Green Spotted Pufferfish

fishfreak2009

Swimming in the School
So I was wondering if I could put my green spotted puffer (Tetraodon nigroviridis) in my 187 gallon tank. His tankmates so far would be 1 flame angel,
1 Cirrhilabrus lyukyuensis, 1 Koran Angelfish, and 2 Ocellaris Clownfish. If not, do you think he could live in my 55 gallon refugium (used only for nutrient export) with my tomato clown?
 
I will be interrested in learning the same. A few years ago my wife had one she bought as a freshwater fish and we followed some advice on a "green spotted puffer" website to slowly get him into brackish but he died on us. While I will never buy one of them again I'd be curious to learn.
 
If this is the freshwater/brakish fish they are crazy aggressive I have added them twice and rhey hurt/killed everything in the first 30 minutes and had to be removed. These puffers were a inch or le[s [/B]ss and hurt/killed 4-8inch fish. So I would say NO they need a species tank. But they can live in very small tanks I kept 3 in a 10 gallon.
 
If this is the freshwater/brakish fish they are crazy aggressive I have added them twice and rhey hurt/killed everything in the first 30 minutes and had to be removed. These puffers were a inch or le[s [/B]ss and hurt/killed 4-8inch fish. So I would say NO they need a species tank. But they can live in very small tanks I kept 3 in a 10 gallon.

Good to know. I kinda figured that it wouldn't work out. I am going to try my tomato clownfish in the main tank, and then keep the puffer alone in the refugium. By the way, it's one puffer per 30 gallons minimum for these guys, as they get the size of a nerf football.
 
Good to know. I kinda figured that it wouldn't work out. I am going to try my tomato clownfish in the main tank, and then keep the puffer alone in the refugium. By the way, it's one puffer per 30 gallons minimum for these guys, as they get the size of a nerf football.

Realy they must grow slow then the biggest one I have ever seen was 2.5in. They will not be aggressive towards puffers but any thing that is not a puffer is toast.
 
Well, he's almost to full salinity now, so in a few days he will be going in the refugium. It seems as if the ocellaris pair (breeding pair) and the tomato clown (large adult female) are best friends.
 
They're not quite as bad as the rest of these guys seem to think, in reality it's just going to depend on the fish, they vary.

If you wanted to just keep one in your 55 with a single Tomatoe Clown you'd probably be fine they just need to be watched at first.

I've currently got 2 in my 90 gallon SW tank, for the moment they're in there alone but at one point there was an Lawnmower blenny in there with them which they left alone, though the Blenny died for unknown reasons(no bite marks though), currently I have another blenny in QT waiting to be added and plan on adding a Wrasse and Tomatoe Clown. They are nippy, though I attribute it to curiousity more than aggression, I've got several soft and LPS corals in my tank almost all of which they've nipped when I first added them but have since left alone realizing they're not food and the corals are doing fine.

There're some Puffer specific forums call simply "The Puffer Forums" online that may have a bit more information, in short others have had luck keeping them with other fish including Tomatoe Clowns and Wrasses. The biggest concern is going to be with inverts, small snails and crabs may be eaten but honestly GSPs are just to small to chomp through the shells of most marine snails or get at hermits, I've had several hermits in my tank for the few months it's been up and I've only lost one, the others are too quick, they retreat into thier shells which are way to thick for small puffers to bite through.

Edit: Oh also if anyone is curious I started my two puffers out in a freshwater tank the way they came from the fish store, transitioned them to a brackish for several months, and then took them to full marine over a few weeks going from 1.008 to 1.024 salinity no problems with live rock added around 1.020.
 
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I've kept several Green Spot Puffers, and they can and will harm your other tank mates without warning. I had one living in freshwater for several years with a bunch of random tetras before he finally started eating them. My last one lived in a 55g refugium by himself quite happily for a couple of years before I gave him away to make room for other fish.

They also go nuts for a laser pointer. Quite hilarious.
 
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