Resued Ceylon Puffer....Help needed to make perfect home

[Savvy]

As I ended up having a day off on Wednesday I decided to check out a few of the lfs on my side of the city and see if anyone would by chance have any F8s, as I have been looking for over a month now and have even tried to special order some in without any luck. However when I went to PJs Pets, they had a few Ceylons, 4 smaller ones about 3" and even had 3- 6-7" ones! Only bad thing is that they are selling them as Figure 8s. I pointed out to the manager that these guys are NOT F8s, as F8s have different markings and should only grow to 3" maximum! When obviously most of them have already grown larger than that. She kind of shrugged me off saying that's what they were sold to her as and she won't be changing the name of them nor adapting their care requirements I let her know that they will need a high end brackish tank to be healthy and should even go as far as marine when they are fully grown. But she still didn't care They even had a few GSPs there too! Which I would assume do not have proper tank conditions either

Needless to say, to make a long story short I couldn't leave the store without taking one home with me. The idea that maybe I could give even just one a good home was too much for me to walk away from and I caved... Wish I could take them all but have no extra space for any more tanks, plus I think the SO is starting to think I'm nuts already, lol. Watched the ceylons for awhile, all had nice rounded bellies and surprisingly bright colors for being kept in freshwater with only AQUARIUM SALT . Two seemed to have bite marks, I am assuming from each other either from transport or being in the small tank together. I picked the one without any visable damage and a very white belly. She came right up to the front of the tank and was just so cute!

I have named her Teka and I just love her!

Ok enough about my long story, lol. I'll posts pictures once I can figure out how to do so, lol. But I need help to give her the best possible home!

Current tank set up:
Freshwater (currently) (since she was housed in freshwater at the store I figured I could start her out in it and raise the 0.002 SG/week)
40G (moved the cichlids to the 25 finally)
ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10
Tank was cycled using 5 minnows and the 2 jewels (before I knew fishless cycle was possible, thank you TFP for enlightening me)
Set up for 6 months, no issues
HOB Filter (whisper 40)
Have regular gravel right now but am going to purchase argonite sand/small gravel at lunch here
Once I start getting into the higher SG I will be getting a skimmer

So far she is still a little nervous of us and hides when you get too close. Belly is still very white and her coloring is still nice and bright too. Have fed her some krill last night with the long tweezers and she just gobbled it right up!

I was wondering though is anyone that has/does keep this type of puffer could give me all the tips they can think of so I can help Teka have a great home. All information from everyone would be greatly appreciated!

Main questions:

When should I start increasing the SG?
How would I properly drip the SG in? Do I drip it into the aquarium? How much instant ocean salt (in cups) should I use to make a 5 gallon bucket 1.004 SG?
With the pre-mixed solution described above could I pour a cup in slowly every few hours until the bucket is gone, instead of doing the drip method?

Sorry this is going to be my first brackish tank conversion and I just want to do it right.

[pufferpuggirl]

Ceylons are lovely puffers, mine are characters. I just got a bigger tank for mine, that's how much I love them. I'm not really very good with the whole brackish thing, so I'm going to let someone else address that issue. It took me ages to get my salinity up and I'm still working on it!
How big is the one you took home? My first suggestion would be to feed Teka something more than krill. I feed mine pieces of raw shrimp (with or without shell because most of the time the shell comes off anyway, so I don't see where it matters). Mine also enjoy pieces of mussel, and occasionally earthworms too. And of course, snails are one treat they absolutely love, and I can't seem to give them enough of (I have lots of puffers to feed, so have to make the snails last).
Ceylons can be very skittish. Mine used to jump and leap all the time when I would go around the tank. They have calmed down alot, but I've noticed since putting them in the bigger tank that they are back to jumping and leaping again and I see water splashing often when I'm working around the tank. That's just how they are I think. They are lovely puffers though, and I've actually got a couple GSP's in with mine and they all get along really well.

Good luck with Teka!

[Savvy]

They really are lovely! I love the color and pattern they have! I can't wait to see her personality shine

Jeff keeps telling me that she needs a friend and I should have bought another one, my response was "only if you plan on buying me a bigger tank anytime soon" If only

Currently she's 3". I also have snails, bloodworms, ghost shrimp and then the krill. Will be going on a search for mussels soon. Can't find too much variety in the lfs for frozen foods. I've read other posts mention about the bag of mixed seafood pieces from the grocery store. Would they eat most of what is in the bag? Also for earthworms, can I just find them in my garden and use those ones? Or should I try and find ones at some store?

[trekenk]

The bag of mixed seafood pieces are great and yes most puffers will eat most of the stuff in the bag. Make sure it is raw and frozen, also good idea to soak this in vitamin's. As far earthworms, you can use the ones in your garden as long as you know that no chemicals have been used there. Good luck with your girl.

[Savvy]

About the vitamin soaking, could anyone recommend names of ones? I've searched through a couple lfs and I have no found any vitamin stuff. Maybe I'm just unknowing what to look for. Any suggestions of names of different vitamins would be very helpful!

[bigfatfish]

About the vitamin soaking, could anyone recommend names of ones? I've searched through a couple lfs and I have no found any vitamin stuff. Maybe I'm just unknowing what to look for. Any suggestions of names of different vitamins would be very helpful!

JBL do one called Atvitol - but I am in the UK, so you may have to keep looking!

[Savvy]

Thanks bigfatfish! I'll see if they might carry it around here.

Any other suggestions from anyone?

[pufferpuggirl]

I use Vitazin by Waterlife, but I'm in the UK also, so not sure what's available in Canada. With all the Canucks on here, I'm sure someone can give you some suggestions.

[J-P]

Check Big Al's online .. they have vitamin water

[Savvy]

Thanks PPG and J-P! I'll check out Big Al's online right now too and see if I can find what you suggest

Over the weekend I found a great deal on argonite sand and added it to the tank. Moved Teka into a temporary bucket, set up with tank water, filter, decoration and heater while the water clears up more before setting her back into the tank. I rinsed the heck out of it before adding to the tank but don't think I did a very great job as the water is still pretty cloudy, getting better but far from clear.

Which brings up another question though, should I wait until the water is absolutely clear before I put her back into the tank? Or could I put her back when it's a tiny bit milky? Would it hurt her?

[pufferpuggirl]

The water is only cloudy due to the sand not having settled completely, right? If that's the case, then yes, I would think you'd be fine putting her back into the tank. I've done that myself with no problems, so you should be fine.

[Pufferpunk]

She'll be fine in the cloudy water. Add filter floss (pillow stuffing found at sewing stores) to your filter to clear up the tank. I actually keep 1" of the stuff in all my filters, to "polish" the water crystal clear. For care & feeding, check out the GSP article here, in our Library, it's identical for Ceylons.

[Savvy]

Thanks PP and PPG!! I didn't even think to add any filter floss to help clear it out! I'll pick some up on my way home and add it as soon as I get home. I hope she likes the new sand!

I've gone over the articles a couples times but I think I'll go over them a few more until I get more of a hang on it!

[Brandon8521]

Good luck with your new puffs.

This reminds me, about 3 weeks ago i went to my LFS and they had some 4-5 inch ceylons for sale marked as XXL Fig8s. I havnt been back to check and see if they have moved them and properly named them but they did listen to me when i told them that their 5 inch GSP would be alot happier in there sw displays rather then their .005 brackish setup. Now when they get gsp's they start in their brackish and at about 3 inches or so they move them to their sw side to sell them. I told them to treat them just like the GSP's and told them how big they would get so hopefully they will listen to me on this one too.

[Savvy]

Hopefully they will rename them, then at least when someone goes to purchase them they can find the proper care requirements for them. I almost wonder if they two groups got shipped from the same warehouse? Being they were labelled the same. Or there really is not enough information about puffers being passed around. Either way it seems rather uncomforting knowing how many puffers might be subject to wrong tank conditions

I'm happy they listened about the GSPs though, it's a start


Update: Teka got moved back into her home and seems to really enjoy the sand more than the gravel. She actually even started trying to eat it Not sure if this is a good or bad thing?

Tank was looking pretty clear when I got home yesterday, at least until I moved the decorations around and ended up stirring it a bit. Added the filter floss into the filter as well last night. So hopefully when I get back home today it will look back to normal

Also found a nice bag of mixed seafood pieces for her