Newb GSP Help

[nx2ured]

OK, so my husband bought a GSP instead of a dwarf so I am trying to give this little guy a good home. I have had freshwater fish for 15 years, but saltwater just freaks me out!I've read everything I could find about GSP, but still need some advice. I had him in a freshwater setup for about a week. I then moved him to a cycled tank that I had raised the SG to 005. He seemed to really love the tank with salt in it. My questions are:

1. How do I keep the SG where it needs to be (raising it slowly) during water changes? Do I just guess how much salt to add in order to get it right? That's how I did it to begin with because the box does not indicate how much to use except for marine tanks.

2. All of the snails that were in the tank died when I added salt...I have more snails, but they will die when I put them into his tank. Do I need to buy one of those cone things?

3. I have read various information saying that these guys are full marine fish when they are adults...if this is true, then could I possibly set up a 55g tank and begin my journey into saltwater tanks or can I just keep him in brackish? The saltwater tanks seem to be so much more trouble than fresh.

Thanks,
Lisa

[indie]

i might be able to offer a little advice until the pros get here.

You'll need to buy a hydrometer or refractometer to measure the salt (i prefer a refractometer as its more accurate). They dont cost too much and make your water changes so much easier. From what i can gather from other posts ive made, I believe that if you take out say 5 gallons of water and wanted to keep your salinity at 0.005, then you would make the 5gal as 0.005 and it would keep it the same as the tank. if you wanted to raise the salinity to 0.008, then thats where im a bit stuck. I would say make the bucket as 0.008 for each water change. But i could well be really wrong as i havent got that far with my gsps get. I managed to fumble my way through to raising the salinity to 0.002 but that was a fluke! lol.

with the snails, you'll either have to breed them in a seperate small tank or buy them as u need them and your puffer will just eat til he bursts

With regards to salinity, i believe as adults they thrive better in marine conditions. However you could keep it at high end brackish.

[nx2ured]

Thanks for your help indie. I have a hydrometer, so I just need to mix the salt into the water before I pour it into the tank, right? This saltwater thing seems very difficult. Also, do I just drop him in a few snails to eat on each day or should I be feeding him other things?

[dab335]

My gsp eats snails, loves shrimp and you can even open up a clam every now and again. Oh, they also love bloodworms! Good luck with your new GSP they are super fun!

[Idontknow]

1. How do I keep the SG where it needs to be (raising it slowly) during water changes? Do I just guess how much salt to add in order to get it right? That's how I did it to begin with because the box does not indicate how much to use except for marine tanks.

About a little less than 1/2 cup per 5 gallons will raise your SG 0.002. You will need to play around with the measurements because some salts are more potent than other. I find Instant Ocean is pretty consistent.

3. I have read various information saying that these guys are full marine fish when they are adults...if this is true, then could I possibly set up a 55g tank and begin my journey into saltwater tanks or can I just keep him in brackish? The saltwater tanks seem to be so much more trouble than fresh.

How big is your GSP? You could probably keep your GSP in brackish (slowly raising the SG)for quite a while until he is grown. My GSPs are still under an inch so I am not quite there yet either.

As for maintaining a saltwater tank, if you have already been maintaining a freshwater tank, it may not be that much harder. The initial set up, cycling, and mixing saltwater may be troublesome in the beginning, but I think it becomes much easier with time. I have had a full marine community tank for 3 months now, and the on going maintenance has gotten easier and easier. I quite enjoy it.

[riggers]

I don't know if you have already seen it but there is a good article in the library about GSPs:

library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

Read the bit under the heading "Cycling, Specific Gravity, Acclimating", and it explains the best way of raising the salinity. You can go all the way to marine if you want or just to high brackish. Entirely up to you. Interestingly in the wild it is the complete opposite and the young GSPs live in brackish and the adults in freshwater. I don't know why it is one the other way around in aquariums though. I guess it's like F8s which are not actually brackish in the wild. Strange things, fish are.

[Pufferpunk]

Adults only go to FW to mate & lay their eggs, then back to BW.

[riggers]

Oh really? I have been misinformed then (again)