green spotted puffer

[jonboy8465]

Hi all i`ve just got myself a green spotted puffer and he was in fresh water. when and how do i convert to brackish and what is the max salinity? does it need to be kept very accurate or can it vary if its only slowly? many thanks in advance.

[Dadof4]

You can start to bring the SG up right away. Bring it up by no more than .002 per week or you will kill your bacterial filter. You can eventually go to full marine.

[Christemo]

How large is your tank? And please use MARINE salt, not AQUARIUM salt.

[jonboy8465]

thanks for your replies. at the moment he`s(?) in a 2` tank but over the next couple of weeks i`m going to built a rack for 3 x 3` tanks with a sump. what is the SG for a marine tank? I`v only kept tropicals so far.

[marksrush]

There's actually a range of specific gravities for full marine, but I think most people aim for around 1.023...although I hear that corals like it a little higher.

[jonboy8465]

excellent thanks very much for your help. sorry just realised I put this in the wrong place

[Pufferpunk]

With no corals, you only need a SG high enough to support live rock & work a skimmer. That would be around 1.020. No need to waste any $alt here.

[jonboy8465]

so are you suggesting i get some live rock and a skimmer?

[julianchan]

when your salinity hits 1.020, yes

[jonboy8465]

ok thanks. so if i took this all the way to a marine set up could i keep anything else with my gsp? I`v always fancied doing a marine tank and this seems a good way to get started.

[marksrush]

ok thanks. so if i took this all the way to a marine set up could i keep anything else with my gsp?

Possibly, but probably not. Some people say a Ceylon (T. fluviatilis) can be kept alongside a GSP if the tank is big enough, and some other varieties of puffers will do well with certain other types of fish, but the GSP is usually not one of them. They are on the vicious side and, while they may tolerate other fish for quite a while, the other fish usually end up in the stomach of the GSP. Young GSPs of the same size can often coexist for a while, but from what I've read, they will eventually attack and kill each other once they reach adulthood.