The Puffer Forum

How long did Balki take to get to 2 inches? I was reading pufferpunk's article and I am a little concerned about how I am going to set up a marine tank and get a small GSP at the same time. I was thinking about getting a small GSP, keeping him in the 20 gallon until a small-ish F8 comes around, and slowly raising the salinity for the little guy. But then I am afraid of getting a call from the LFS saying that my little F8 is here. Any suggestions on how to approach this?

I would suggest setting up the 46 gallon as a marine tank, don't rush it, do it carefully and correctly. Get the GSP after the tank is set up and stabilized. It is fine to put young gsp's in full marine.
It is an unfathomable PITA to slowly raise the SG, and then have to move the puffer. If I could go back, I wish I had known these things.

sevenyearnight wrote:I would suggest setting up the 46 gallon as a marine tank, don't rush it, do it carefully and correctly. Get the GSP after the tank is set up and stabilized. It is fine to put young gsp's in full marine.
It is an unfathomable PITA to slowly raise the SG, and then have to move the puffer. If I could go back, I wish I had known these things.

Ah ok then. Takes a load off my mind. I wasn't sure if it was healthy (? I think I am looking for this word) to put them into full salinity when they were only an inch or so. That is what I will do then ^.^ just need to tank, stand substrate and LR LOL

Is there anything I can do to make it more decorative? I won't be able to do an awesome 3d background like you did for Balki, and just having the rock in there seems to be a little plain (I prolly don't know what I am talking about, so I don't mean to be offensive). Can you add fake plants? Is this advisable?

Bacon is only about 1.5in and she is doing just fine in full marine.

You can add some fake corals from petswhatever if you want. Or what Im doing is waiting for the tank to mature(few months time) and then adding some real corals and see what Bacon thinks of them, aka if she eats them or not.

And my current apt telling me as many tanks as I wanted was such a bad move on their part LOL and a bad move for my wallet

Live rock is actually pretty awesome and amazing. You can put fake plants in if you want to.
Here is a thread on young GSP's in full marine: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15647&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... g+gsp+full

Thank s guys for being so understanding =)

I can't wait to start this project! I wasn't sure if I could have corals but I think Im definitely going to try in the future. One step at a time...haha

Going to have to look for a good course of LR. The thought of the cost makes me a teeny but nervous. Overwhelming actually. If I do the math right it comes out to about 85lbs of LR?

I might add some plants until I can get some good color in there from the LR. We will see. I still need ti get the tank lmao

You can do 15-20lbs of LR and the rest dry rock. The LR will seed the dry rock over time. And will cut the cost down A LOT

With just one GSP, you could go with 1.5 lbs per gallon. At least I'm fairly certain.

OP, make sure you post pics of your set-up when done (or before even)!!!

Love this cuz I started with 1 GSP in a 2.5 gal (sold as freshwater + Figure 8 = WRONG!).

Anyway, went from 2.5 > to 25 gal > to 40 breeder... with slow salinity changes throughout.

All in all... this took a long time and (as Seven said) was a big pain in the @%$ and ^ $$$ over that time (water changes, new equipment...etc.)

Best to acclimate the GSP and then add to full marine from the start = much better and healthier.

Your set-up sounds great and I was like you (still am), so excited at all the fun stuff to see and learn.


My GSP (Chico) is now a FAT 4" puffer and would not have survived 2 days without the knowledge I received here at the Puffer Forum!

Thank you everyone and good luck OP!!!

Waitasecond... you mean drop a young GSP straight into a marine tank??? Without any sort of acclimation or anything?? Because, well, my local fish shop has micro sized GSP's for sale that they keep in a 50/50 brackish tank, and Camille is kinda lonely...

Also, I have a 40 gallon breeder, and 47 gallons is closer to the truth. I have it on a wrought iron stand that is probably strong enough to hold a 350 engine block. I will say one thing on your stand; if you end up with an iron stand, be sure to spray it with some kind of sealant first, as the salt in the water will rust it.

sevenyearnight wrote:I would suggest setting up the 46 gallon as a marine tank, don't rush it, do it carefully and correctly. Get the GSP after the tank is set up and stabilized. It is fine to put young gsp's in full marine.
It is an unfathomable PITA to slowly raise the SG, and then have to move the puffer. If I could go back, I wish I had known these things.

Drip acclimation over several hours to match salinity. If you drop a GSP from freshwater straight into marine, they'd likely go into osmotic shock.

sevenyearnight wrote:Drip acclimation over several hours to match salinity. If you drop a GSP from freshwater straight into marine, they'd likely go into osmotic shock.

I will do that then. So, it looks like the stand set up sold by Petsmart is the best deal. It's ~$350 but it includes: tank, stand, canopy, lights etc. Basically all I would need is substrate, decor, powerheads and fish haha. So, I am going to start saving up for it. Might be several paychecks, but I will get there ^.^

Omg that's expensive!

Goldie keep an eye out on craigslist, thats big money for a 40g.

I would definitely check, I payed $80 for a 45 gallon, glass lid and light hood. $120 for a 75 gallon, light strip, canister filter, and well built stand, some odds and ends. Balki's tank was $50, I may not have bought it if I saw the scratches though.
Mostly craigslist is just funny, but you can find a good deal.