hope this is the right place to ask this....

[dizziblonde66]

I have a 28litre tank which I need to make brackish.
At the moment I have one lonely GSP (since he ate his other tank mates) and he is currently in aquaroum salt for fresh water fish.
I did this because he came very ill and was nearly dying so I introduced this salt because I read on the net that I should. I have know found out I should be putting marine salt in as the salt I'm using is no good!!
Is this correct?
What make of salt is best to use and which hydrometer should I buy(theres so many different ones!)

Help!!

[Jay.B.]

First off.. hello, and welcome to the fountain of puffer knowledge

secondly... the brand of salt isn't necessarily that important on brackish tanks, as long as it is marine salt, I personally use "tropic marin, pro reef" ... a refractometer is best, but any hydrometer should be more than adequate, not sure which one's best as I don't use them

thirdly... you really are going to have to up your tank, they need a minimum of 30 gallons (US) approx 125 litres when fully grown... (not having a go, just stating fact...)

last but not least... check out all the articles on GSPs and feeding your puffer in the library above, I'm still learning a hell of a lot thanks to this place.

[Suzanne]

instant ocean is a good marine salt. also dont make the mistake i did, i got a hydrometer and didnt realize that it didnt read low enough for brackish water.. so i wound up buying 2. GL

[StormySkiez]

....also dont make the mistake i did, i got a hydrometer and didnt realize that it didnt read low enough for brackish water.. so i wound up buying 2. GL

Suzanne is right. Make sure you if you buy a hydrometer instead of a refratometer (very expensive although more accurate) it reads the starting numbers at 1.000 because when you aclimate your gsp to brackish water you Need to add only .002 salt each week so you do not throw off your water parameters and end up having ammonia or nitrite spikes. GSP's can thrive in fresh water fine up to about 2 inches. Is your gsp in a 7gallon tank? If so that will be ok for a short time but they req 30gallons min as they mature. Did you cycle the tank? If not that would be one of the reasons he was ill. You may want to read this article about cycling a tank: library/water-filtration/fishless-cycling/

Hope this helps. Welcome to the site .

[dizziblonde66]

hi, thanks for the advice. I am currently looking for a new tank for him I may be moving out so thats why I am delaying abit, I do plenty of water changes tho and he only nearly 1".

I am learning so much from him and finding this website is so useful, I never got told anything about him when I bought him.

Thanks again

[zombiefetus]

Welcome to the forum
Unfortunately Local Fish Stores almost never give correct advise, in the future, make sure you do a lot of your own research before buying a fish.
Even at 1" your little puffer is producing a huge amount of waste that could potentially kill him in a small space, make sure you get him in a bigger tank as soon as you can. You could try looking on craigslist.com (if you live in the US) or in your local news paper to find a cheap used tank.
Have you read the articles on feeding? A puffer's diet is very important, they need a lot of hard shelled meaty foods to keep their teeth from getting overgrown.
Also, have a look at my GSP website (greenspottedpuffer.net)

Good Luck