I screwed up / spotted puffer fish

[ZomB]

So i went to my LFS yesterday & on a whim bought 4 green spotted puffers that were on offer....probably because they looked really cute. I usually read up on fish that im going to buy but in this case i didnt...big mistake. This is the species i got.

I really like these fish & they’re probably my favourite species that ive added to the tank. My main dilemma now is that my water is not brackish & i dont think ill be able to change to brackish. Here's what i currently have in my 55 (us) gallon tank;

4x green puffer fish
2x pictus catfish
2x zebra loaches
2x chinese algae eaters
5x mollies

I know that mollies prefer brackish conditions but would the other fish be able to tolerate the change?

Ive also noticed that overnight 3 of my mollies now have rips in their top fins. A few of the mollies have been quite aggressive in the tank so im thinking that they got aggressive with the puffer fish & got nipped. So part 2 of my dilemma is a lack of a quarantine tank & its something that i cant really afford to get at present. So will the fins need treating or should i wait for signs of disease before taking action?

Im still quite new to this so any help/advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Terrance]

Forget about turning your tanking into brackish water. Return the puffers and try to get your money back. Your 55 will barely fit 2 adult GSP.

 

[siva]

Mollies don't necessarily prefer brackish, but can definitely be acclimated to it. Your other fish cannot be however. Sadly even without all those other fish, the tank isn't big enough for just the 4 puffers.

 

[Terrance]

So i went to my LFS yesterday & on a whim bought 4 green spotted puffers that were on offer....probably because they looked really cute. This is the species i got.

Dang.. even the pic on the link looks adoring. I almost did the same thing when I saw them at walmart a few years ago.

 

[napow]

if I were you, I would definitely return the puffer... to tell the truth I'm actually glad 2 of my puffer just died cause they been nipping 97% of all my fishes fin and kill over 50% of my fishes that I well always have to keep going to the pet store to get replacement... now I can get more fishes without worrying bout their fin and who well be next on the puffer kill list... lol jk they're pretty cute and adorable but such a mess and need lots of space for territories...)) I don't mind getting them again but I perfer not at the moment...

 

[leek86]

You definately need to return those puffers, they need a recommended 30gal of water per fish, gsp are not a good community fish, need high brackish, and do well in marine when adult. Now I said you need to return the puffers, you could return 2 and get rid of all the other fish and hope for the best with the 2 gsp's.

The sg for them needs to be about 1.015, how ever you cant just jump to this, you should only raise the salinity by 0.002 per week.
Puffers also need a crunchy diet, you should be feeding meaty foods, shrimp preferably raw with the shell, aquatic snails (not mts as shell is too hard), and other such foods.

I wish you all the luck in the world with the gsp, Id love them but I know I cant give them the requirements they need right now

 

[uh.oh...]

you might also have problems with the Chinese algae eaters later. They're not Siamese are they?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

^^^+1 uh.oh...for pointing this out. It's true. I believe that those chinese algae eaters are going to become a problem...are they chinese or siamese? There's a HUGE difference.