Should i get a gsp

[GSP]

not trying to argue or anything but what is the expensive thing about brakish? From a few quick calculations, a bucket of instant ocean should last me about 10 months-1 year. Am i forgetting anything?

Haha, i really wish i could do saltwater. Its better to go big but going big is expensive. Its cheaper to go small but going small means more problems. To me, its like being caught between a rock and a hard place

maybe when im older and have a reliable source of money. Right now, im pretty much living of birthday, report cards, and holiday money

You do what you want to, you sem motivated and I'm sure you'll do a good job.

But as a fairly recent puffer owner 2-3 months I can tell you that its expensive. I have spent about 400 dollars on my 40 dollar puffer investment. Granted I went out and bought a 55 gallon tank and they are expensive but even without, getting the food, the prime, the salt, the substrate, filters, python, hydrometer/refractometer and medicines for the guy ran me about 200 bucks.

If I had it to do over again, I would buy a 30 gallon and get a grip load of Dwarf Puffers (Or south american puffers) just due to the fact that they can be held with a bunch of different types of fish (Brakish guys are very limited to tank mates) and you dont have to worry about over salting. You can put all diferent types of plants in your tank since you dont need to worry about the plants dying in brackish. Im sure there is more I cant think of at the moment, but for sure its easier to get the dwarf puffers.

Just think it over long and hard,make sure that this is really what you want to do because these guys are huge investments of time and money.

[Happy_Puffer]

I love the little dwarfs. They have just as much personality as a gsp if not more and they are so much eaiser to care for. I loved mine then my boyfriend brought home the gsp and opened a whole new can of worms. Now we have 5 tanks and over $ 500 dollars later we now have a half way set up marine tank and 2 brackish and then a snail tank which I don't have set up yet and a qt tank. They are fun but know what you are getting into. I didn't but I still love my babies.

[marfisa]

Bettaboy wrote:

not trying to argue or anything but what is the expensive thing about brakish? From a few quick calculations, a bucket of instant ocean should last me about 10 months-1 year. Am i forgetting anything?

Haha, i really wish i could do saltwater. Its better to go big but going big is expensive. Its cheaper to go small but going small means more problems. To me, its like being caught between a rock and a hard place

maybe when im older and have a reliable source of money. Right now, im pretty much living of birthday, report cards, and holiday money

While I do agree it might be better to wait until you have a reliable source of money, I don't find it that expensive or too much of a hassle to maintain brackish tanks (actually, I think it's already saltwater at 1.020). I treat them like freshwater tanks, but just add salt to the water. Of course, I've never had a full marine setup to compare it to, but I'm still a little scared of the seeming complexity. I have a 55g and a 36g at 1.020 and a 10g light brackish at 1.008 and the big buckets of marine salt last like 3 months at least. I think my cat (with no medical problems) is more expensive per year.

If you save up each month to buy the salt when you need it, for me it breaks down to about $20 per month in salt. Even their food is pretty cheap too. I get a bag of frozen uncooked shrimp (and some clams when they're available) at the grocery store, and a package or two of frozen mussel cubes at the LFS. All that food lasts more than a single month.

[Bettaboy]

ooh, you guys are making me get second thoughts

Hm, prime is no problem for me. Its not really that expensive (10 dollars for 250 ml) because if you figure it out, its actually cheaper than those other dechlors cuz it is a higher concentration. I actually just bought a new bottle last week lol (its like my 2nd bottle so far). I use these little plastic pipette stuff that gives drop by drop but i usally double dose (4 drops per gallon instead of 2) because im just paranoid that way

For food, which is better: clams, mussels, or oysters? My foodstore has them in bags (except for the clams which are like 33 cents per pound) so i just want to know which is better.

I think i'm leaning towards dwarf puffers now... Mainly because i just blew 100 dollars on my 29 gallon planted tank , and imma be spending more to buy better plants.

Should i make a new thread in the freshwater puffers or is it better if i change the title and a mod moves it.

If i could stock though with dp, is this a good stock:

6 dp's (or more? :O)
1 clown plec.

Im not sure what fish i would be able to keep with dp's since i havent really researched them.
Keep in mind that i would have a min of 350 gph (if i used aquaclear 30+50) and a max of 450 gph (if i use the 30+70) of filtration on the 20 gallon tank.

thanks!

[Nick]

They are all good, variety is best. 6 DPs is probably good, but even a clown pleco might get big enough to become a target for them, be ready to move him to the planted tank if need be.

[Happy_Puffer]

I like all the puffers but dwarfs are just so cute and fresh water. I have seen mine go after all kids of fish but never taken a piece of them. But I only had one in the tank witha few other fish. I think you should just research a bunch of different puffer and then see which is best for you, your buget and your tank. Good luck with what ever you choose.