problem with the upgraded tank

[bigfatpuffer]

ok.. so i moved the 3 GSP (all about 1.5 inches) into the 95 gallon with all my old water, decor, gravel, and filter about 5 days ago.
i raised the salinity a bit in the bigger tank to 1.006 (was 1.004).
i dripped them when transferring them into the big tank.
temperature, Nitrate, Nitrite, ammonia are all perfect
lots of decor and bubble walls....
everything sounds fine, but my 2 of my puffers are getting dark belly?
the other one have white belly but he's always pacing against the side.
i have noticed that they ate less... even with they favorite shrimp?

any idea why?
are they just stressed bcuz they moved to a new tank and will get better later on?
or does anyone spot anything wrong?
i'm just worried.....

btw. are those apple snails ok to feed to my puffers? or are they too big for the puffers that i have (1.5inches)?
cuz one of them refuse to eat the small snails, so i thought they might have fun picking at the big snail while kinda grinding his teeth on the shell to help keep the teeth down a bit....
any one got any luck with that before?

[Iliveinazoo]

They may just be settling in but keep an eye on the water parameters just in case you are heading for a mini-cycle.

Your GSP might not be confident that it can break through their shells yet, or can't be bothered to if it's well fed. Keep an eye on the apple snail because it will die in brackish water and end up polluting the tank if it isn't eaten.

[seventy]

I don't think the dark belly is anything to worry about, especially in a new tank, just a sign of stress. I don't remember how much water was in your old tank, but for an upgrade to a 95 it may have a small cycle.

For brackish water you might try nerite snails, but until the puffers are 3-4" they may not be able to eat them. Small snails, but a pretty hard shell, my GSP just grinds his teeth on them and takes chunks out of the shell, but hasnt killed any yet, and he's about a 4" GSP. At the very least, the Nerites will be able to survive in the BW and keep the glass clean. They can survive in FW, BW or SW but only reproduce at a higher salinity.

Different people prefer different snails for different reasons, those are just the ones I use.

[Iliveinazoo]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I'm canny sure that the vast majority of the bacteria grows on surfaces, not in the water column.

I might have been a bit misleading with my first post because feeding freshwater snails like ramshorns and the like will not be a problem as long as they are being eaten. As Seventy says nerites have a hard shell so they may not be taken by a small GSP, they also they have a complex breeding cycle whch is almost impossible to recreate in a home aquarium, a lot of people breed freshwater snails with softer shells like ramshorns for their puffers because they reproduce quickly

[seventy]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I'm canny sure that the vast majority of the bacteria grows on surfaces, not in the water column.

You're right. I was just thinking about having enough substrate from a 25g to work in a 95g(4x the size!). When adding new substrate it should be mixed up and not layered on top or it could crash the biofilter. :'(

I wish I was upgrading to a 95g too, but my wife would kill me.

[bigfatpuffer]

yea. i added a bag of 22lbs crushed corals with my old gravel (which was like half crushed coral half normal aquarium gravel)

i'm glad that i DID mixed them up for a more even look (the normal aquarium gravel were blue). i didn't realize that i can actually kill the bacterias..

i added all my rocks and decor from my old tank too, so i'll cross my fingers and hope that's enough to carry the bacterias over to the new tank.
but i'll still keep an eye on the water parameters.

and i saw the funniest thing today, one of my puffers (the one that always have white belly) play dead in front of a ghost shrimp after he chases the shrimp.
he just stared at the shrimp for a sec, kinda lay on his side, whole body's color kinda faded to like a really pale color!!!just like he's dying!! scared me for a bit.
but once he saw me staring at him, he quickly returned to his normal color and swims right up to beg for food!!
anyone's puffer play dead like this before? is this like normal?

[seventy]

You should be fine with the gravel then, did you upgrade your filtration as well? the GSP sounds extra cute! mine kind of behaves like that, but its more like hes being lazy than anything else, prolly because hes so fat! he lays down in a little LR cave I made, and when he swims out he always has bits of gravel stuck to his belly.

I think the most appealing thing about GSPs is how expressive they are, definatley characters.

[bigfatpuffer]

i'm having two filter running together, one aqua clear 50 and one aqua clear 70.

i have a protein skimmer laying around somewhere in my room... debuting if i should add that in the BW tank?

[seventy]

The protein skimmer won't really work until you raise the salinity to 1.018 or higher and works best at 1.022 - 1.025. Good thing you already have one for later though. PP has a good article on GSPs and salinity in the library.