URGENT!! ceylon puffer Q

[jrchkn]

so the other day i got back from a trip and went to the pet store....i fell in love with a "topac" puffer and got a tank and him. well after researching there is no such thing as a topac and ive concluded its a ceylon. here is the problem. the pet store told me he is a freshwater and thus ive had him in freshwater for 3 days...all sites say brackish... should i add salt? some sites said they can turn freshwater..

he is about 4" and is in a 10 gallon for now. how much salt do i ut in.. shouldnt he have died already? i really love this little guy and dont wanna kill him.

[side19]

its ok if he's in fresh water for a little while. he can most likely live his whole life in freshwater, but he won't be happy, and his life span will be greatly shortened. also you're going to need a much larger tank than 10g for a ceylon. also is the tank cycled? you never want to introduce a puffer to an uncycled tank. as for the salt you need to get marine salt. there are tons of companies that make it, just make sure its marine salt and not aquarium tonic salt. the tonic salt doesn't have the minerals that marine salt has so it will be useless. you'll also need a hydrometer, or better yet a refractometer, to measure teh salinity. the main thin i would worry about right now is getting him a bigger tank, and getting the bacteria colonies established (if you have an old tank set up and running tank some gravel from there or some filter media and put it in the new tank). once the bacteria is established you can start raising the salinity, bot don't raise it more than 0.002 per week or you will kill the bacteria and have to cycle the tank all over again. i hope this helps. i really hope you enjoy your new puffer friend, you can to the right place for help.

[Myaj]

Topaz is a common name for a ceylon

The freshwater won't kill it immediatly but you will need to get it into brackish, and eventually full marine.

They grow a bit bigger than a GSP, about 6-8" total length, so you'll be looking at a minimum 40 gallon tank for it. IMO, they are one of the most beautiful puffers.

If you don't know much about cycling tanks and brackish water, slow down a bit and start doing some reading in our library. You can start with this article, its geared towards GSP's but Ceylon care is nearly the same, other than them being a bigger fish:
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

Long story short, you are looking at eventually a full marine 40 gallon tank (don't let marine scare you, if you don't keep corals its not hard), brackish to start with (and that means marine salt, not "aquarium salt") and a very cool, but aggressive fish that should live a good 10+ years.

Immediate story, if he's already 4" long and in a 10 gallon, you'd better start changing 50% or more of your water every day. These fish are very messy, and he will quickly kill himself with his own wastes and dirty water. Start looking for a larger tank or decide if you're up to keeping a fish that has these needs now, because at that size, keeping him alive in a 10 gallon tank is going to be very, very difficult, requiring daily water changes.

What is he eating so far?

[jrchkn]

thank you first off.

yes the pet store said hed be fine in the 10 but now i know that they are full of it. im searching for a used 20-40 long for him asap. the tank and setup is all brand new...wish they woulda helped me out a little before tell me yeah go for it.

hes eating freeze dried shrimp and ill be introducing frozen brine shrimp to him tomorrow.

[Dadof4]

Definitely read the emergency cycling article. If you have a friend with a well established tank, see if you can get some used filter media from his/her filter. This works real well.
Check craigs list for cheap tanks. I've bought many tanks from there and they have all been a steal!

[Dadof4]

Heh, I just realized I didn't include the link for the Emergency Cycling article..... ...no coffee yet.....so here it is!

library/water-filtration/emergencycycle/

[pufferpuggirl]

I have two Ceylons puffers, also sold as "Topaz" puffers, and they are great! They most certainly are brackish water puffers and you will notice that they will go dark when they are in freshwater. I bought one that was nearly totally black because it was in freshwater, I got it home and by that very evening, his belly had gone totally white. My two are real characters, having two very different personalities. I think, from their behaviour, that I must have one male and one female, but that's just a guess. They are definitely in my Top 5 Puffers. You've gotten a very nice puffer there.

[jrchkn]

so ive started the search for everything now. the biospira and dr tims seem to be my best bet for cycling as none of my friends have a brackish tank tho it seems very hard to find locally


edit: turns out biospira and dr tims are illegal. they have stresslime they say is the closest thing

[Dadof4]

so ive started the search for everything now. the biospira and dr tims seem to be my best bet for cycling as none of my friends have a brackish tank tho it seems very hard to find locally


edit: turns out biospira and dr tims are illegal. they have stresslime they say is the closest thing

Where are you located that they are illegal? I think they may be just trying to sell you something.....

If you are currently in FW and have friends with FW tanks you can get some used filter media and then after a week or two start raising the SG of the tank.

[jrchkn]

i called all over im in hawaii. everything illegal out here haha. only one any of the stores have is the streeslime or line. i just wanna make this little guy happy. my friend does have fw so ill ask her for a filter


edit. i jsut found a 20long complete setup for 100 locally and wondering if that will be good for him. i dont really have the room right now to house anything bigger tank wise

[Dadof4]

Honestly that is the easiest way.

[Jivenjune]

i called all over im in hawaii. everything illegal out here haha. only one any of the stores have is the streeslime or line. i just wanna make this little guy happy. my friend does have fw so ill ask her for a filter


edit. i jsut found a 20long complete setup for 100 locally and wondering if that will be good for him. i dont really have the room right now to house anything bigger tank wise

It would last him for a little while, I would think. A 40 gallon, in terms of size, is not much bigger than a 20 gallon long. A 20 gallon long is the same length as a 29/30 gallon tank, but it's just a little taller. Likely, the footprint of a 40 gallon won't be much bigger than a 20 gallon in terms of length. It'll likely be a bit longer and a bit taller.

IMO, you would be better off getting a full forty gallon. It really sucks to have to destroy their home to move them after they get comfortable. Hate doing it to my babies, and I've had to do it twice in their life (due to lack of research when I initially purchased my GSPs). I had 2 small GSPs in a 1 gallon tank. This was for about a week until I noticed how cramped and miserable they looked. Did some research (and was given more bad info--not from this site), and I purchased a 20 gallon for about 35 bucks. Found this site to be the most accurate and knowledgeable in regards to puffer care. I purchased a 60 gallon for my 2 babies, and they've been incredibly happy ever since. They don't swim up and down the site of the glass nearly as much.

[marksrush]

...IMO, they are one of the most beautiful puffers.

<hugs> I've always thought so too! Every morning I wake up and look at my gorgeous Corny (he's a 5" Ceylon who is growing like a weed) and thank my lucky stars that I have such a beautiful puffer.

[jrchkn]

well i got him a 20l today..i just dont have the means to support a 40 gal...the stands already bending haha. he seems to like it a lot more then the 10. as far as cycling goesi got stress zyme(i was told the only legal live bacteria solution able for purchase here). as for the transfer over to brackish im still a little scared. if i have a 20 long how much do i add?

edit. also how do i lower the temp.. i keep the light off but its still around 84-86

[Pufferpunk]

Build yourself a better stand. The one you have is in danger of collapsing. You can even use plywood & cinder blocks. It worked for a 125g I had.