Should i get a gsp

[Bettaboy]

Hello all

I am going to have an empty 20 gallon long soon and was thinking, should i get one gsp with no other tankmates for it?

Now i know that a minimun of 30 gallons is required but i dont have that (yet). I would get the fish from walmart since that is the only place i see that sells it and the puffers there are still only about 1.5 inches. I went there yesterday and there was a gsp that had no ripped fins, and a very white belly. Probably new shipment. If i got one though, i would upgrade to a 30 gallon, probably during christmas this year. Many people say that gsp should be kept in full marine at a full grown age but is it really necessary? Full marine would mean me needing to get liverock and there should be atleast 1 lb per gallon of water from when i read and the lr here costs about 7-8 dollars a pound.

Is this a good idea/plan?

Btw, i have a question about cycling brakish water tanks, is it pretty much the same process as freshwater with the same bacteria and all. Like will the bacteria live in those ceramic cubes that fw bacteria can live in or is it like sw with bacteria in live rock. This is because i have an aquaclear 30 right now running with fw bacteria. If i got the gsp, i would use that filter and some other powerfilter on both sides of the tank but i dont know how the fw bacteria would help the cycle...

there are some other things i wanted to ask about but i cant remember it right now and i have to go.

Any input would help

thanks.

btw, this is just like a planning thread. Even if i decided to get a gsp, it would still probably take a few weeks/months

[Nick]

Walmart keeps there GSP in fresh water anyway, so you could just set up the tank as FW and move over the aquaclear at the same time you add the GSP. Then, gradually add salt with your weekly water changes, if done slowly, the bacteria will adapt. GSP do not have to be kept at full marine, as long as you keep up the weekly 50% water changes, high brackish is perfectly healthy even for adult GSP. A 20 gallon is ok as a starter tank, as long as you get the 30 by the time he is 3", he should be ok.

[Bettaboy]

hm, didnt think about them keeping it in freshwater lol.

Do gsp jump a lot? The 20 gallon tank has no hood although it does have a diy light. The reason for this is because i live in florida, and in the summer, tank temps can get blazing (~85-87degrees, sometimes even 90) and so i have no hood so that when i turn on my fan in my room, it can blow across the water and cool the tank a bit.

What other filter should i get for the gsp? Right now, the aquaclear 30 is running in a 10 gallon tank that has mosquito fish. Should i re-cycle the 20 gallon with the filter just in case there isnt that much bacteria?

oh yeah, I have a lot of mosquito fish that breed due to a bunch of java moss and i feed some to my turtle but still have a lot left over. Is it ok to feed the fish to my gsp? And would food be best served raw or cooked. I would think cooked would be easier to rip off (on food such as shrimp).

Good thing i have a lot of snails

And i guess i should have a lot of plants and stuff/caves so that i can rearrange so the puffer doesnt get bored?

[Nick]

GSP are not piscivores, so if you do give him one now and again, make sure it's no more than once or twice a month. It is not a healthy food. Never cook your fish's food, either, as it destroys nutrients they need. Also, I wouldn't do any feders at all if you are ever hoping to keep a tankmate with the GSP, as it will certainly be eaten if he gets feeders even as a once a month treat. I would keep the water level a couple inches down, just in case, they are not intentional jumpers, but if spooked can get some air. The ideal thing to do would be to get a reptile screen cover, and cut out a space for the filter. I would get an aquaclear 50 or even 70 as a secondary filter for the GSP, that way, when you upgrade his tank, you'll already have a good filter for it. Also, I think you are confusing running a tank with cycling a tank. Running a tank is having it full of water and the heater and other stuff in it going, usually done for a few days before getting fish to make sure all the equipment works properly. No bacteria build up during this time, as they have no food source, and putting a used filter on an empty tank while it is running will only starve the bacteria in the used filter. Cycling a tank is when the bacteria that process fish waste build up in the filter, the gravel, and other tank surfaces, and requires some source of ammonia. If you want to get the 20 to cycle immediately, you'd move the AC30 onto it at the same time as you put the GSP in. After a week or so, you can start slowly increasing the specific gravity of the water and make it brackish.

[Bettaboy]

ah, i see. I wont feed him fish then. What is a piscivore btw?

What i meant was that the aquaclear 30 is in a tank right now with small bodied fish. Although there is bacteria in the filter, im not sure if it is enough to support the gsp when i just put him in.

I was just wondering if i should do like a minicycle with the filter just so i can have more bacteria than the gsp would need instead of having (maybe) less. Better safe than sorry.

For those instant ocean bags, it says that it can turn like 60 gallons into sw. Approximately how much water can it turn brakish?

One more question
After slowly increasing the sg of the water, what level should i stop at? Im thinking either .010 or .015.
the fish is only 1-2 inches if that matters

[Nick]

Figure a 1.5" GSP will be fine with the bacteria from the filter on the other tank. They are small bodied, but if all the fish in the tank total have a mass similar to the one GSP, that will be plenty of bacteria. You can ease the process by not feeding the GSP the first 24 hours he is in the tank so the waste will build up more gradually. Moving the filter for a while won't put any bacteria into the 20 gallon, as there would be no rotting fish poo in the gravel for it to spread to, so it would just starve a bit while on the tank. Those bags of instant ocean are pretty efficient for making brackish water, how much it will make will depend on what SG water you are making. The first water change after the GSP has been in there a week will use very little, because you can only safely bring the SG up to about 1.002. If after 5 weeks of going up by about 1.002 per week you stop increasing, you will be at an SG of about 1.010, and it will it will make about 140 gallons of that, meaning you'd need a new bag about every 3 and a half months. Getting a hydrometer or refractometer will make it much easier to measure the SG exactly.

[Jase]

in other words, it's more cost effective to buy the big bucket of salt

[Nick]

I ALWAYS buy the big bucket of salt.

[Bettaboy]

Oh ok

I guess ill just have to look at the bag and see what the directions are like how much cups/tbsp is need per gallon to get x sg. Then find how much it would take to get to .002. I will try to count it as 18 gallons of water though because of the gravel and decor.

Because the tank is so small, if i got an aquaclear 50-70, should i set the filter setting as lowest possible. Because that would be a total of 450 gph if i had the 70 and 350 if i had the 50. This is give or take ofcourse because im sure the media will slow it down a bit. Im just wondering becuase puffers dont seem like the type of fish that like fast moving waters. Dont want my gsp to get pushed around...

Haha, is it possible to feed a 2 inch gsp a 2 inch crawfish? I think i remember seeing my lfs selling them like 1 dollar each. That would be a fun treat i think aslong as i pull off the crawfishes claws. That would be a good exercise for the puffer to earn his food.

[Nick]

You can feed them crayfish, but that big would be too much, and he'd kill it, overeat, then leave the rest to rot, fouling his water. If you decide to do that kind of thing, make sure you quarantine the crayfish for at least a couple weeks so you can be sure it doesn't have any diseases. If you get the AC70, you might have to turn it down a bit, but I'd say the 50 would be ok at close to full power. Just keep your eye on him and see how he likes the current and adjust accordingly. Mixing the salt is pretty easy by measuring, just make sure it's all dissolved really well before adding it to the tank, or it might give him burns.

[Bettaboy]

lol, if a 50 gallon bag of instant ocean gets me around 140 gallons, I wonder how long a 160 gallon mix bucket will last me

wow, i think this is my first post where i havent asked a question yet :O

never fear, i just cant remember right now.

Thanks for all the help!

[Nick]

No problem, good luck!

[Pufferpunk]

All puffers are serious jumpers (lost 2 F8s to that), so I wouldn't even consider getting one until you have some way to cover the tank.

[zombiefetus]

I agree with Pufferpunk, I wouldn't keep a puffer without a lid on the tank. Find someway to cover it before you even consider getting a puffer.

Also- you can check out my GSP website (greenspottedpuffer.net) for a more detailed food-list, etc.

[Bettaboy]

thanks for the website!

Hm ok, im getting second thoughts about no lid.

The only problem i see with using those wire meshes is that the outside of the thing is like a strip of metal which might be hard to cut. Also, i dont know if its only mines, but the mesh lids i see have pretty small holes in it which i dont like because not much light would get through the tank.

Looking past the aesthetic values, what if i used an eggcrate cut to fit the tank. Its squares are pretty big and so would let sufficient light.

Or should i just try and use a glass lid. That is probably the safest way, although im just unsure about heat.