The Puffer Forum

hi there

just a few questions.

can i keep a gsp in brackish all its life instead of going full marine???

also whats the minimum size tank i can keep 2 in??

i have 1 gsp atm in a 90 litre tank.hes only 1.5inch in freshwater.would it be ok to start acclimatising him to brackish in the next 4 weeks? also at what gravity shall i add the salty water over each water change and if i can keep him in brackish all his life what would be the best salinity for me to do this???

how many snails would you say he needs a week at this age? atm hes been having around 10 small pond snails a week.im also feeding him bloodworm,mussels,prawns,cockles.

ive read and heard many mixed nfo so i thought hey who would know best than a puffer forum.
great forum btw

While they will survive in brackish conditions their entire life, it does shorten their lifespan and stunt their growth somewhat. I don't see why you would want to keep them in brackish their entire life, but if you must go as high as you can.

90 liter is a little small, most here will recommend at least 120 for each puffer.
It is also recommended to raise your sg 1.001- 1.002 every week till full marine, holding off at 1.008, and 1.015 for a few weeks to let the beneficial bacteria die off and regrow.

I feed my puffers snails almost daily, this is not always possible. But from what i read they need at least 3 snails each weekly. The more the better. (but dont overfeed). I feed 75% snails, the rest a variety of bloodworms, shrimp and whatever i bought for them that week. It changes alot.

Now disclaimer. I am not the most experienced keeper on this forum. If someone else disagrees with me, go with what they say. lol. This is just what I have researched over the past several months, and the little experience i have.

hes only in the 90litre till next week.im getting a 180 litre.i wasnt planning on keeping him in the 90litre as i know thats too small.as hes only 1.5inch tho he will only be in it for 1 more week at most.i feed him 2/3 snails every other day.what wold you say would be the highest salinity i could keep him in without going full marine??? and do you think he will be ok in freshwater for anther weeks???

i wanna start breeding snails so do you think i could set up a breeding trap in the tank and breed snails in it?

yeah you could setup a tank to breed snails, it's really easy, i started my snail tank couple weeks ago with some Ramshorn snails. i just have like a 1 or 2 gal tank with an airstone in it and throw in some zucchini for them, and they have been doing great.

Hi there. When you get the new tank move at least your filter media from your other tank too, you can rinse it in the old tank water to clean it first, you will not expose your puffer to a cycling tank this way. If you can move decor and substrate over even better. A 180l tank will not quite support 2 gsp for their whole life. As for snails feed as many as poss so you don't have to perform dentistry in the future.

hi there.thanks for the info guys.i only have 1 atm.so would 1 be able to stay in a 180 all its life??also if i did get 2 how long will they be able to stay in the 180 till i have to upgrade?? also whats the minimum size tank 2 can live in fully grown.do you know any sites or pics that show a fully grow gsp??? how long does it take for them to get fully grown??

also will either 1 or both be ok if i kept them in in just brackish water and didnt convert them to full marine???

to do this what would you advise to be the best salinity???

sorry for all the questions.he is just adorable and i wanna keep him.thing is i do have limited room so the biggest tank i would be able to get is a 260 litre if i could have 2.

Keeping your puffer in high-end BW, is fine. Just keep in mind, you will always be doing 50% weekly water changes on him. If you bump it up to SW, you can add live rock, a protein skimmer & powerheads, to reduce the cost of so many $alty WC, to about 30%/month.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19348



Here they are in my 55g, before I re-homed them, because there wasn't enough room for them:

wow they are 2 big guys

thanks for the pic

hi well it didnt go too well with keeping my 2 figure 8 puffers.they just kept fighting and i didnt wanna keep just 1 so i took them back to the shop.well i decided to get another gsp to go with my existing one and they are getting on fine.there still in the 90 litre and get on really well.im really suprised considering how aggressive the f8s were.anyway they chase a little during feeding and thats it.no biting etc just nudging.there both lovely.yesterday i brought a juwel vision 180 litre tank.and i pick it up tommorow morning.i know this cant be a home they will stay in forever but it will do for now.when i need to i will get a 300 litre tank.there still in freshwater so tommorow i will be converting them to brackish.i will set the new tank up at 1.002 and aclimate them for 1 hour.ill up it by 2 every week.but im a little confused on the mixing etc.
im using instant ocean btw.so once the sg is at 1.002 and next week it comes to the water change and i wanna up it to 1.004.do i mix up 1.002 then add it?? to become 1.004 and so on the following weeks down the line??i just wanna make sure i get it right.ive been feeding them pond & ramshorn snails everyday.they have 4 each.yesterday i put in a few ghost shrimp.they loved it.it was amazing watching them chase.there still hunting now hehe.they have prawns,muscles and frozen bloodworm.i feed once a day.there both 1.5inch and i cant wait to put them in the bigger tank.i want to give them the best i can and by upgrading down the line when its needed i feel i can still do this.i want to get them some frozen cockles in the shell as my lfs dobbies sell a bag for £3 but i think there too small for them yet.i went and brought an eheim professional 2 filter so hopefully that will be ok.im going to add another exteral filter in the next few months too.once i have it all set up i will post some pics of bill & ted in there new home.

thansk for all your help so far

Best of luck to you. I would say one thing that upgrading as needed is risky when dealing with gsps since they are such slow growers it will be hard to say exactly when they will need the upgrade. Another thing is that your situation may change further down the line making it even harder to get the upgrades necessary

there wont be any problems upgrading.i should have explained more that im upgrading next may so not long at all.i see what your saying and that may happen in some peoples situations but not in mine.i cant wait to get them in there new tank today.there love the extra room.pics coming soon.

thanks for the mixing info.sorry when you first posted it i didnt read down that far.