Puffer help?

Question

yestderday i bought two puffers. one a gsp puffer and the other a figure 8. the guy who got the fish out for me didnt know much about them except that they ate snails and frozen bloodworms. he didnt tell me how much to feed them .or how often to give them snails.do i have to add salt every week? how do i clean their tank which has sand substrate? and any other info would help too thanks.

Answer 1

wow... ok, so there's WAY too much information you'll want to read than I can type out, so I'll point you to some good information on the web.

For your Green Spotted Puffer: http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles...

Figure 8 Puffer:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/otherf...

As you will read, they actually require completely different water conditions! You should really either commit yourself to either one or the other species...  or keep them in separate tanks.

Answer 2

small problem, gsp's are brackish water to full marine as they age, though many will disagree with me, the figure 8 is freshwater only (that is what they come from), I think you will have problems with this combo as they grow older.    I kept snails in the tank at all times, ramshorn snails actually because puffers need them to keep their teeth down, mine also ate shell on shrimp, mussels, wax worms and freeze dried blood worms as a treat.   when you clean the tank, use a gravel vac and get all the sediment off the top of the sand as best as you can, or take your hand and stir it up a bit.   Good luck.