Things you want to know but are afraid to ask.

[las]

It is a well laid-out tank. The gravel might be a bit much for me, but the layout is excellent. It is a very good puffer set-up. Many puffers do respond markedly to substrate color, and I cannot predict just how the colors will shift over different gravels. Obviously our eyes do not see the same as puffers.

My puffers have to deal with essentially one "natural" gravel mix in all my FW tanks, whether it brings out their best colors or deadens them.

Will the color of my substrate influence the color of my mappa puffer? He changed shades quite often. He is often dark and im wondering if the black background of my tank is influencing this. Any ideas?

[goldielocke76]

Big poop on top & the rest winds up broken down into the substrate.

Don't laugh at the disco gravel:

What a gorgeous tank! Even with the disco gravel, it's an awesome tank! =)

Thank you all who answered my questions =) What a big help! Anybody mind telling me what water test kit is good to get? I see tons, but I am not sure if they are different, the same, better or worse. So many choices out there.

[RVS]

I use "Tetra Test Laboreft" for almost 1 year in the GSP tank and its quite precise an cheap by the way...
It tests Ph, Gh, Kh, No2, No3, NH2/NH3 and Co2...

Ufff so its ok, i was worry about my GSP private Business hahaha but i´ll let them doit alone, they look happy almost all the time, but one of them gets black belly for anything!!! when he hunts=black belly, when i feed them=black belly, when the other puffer is very near= black belly!!! only when he is alone and nobody near and some times when i talk to them is white bellyed hehe
¿is that his personality? or should i consider something else is wrong?

[Pufferpunk]

All you really need is ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH. Also, a hydrometer or refractometer.

[sevenyearnight]

Anybody mind telling me what water test kit is good to get? I see tons, but I am not sure if they are different, the same, better or worse. So many choices out there.

I had a tetra laborette kit about some 8-9 odd years ago, and I found the results, at least then, consistent. I have no way to verify how accurate they are.

I now use API liquid tests, and I'm happy with them.

I did buy a tub of the API test strips, to check how accurate they are since I've heard nothing but caca about test strips in general. Ok, the test strips are of course, the easiest test to administer, however, the nitrate goes from 0 straight to 20, nothing in between. Which regardless of how accurate that is, I like to keep all of my tanks under 20, so this isn't very helpful. As far as the other parameters, it does not include ammonia, which is pretty darn important! lol. I think the other results are fairly accurate, if you consider sometimes only part of the square changes color, and that the colors bleed all over the place so it's hard to tell sometimes lol. Also, it says to dip it directly into the aquarium, but the colors bleed, so that just doesn't seem safe. Considering that they are also not economical, you get way more tests from the liquid kits, and it doesn't include ammonia and the nitrate results are basically worthless, I'd say don't get the strips, as it's just a waste of money. I'm assuming that the cheaper brand of strips are even worse, but didn't want to test them.

API liquid tests I find to be very consistent, as long as you keep your variables the same, (amount of water in the tube, number of drops, shake the containers first, length of time etc.) The only thing is with the nitrate test (NO3) you really need to shake the bajesus out of the second bottle or you won't get accurate and consistent results.

And I think the Red Sea test kits leave too many variables as some of the tests have you mix multiple components at specific levels, speeds, etc, very easy to make an error. I don't find the results consistent, and their color chart results are ambiguous. I don't prefer Red Sea tests.

[Reaperpilot2014]

I would also vouch for the API Master Test Kit, while I have generally bad experiences with any test strips.

[RVS]

Drop & liquid tests are the best... any one, but no test strips, i also had it and had a bad experience hehe

ooouuu another doubt:

1.- How could i Know my GSP genera (sex)? There are difference between girls and boys?

[sevenyearnight]

Unless your puffer lays eggs, there is no way to reliably determine gender. It seems everyone just decides if they want to call their puffer a boy's or girl's name.

[RVS]

I see Puffergie is becoming bigger in a shorter time than Puffernad (yes the other puffer´s name is puffernand hehe).... and i´d read that female puffers are bigger than males... so thats why hahaha

[J-P]

as much as your post is appreciated you have linked to an off site company.
that is considered spam.

What does this mean?!

it was a spammer... apparently. the post was deleted.