The Puffer Forum

What size was it when you moved it into full marine? (since we're mainly looking for how this affects little guys put into full marine, instead of moving them only when they are larger) like a inch

Did the fish survive?
yes but now I found out he has internal parasites

How long was it/is it in full marine?
about a 14 months
How large did it grow, and how fast?
he is only about 2 inches..... I think its because he has parasites
Did you notice any stress, lack of eating, poor coloration, weight loss, etc?
he lost a lot of weight because of the parasites lately, but before that he was fat. hes color is still great and eats food like crazy.
Did you return it to brackish levels at any point?
no, I was thinking I might, not sure if it could kill the parasites any faster than prazipro? if someone knows tell me.
If it died, how long was it alive?
it will be close to 2 years now

Bought my GSP "Spot" at full marine (.020). Was a young fish, 2" maybe.

Currently the salinity is 0.018. I vary it a little between water changes, bringing it back up to .20 over a change or two. Sometimes a touch higher. S/He will be with us for eight years in March. Crazy active, but loves napping the morning away in her cave system.

Never had any issues with feeding. I skip Friday usually and the splashes are always there.

This is great info--

Puffer punk, is your 55 gallon you showed me a pic of SW?

Answering for PP yes it is.

My GSP's and Ceylon Puffer are in Full Marine. The GSP's when they were 2.5 inches and the Ceylon at 1 inch.

Yes, that was SW (& BW), before I added live rock. It was almost impossible to keep all that decor clean!

My two GSPs (both a wee over 2 inches) should be into low-end marine (1.020) by Friday.

I've housed young GSP's in full marine a while back. They did fine. But, unfortunately, I had to move, and gave them away.
I now have 4 GSP's, and am experimenting with salinity. I've raised their specific gravity now to 1.016. This afternoon, I will raise the salinity a bit more and will monitor their responses. I am using filtered seawater from my universities' aquaculture center.
They are still young, size ~1 1/2". I got them at ~1 1/4". They've been growing, and thriving. I'll keep you posted....

So hadn't been on the forum for awhile, was taking another look at this thread, and I realized my GSPs had just moved to full marine 1.021 when I looked last. So here is my experience. I had one 1" GSP that I slowly acclimated from 1.008 to 1.021, then was asked by my local FW LFS with many years of GSP experience to take a second 1" puffer as she was worried with the GSP being in low brackish environment too long. I didn't have my quarantine tank set up, and my second tank had jsut been converted to a Nano reef, so the second GSP was drip acclimated at 1 dps in a 5 gallon bucket, and added to my FOWLR tank. Now three years later they are happily inhabiting a full Marine tank (1.024) and growing like weeds (3.5"). One of their tank mates has become a bully so will have to be removed, but otherwise they have faired far better than any of my previous attempts at keeping GSPs in FW or brackish tanks. The chemistry stability that comes with maintaining both tanks in near reef conditions seems to greatly benefit the puffers' overall health and personality. I will never put one in a brackish tank again after this experience.

This is interesting to bear in mind for when I set up for GSP's - any recommendations on starting salinity and schedule of increase?

You can either start in FW (as most GSPs are sold in FW) or set up a fully marine system & drip-acclimate the puffers to that within a day.

Looks like I'll be doing this, taking on a re-homed 1" juvenile GSP who's in full marine now and sourcing another of the same size. Lol straight in the deep end so to speak, picking up a 250 litre tank tomorrow and trying to get live rock, canister, etc asap. Any advice?

Hi, has any consensus been reached via this thread on young GSP's in full marine? The little guy being re-homed with me when the tank has completed cycling is 1" and said to be doing well in 1.026 - I plan to introduce another from the same batch simultaneously. I have clearly experienced people on other forums insisting that full salt is only healthy when they are over 4" and more clearly experienced people saying full marine early on is not just ok but ideal. A friend has sorted me out a spare tank with a nice, long footprint and this is now set up as FOWLR with 50/50 cured live and dry rock, coral sand substrate, and natural seawater. I'll be adding ATM colony when it arrives Friday to speed up cycling and collect the GSP's once the cycling is complete and water perimeters are stable. Fortunately the little guy is only being lightly harassed by bigger GSP's in his current home, not attacked, so however long the cycle takes will be ok - no need to subject to fish in cycling. From the information you've gathered should I leave the little GSP's in full marine or reduce to the minimum that marine nitrifying bacteria will be viable in? Hahahaha this is a hell of a learning curve - I only started keeping fish when a large freshwater community tank was re-homed with me a couple of months ago! Despite me being a noob and the previous owners power washing the filter thus killing the bacteria and forcing a fish in cycle all survived and it is a happy, stable community now after a lot of monitoring, research, and maintenance. I'm hoping I'm doing the best for the little GSP's - any advice is most appreciated!

Has anyone ever seen pics or video of gsp's in full marine in the wild? At sea that is?

I ask this because I would like to know where the idea comes from that they are marine fish at all..