to 6" or so), and they need high end brackish conditions (1.015 S.G. or thereabouts).
You might want to start with something like DPs like someone has said, or with a 15G you could try your hand at a Figure Eight puffer (it'd need a bigger home eventually but would be fine in a 15G for the short term depending on size). They're beautiful little things

 

[Mudfrog]

I lost a Grunting Toad Fish this way, only had him one week. It was around 5-6" long and it never seemed satisfied with guppies so I through in 4 Rosies and the next morning they were all gone and there was a Rosie's tail hanging out of it's mouth. It was a cute little guy too..