Live Snails for my GSP

[Neardark]

Hi new to the forum have just got myself some 3 Green Spotted puffers, I'm not new to tropical fish but new to puffers, couple quick questions if anyone can help.

I'm living in the UK is there any sites that I can order live snails for the puffers and can these be kept in the tank at all times or should I put them in when I'm Feeding them.

also the water in the pet shop was tropical and so is the water they went into in my tank, but have been reading they thrive better in brackish water, is it right to make my water brackish I can just add 1 teaspoon a day for 5 days to get the water to a brackish state, the tank is a 60 litre.

any help would be great thanks.

[edmlfc1]

You will need a hydrometer/refractometer that starts at 1.000 and only bring your sg (specific gravity) up by .002 each week so that you will not kill your good bacteria. There are articles about feeding and care for GSP's in the library, have you read those yet?
When I first got my gsp's it was a huge help. Also you will need sea salt/ ocean salt, not aquarium salt to make your water brackish.

[Neardark]

We ordered a hydrometer today so should be here by tuesday, you said "002 each week" but right now as i'm new to this I dont know how much salt it takes to get to 002, could you give me a rough idea? the salt we have is aqualibrium a physiological salf for the aquarium, is this the right one? thanks for your quick reply and have a look at the articles you mentioned.

[Neardark]

this is the salt we bought, +http://www.waterways-direct.com/shopexd.asp?id=7503 something is telling me we have the wrong thing, will not be adding more till I know for sure, this is what the guy gave us in the pet shop, when I asked him how to measure the salt level in the water he told me to stick my finger in the tank then taste it, should have told him where I would stick his finger!! could someone please confirm if we have the wrong stuff.

[Neardark]

have now ordered this Instant Ocean Sea Salt 8kg 240Litres. can anyone confirm this is the right stuff for brackis water.

[edmlfc1]

Yes instant ocean is sea salt. The other stuff I've never seen before but I'm pretty sure it's not sea salt. If the guy told you to stick your finger in the water to test the salt level, he must be an idiot.

Once you get your hydrometer in then you can start adding your salt. It shouldn't take long so I wouldn't worry about it right now. You don't want to raise it more than .002 pts per week.
The best way to measure
Get a 5 gallon bucket
Add your water
Add a little salt at a time, mix to disolve well. I put my water in a bucket add salt and turn on a powerhead to get it disolved. If it's not completely disolved your sg can rise and the undisolved salt can burn your fish. It dosen't take long and all you need is a cheap powerhead or a long spoon and stir the bucket really well until the salt is disolved. Then you measure your sg with the hydrometer. If you do a 50% water change you can use an sg of 1.004, once you mix that with the water in your tank it should bring your sg up to 1.002. You just have to figure it out that way. I know excatly how much salt it takes for my tank but every tank and every salt may be different. There is no definate way to tell. All I can say is do a little at a time and then when you do your next water change you will know how much you need to raise it. If you don't have the desired sg that you want put some salt in a large glass, disolve it and slowly add it to your tank until you get the sg you need. I've done that before too.

A side note: Always, always, always put water first then add your salt. If you ever put salt first then add water to it, your water will be cloudy. Only more water changes will fix it. Did that once too. For some reason it won't disolve correctly if you add water to the salt. But if you add salt to the water, you will always have clear water. Hope this helps.

[Neardark]

Thanks for the info, will help me alot, hate being the newbie

[edmlfc1]

No problem, you won't be the newbie for long. Someone new will sign up tomorrow.

[Dadof4]

We ordered a hydrometer today so should be here by tuesday, you said "002 each week" but right now as i'm new to this I dont know how much salt it takes to get to 002, could you give me a rough idea? the salt we have is aqualibrium a physiological salf for the aquarium, is this the right one? thanks for your quick reply and have a look at the articles you mentioned.

You need to add the salt to a different container of water and let it mix for about 24 hours prior to adding it to your tank. I use big Rubbermaid containers and a power head. There isn't a magic number to the amount of salt to add because each bag can and will be different. You need to slowly add the salt and then test to see where your at. Sea water and brackish water is measured buy Specific Gravity (SG) with fresh water being 1.000, full marine being 1.022-1.026, and brackish in between that. They way to go about this easiest is to do it by 50% water changes. Your current water, if it's tropical will read 1.000 on the hydrometer. Mix 30 liters of water to 1.004 in a separate container. Once that has mixed well, remove 30 liters (50%) of the water from your tank and add the premixed water. What this does is give you water in your tank that will be 1.002. The math is (1.000 + 1.004)/2 = 1.002. The equation I use to figure out the SG from there on (works only when doing 50% water changes!):

N= current SG
X= desired SG of mix water
T= desired total SG

(N + X)/2 = T

So, say your current SG is 1.002 and your desired total is SG 1.004
N=1.002
T=1.004
X=?
Plug in the numbers and solve for X

(1.002 + X)/2 = 1.004

Answer: X = 1.006

[Neardark]

This may be a silly question, you said "24 hours prior to adding it to your tank" but by that time the water will not be the same temp as the water in the tank. another problem I have is that the only container I have holds only 10 litres.

[Dadof4]

This may be a silly question, you said "24 hours prior to adding it to your tank" but by that time the water will not be the same temp as the water in the tank. another problem I have is that the only container I have holds only 10 litres.

Well, you do need a heater for the new water container (damn, I thought I covered everything! ) I'm from the other side of the Pond and I'm not sure what company makes them on your side but, I use large Rubbermaid containers. http://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/pr ... PCat100186 They aren't expensive at all but you can use any food grade storage bin or container for mixing.

[Neardark]

this is the reply I got from the guy who sold me the first salt, that I thought was the wrong salt, can you tell me if what he says below is true.

"Im sorry for the very vague information on the puffers I cant understand why the incorrect advise has not been giving. Firstly you don’t need to add marine salt, all that’s needed to be added is a mineral salt which is what you have been given, my preference is a jbl mineral which we also sell. Please don’t buy a hydrometer it will be a waste of money as most of them do don’t read a such low levels . The amount of salt you need to add is a teaspoon per gallon and no more, the only other time you need add salt is when you do a water change.

I can asure you that the salt you have bought will not put any fish at risk in your aquarium as long as the correct dose is added. Once again sorry for you feeling unhappy about the survice given some of the younger staff are still learning for technical advise maybe consult one of my senior staff."

[Dadof4]

He's incorrect. I don't think he gets the concept of brackish water. Brackish water is seawater and fresh water mixing, and to make seawater you need marine salt not mineral aquarium salt. Huge difference. GSP's are found in mangrove swamps, river estuaries, and occasionally in full marine environs in the wild, there are people on her that are keeping young GSP's in full marine conditions. This page is an excellent explanation of how all occur. http://badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html For some reason, and I can't figure out why, most LFS owners, think that mineral salt is the key to everything and that marine salt belongs in full marine and reef tanks only. I think they get tunnel vision, "well my supplier said they were freshwater" syndrome and they find that the fish do fine while they house them in fresh. They don't see the long term effects of keeping these fish in freshwater with mineral salt and not in their natural environment.

Sorry for the diarrhea of the mouth here but I'm working night shift and just woke up....I need my brain lube (coffee).

[Neardark]

he then sent me this. No wonder I got confused ffs lol atleast what he said below makes sense and when in the pet shop I told the guy I wanted bracking water so why the f**k would he give me mineral salt.

If you were to setup a true brackish water aquarium you would probably use marine salt as it would be more cost effective, this would limit you to the types of fish you can keep (shark catfish, scats, monos and some puffers, not all) so yes that information is right. Almost all the fish we stock at Amwell Aquatics are tank bred in Europe and because we work closely with the breeders we know that some of our fish e.g. mollys, guppys, shark catfish and puffers (like the ones you bought) are reared in ordinary tap water (not in salt water). All the breeders add to the water is minerals, these minerals help stabilise the ph, add vitamins and increase the salt mineral content. This is the reason we recommend the aqualibrium salt that you have purchased yesterday. I don’t know what types of fish you have or what you are going to keep with the puffers so its hard to give exact advice for more information please call me tomorrow on ................ Finally, I have spoken to my colleague regarding the ‘dipping of the finger’ comment and he has assured me that it was meant as a joke and not as serious advice, I apologise once again for the ill-chosen comment.