Future Sabahensis setup

[AquaMike]

Hilly has a great sticky on these guys btw! This is my next tank/dream fish setup that won't happen till I move but want to do as much research as possible before hand. Just want to make sure these ideas will work best. My area's water is typically neutral and med-hard at most. This would be some my setup as of now:

*55G - figured this is plenty, no? Won't get too into filtration, but was thinking of a heavy duty canister, and a moderate HOB on the other side for more water circulation.
*Keep the SG ~1.005 at most. And do weekly water changes with a 12-15 gallon jug depending on what I can find.
*to help raise and buffer the pH - african cichlid sand. I like the look too. As well as maybe a little crushed coral in there, or at least in the filter(s). Also use large texas holey rock. Hopefully find a piece with a big enough hole to swim through. May have to do that manually.
*nothing special for the lighting. should I find a dimmer bulb though? Would this increase activity?
*thought of getting some java moss and anubias if it'll survive. Hoping to get a lot of vals too especially with the tall grass/seaweed look. And it can swim through it.

Thoughts?

[RTR]

Aragonite sand is by a wide margin the best substrate for boosting/maintaining water hardness/alkalinity. You do need to add more periodically as the substrate slowly dissolves.

A larger tank and/or larger water partials will reduce the alkalinity drop between partials and will reduce the nitrate titer. If your water source is not hard, preconditioning the make-up water helps too, but does require another tank.

HTH

[Pufferpunk]

Where are you gonna find one?

[AquaMike]

is it fine that the aragonite is live sand?

I was also planning on preconditioning the water in that tub a day or two before a WC. Mainly for SG, but also pH, temp, & something to increase the hardness. Would keeping a large piece of limestone/holey rock in the tub help over a 1-2 day period? If not, what would you recommend?

[Pufferpunk]

LS won't be live, when placed in BW. The bacteria & critters in there will die, causing a HUGE ammonia/nitrite issue.

I premix my SW in a Brute garbage can in the basement. The external pump has valves plumbed to turn for pumping to tanks upstairs. Obviously, the same can be done with BW.

[AquaMike]

remind me to ask you more about that setup later. Are these guys really that rare? As rare as cross rivers?

[scpion]

Haven seen a true saba or cross river before. Saba are very often confused with larger GSPs. There's a variety of GSPs with tighter and smaller spots.

[AquaMike]

I have heard that they get confused easily with GSPs, especially with one of their nicknames being the Giant Spotted Puffer (good choice). I'm assuming it's easier to tell with a more mature individual?

[Pufferpunk]

Probably the ONLY way to tell.

[AquaMike]

what's the earliest this would be in terms of age and size?

[RTR]

So far as I know, I have never seen a real one myself, in ~50 years of puffer-keeping.

[AquaMike]

so this really is more of a dream tank then...now i'm sad. Could always go back to my idea of a couple figure eights, but I want a good medium sized puffer (~6", active, not a lurker, and not an aggressive monster like a Fahaka)

[bertie 83]

Sounds like a Ceylon will fit the criteria

[Pufferpunk]

Or GSP.

[AquaMike]

I do like that puffer, has similarities to GSPs too, but I forgot to mention I'd rather not go SW. Any other FW or low-end brackish ones you could think of?