GSP - Hopefully

[ucdcrew]

I am looking towards getting a GSP. I have experience in tropical fish keeping, so I'm not an absolute beginner though this would be my first foray into brackish/marine. I have a 55g tank with canister filter, heaters, eco-complete substrate, powerheads, and lighting. I have posted at other forums, but you guys seem to be the authority on puffers so I thought I'd check in and say hi here. I do know about the nitrogen cycle, and own API master test kits. I also have a few questions.

For starters, I'd like to keep a single GSP in my 55g. From what I've read, the tank will be large enough to accommodate him/her. I want to go full marine - obviously over time. I have some questions though:
1. If I cycle the tank brackish, will I have an ammonia/nitrite spike as I slowly move the SG towards full marine?
2. Since I will be going full marine, I would like the added benefit of having live rock. I still plan on running the canister filter because they are so messy, but it seems like it would be a shame to pass on the added biological filtration of live rock. How would that work if I started brackish?? I am assuming the organisms living on the rock wouldn't survive with the SG lower than full marine.
3. Can I use PVC pipe in the decor? I'd like to make him tunnels and tubes so he would keep from getting bored. I think I'd cover them with either sand or small rocks to make them look more natural (of course with aquarium safe silicone)
4. I have a small 10g tank that I'd like to use to raise snails and shrimp for him. I heard ramshorn snails are good. Can I raise freshwater shrimp/snails and then feed them to the marine puffer?

Thanks for being here and helping out!

[puffykid]

Hello welcome to the forum, I'm glad you did your research before getting the puffer not something I could say for myself. A 10 gallon tank for snails is great that will give them plenty of room to spawn. A 55g is perfect for a single gsp, be prepared for him to act more like a puppy dog and really bond with you. For cycling you should just cycle it fresh water, since that will save you money on marine salt. Most likely your lfs will be keeping them in fw anyways, if you have a great lfs they will have them in brackish water and you could just increase the salinity in the tank .02 every week till you get to the correct salinity you won't have a mini cycle. When you hit the full marine LR filtration is better than canister though you can leave both on. Having a power head blowing at the LR is recommended.


Pvc pipe is fine and I use it myself, and if you can rearrange the LR every now and then to keep him from being bored. You can feed them river shrimp fine, and he will adore the snails you drop in.

[Pufferpunk]

These should be helpful:
viewtopic.php?f=68&t=28469
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19348

[kcartwright856]

I'd skip the pipes. You don't want anything in there that your puffer could get inside, puff up, and be stuck.

[kpjenk21]

I'd skip the pipes. You don't want anything in there that your puffer could get inside, puff up, and be stuck.

good thinking! but it would have to be really small pipe! not to mention the odds of it puffing up, especially in a hiding area, are very slim.

[bertie 83]

I use lots of small piping for shrimp to hide in, I would not put something like that in if the puffer could fit in it, just in case. There are much safer ways to create hiding places such as plants (live or fake) or rockwork held by milliput or similar.

[sgtmyers88]

I have yet to see my GSP's puff up so the chances of them getting stuck are very small.

[GSPicthus]

I have yet to see my GSP's puff up so the chances of them getting stuck are very small.

agreed and I don't think puffers get stuck by puffing up because than can just deflate themselves. Just a guess though.

[GSPicthus]

I have yet to see my GSP's puff up so the chances of them getting stuck are very small.

agreed and I don't think puffers get stuck by puffing up because than can just deflate themselves. Just a guess though.

[bertie 83]

A halfway through puff panick could have adverse effects on the ability to deflate properly, it could stress the puffer and make him more adamant to puff to full size

[ucdcrew]

Yeah, I'll probably skip the pipe then. I'll get some rock. I do want to go with live rock for the added filtration. I'll probably just start him out with the decor from my old tank and then as he matures to closer to full marine I'll start to cure dry live rock (reseed it with some store bought live rock) and replace the decor with that. Do you guys with full marine setups run a sump? I could probably fit a 20 - 30g tank under my current tank, then I could put the heaters, filter intake, and protein skimmer in there. I also like the added volume of the sump. I'd need to get an overflow box though because my current tank is not set up with an overflow.

[bertie 83]

If you can fit a sump go for it. You can hide heaters and put oodles of live rock in there lol

[El Scorpio]

You won't be able to get a protein skimmer right away, as they don't work on anything but saltwater. You are also correct in assuming organisms in live rock won't survive in brackish, so hold off on that for now. When raising the salinity of your tank to full marine, be certain - and this is important - not to raise the salinity by more than 0.002 a week. Raising salinity too fast will shock and kill the nitrifying bacteria, cause an ammonia spike... and you know the rest.

I have a saltwater toby pufferfish which I commonly feed live freshwater shrimp. The benefit there is that any freshwater parasite that may be on the shrimp will not survive in the saltwater and therefore cannot infect my toby.

[Pufferpunk]

Lots of folks use Habitrail tubes for a fun time for their puffers amusement!

[kcartwright856]

I've always read to not have any decorations/accessories in the tank that the puffer cannot swim out of when fully inflated.

However small the risk, it's not one that I would be willing to take.