The Puffer Forum

I've never been a fan of Hakari's pelleted fish food. I find it strange that they would use MSG as a food attractant when some form of garlic extract seems much more natural and common in the aquarium industry. With that aside, the majority of the fish I own refuse to eat Hakari brand pellets, and I...

Their obesity.

I believe this stuff increases your alkalinity and calcium, so if you plan to use either, I would monitor those both carefully. If my memory serves me correct, your ideal calcium level should be around 400-450 ppm and your alkalinity should be around 180-200? I can't remember the exact digits. I bel...

I would also recommend dosing your aquarium with some Prime to alleviate the stress from the ammonia burns. It'll convert the ammonia to ammonium which your beneficial bacterial will still consume as a source of food. High dosages of Prime is also known to alleviate some nitrite problems, but chemic...

I wish my GSPs would do this. --;

I hear algae tends to grow at an alarming rate when there is a significant quantity of phosphates or silicates (someone may need to verify this). Perhaps you can try using a phosphate/silicate magnet if you're not using RO/DI water.

Hmmm... Not sure about the whole introduction thing. Both of my GSPs have always been fairly docile, so I've never had aggression issues with them and other tankmates. If anything, they get picked on much more than they pick on other fish. With puffers, you never really know how they will react with...

If I had a single adult GSP (5-6"), I'd probably keep it by itself in a nicely decorated 55g with live rock and sand.

Cleaning crews are really fun to watch IMO.

If you're going saltwater, try a tomato clownfish. I know both PufferPunk and I have both had success with them.

I've recently swapped out my crushed coral substrate for a mixture of oolitic and reef grade aragonite based sand. I do not have any corals. It is a fish only tank, and the sand bed is approximately 2 inches deep. Currently, my water parameters are listed as the following: Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitr...

A small amount of gravel would only seed the cycle not complete it so quickly. Safestart seems to be hit or mis but is supposed to be the Dr Tim's recipe but since Dr Tim quit Marrineland they changed it up a bit & made it so it doesn't need refrigerating (not sure how that works though). I'm n...

Thanks PP, you're always a big help. I'll start skimming dry. It's already clearing up really fast (day 3).

I've recently begun the arduous process of converting my crushed coral substrae into a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of oolitic and reef grade aragonite sand. I plan to keep it pretty shallow, approximately an inch and a half to two inches. I thought I washed the sand pretty well, considering that I spent two...

I don't have too much equipment in my 60 gallon saltwater tank (two GSPs), so my temperature always sits safely around 78. It barely fluctuates, but my heater is pretty good. My fish seem okay with that temperature.