Happy GSP's...

[KushFace]

Hey thanks to everyone thats helped me and my little fellas. Crazy fish let me tell ya, I thought they layed eggs and everyone was right it was poop, in my defense though ive yet to see anything else come out of their bodies that look like that series of dumps did. Also ive slowly been increasing the salinity from fresh and my sg is at 1.009 and they are freakin stoked, much more active, much brighter, and they have way more personality and they actually look bigger believe it or not. Also ive found out they dont like ghost shrimps or ramshorn snails but they love little garden snails and dried baby shrimps. should i keep increasing my salinity with my water changes? Thanks again you guys are rad and my puffers are jazzed.

[Nick]

Once I found out GSPs are born in full marine conditions, any doubts I once had about keeping young ones at full marine faded away, and those I once had were not particularly worrying. Marine water conditions seem no worse for GSPs than the high brackish the wild fish spend most of their lives in, and if you can get live rock and a skimmer going(once SG goes about 1.017, both work quite well) water quality will be better than possible at high brackish, and with less water changing, at that. That's the real "bonus" for going marine - salt water skimming lets you continually remove wastes that there are no way to remove from fresh or brackish water without changing it, and the cleaner your puffers water, the longer and healthier life it will have.

[Ajepalmer]

Once I found out GSPs are born in full marine conditions, any doubts I once had about keeping young ones at full marine faded away, and those I once had were not particularly worrying. Marine water conditions seem no worse for GSPs than the high brackish the wild fish spend most of their lives in, and if you can get live rock and a skimmer going(once SG goes about 1.017, both work quite well) water quality will be better than possible at high brackish, and with less water changing, at that. That's the real "bonus" for going marine - salt water skimming lets you continually remove wastes that there are no way to remove from fresh or brackish water without changing it, and the cleaner your puffers water, the longer and healthier life it will have.

Wow, I didn't know they were BORN in full marine. That is very impressive. You're deffinately a well of knowledge Nick

[Nick]

Thanks.

Most keepers believed until just this year that they were born in fresh, or very light brackish, because the smaller they are the longer they can stay in fresh or low brackish without health problems. Before this, you'd hear me just as confidently quote the classic view that they were born in fresh water and traveled downriver as they grew.

Luckily, a company has figured a way to prime GSPs for breeding hormonally; one of the hurdles they had to jump was realizing that sperm motility was dependent on a very high SG, with fertilization rates not viable in water out of the marine range.

So now, my new theory on their infant FW tolerance is vitality; for many animals just being young can meaning having a stronger immune system which can deal with more. What we'd all like to know is exactly how long can a GSP that is never crowded and always taken care of live in full marine from birth.
My money is on Longer Than We Thought.