Pufferless again!!! And, acclimating a GSP...

[El Scorpio]

Well, I got another orange tail a few weeks ago and last night it was dead. It appears to have had an internal infection.

Sheesh, this hobby can be discouraging at times. This time, though, I think I'm gonna go with my gut instinct and get a GSP and acclimate it to saltwater. There's a fish store not far from me that sells GSP's in a brackish tank with a SG of 1.013. Shouldn't be too hard acclimating a GSP to marine who's already half way there. Do we have any articles or anything for GSP acclimation? And can this get done in one day?

[bertie 83]

You can go from its current salinity to marine in a couple of hours with a simple drip line, I'm a little crazy so would do it as slowly as time would allow me to. Don't be disheartened, puffer death in new fish is fairly common, just pick the healthiest looking one in the tank and treat off the bat for ip's and the fruits of your labour will be years of happiness with your new water puppy.

[El Scorpio]

Right. So far my requirements for a GSP are:

1: Healthy in appearance
2: Active and attentive
3: Bright, proper coloration and spots
4: Too big to fit in my bullet goby's mouth.

I think it's a good start.

[Pufferpunk]

I'd get one who greets me at the glass.

[El Scorpio]

Picked up one of those GSP's at the lfs I mentioned earlier. Currently drip acclimating him in a small 2 gallon tank.

[purplecandle]

You got one that is really bright green! Full tank shots please!

[sgtmyers88]

Awesome! Looking great!

[PufferMe!]

Very cute!

[El Scorpio]

Got him in the tank. He swam around and checked out every rock, every piece of equipment while my bullet goby followed him with every fin sticking straight out. I don't think he likes him, lol. This little guy swam over to the power head to see what it was and got a valuable lesson on moving water when it blew him halfway across the tank, so now he knows what that is about, heh. He even tried to take a chomp out of some polyps that are growing on the live rock. He doesn't seem to have noticed the mushroom yet. He is picking at the little bit of algae that is left in the tank, though.

He is beginning to show signs of stress with the gray belly, but he had a rough day. I don't know if that's just from him being in a new home or from being acclimated to saltwater so quickly, or a little of both, but my water parameters are spot on for a FOWLR marine tank so he should settle in. I threw in a piece of frozen krill meat (thawed in tank water beforehand, of course) and the GSP and my goby attacked it like a couple of piranhas.
I did snap a pic with my phone. Picture's a little blue due to my actinic lighting, but you get the idea.

[G S P Freak]

Nice! Sure seems like the little guy is doing good so far, and I'm sure he'll pay you back with personality! Best of luck, and I agree with Purplecandle, full tank shots please!

[El Scorpio]

So I sent my girlfriend the above picture through a text message, and she said that his face reminded her of a lemur and that's what we're calling him. So I guess he has a name, lol.

I'll get a full tank pic as soon as the lights come on - which won't be for another couple hours.

[El Scorpio]

So this is what my tank is looking like nowadays. The GSP is in there to the left of the heater. You can see my bullet goby, too. It's still having a little algae problem but it's slowly going away.