The Puffer Forum

So far I have six lovely GSPs in may tank. I'm using artificial plants and rocks for my aquarium decor.

I'm planning to put in some investments on real tropical water plants (which means additional investments on CO2, tropical & freshwater flourescent tube, fertilizers, soil etc) but the LFS do not recommend aquarium plants for puffers. They said like goldfish, puffers tend to bite off the plants.

Please advice is it practical to have tropical plants with puffers? Also, I'm planning to introduce BW in stages as currently I'm using FW with a combination of aquarium salt. Do FW aquarium plants survive in BW? Any recommendation for decoration because I'm bored with artificial decors and wanted something real for my tank with my GSPs?

Joshcwj, what size tank do you have for the GSPs and have you read the articles on GSPs in the library? GSPs will need a minimum of 30 gallons each as they mature and will eventually need to be in full saltwater. Unless you have an extremely large tank, you will not be able to keep 6 GSPs in one tank. Even with a large tank, there is a huge chance that the GSPs will begin to fight each other as they mature and become more aggressive. If they do not fight, you can expect the more aggressive ones of the bunch to hog the food, leaving little for the others to eat.

Freshwater plants will not live in high-end BW. Only a select few will tolerate BW even as low as 1.005 and they will usually only survive but not thrive.

Finally, aquarium salt does not cut it. You need to use marine mix for BW and will need to invest in a hydrometer or refractometer if you do not already have one.

Thanks ybenormal for your advice. My tank is about 80gallons. I think it's over crowded then. Will have to migrate to a larger tank. So far they've been together for two weeks. No fighting. Only one fella is slightly agreesive when it comes to food.

I'm migrating to slight BW this week. Will invest in a hydrometer.

I'm still trying to get some BW plants. Any pictures or recommendation?

Josh

There are no FW plants which will survive/thrive above very light BW. There are no midrange or higher BW plants in the trade. Once you get to light SW levels, several macroalgae will do okay. In between, the cupboard is bare unfortunately.

What size tank are planning to upgrade them to, as adults?

I'm not sure yet. Maybe I'll split into two tanks. One at home and the other at the office.

By the way, I managed get a floating hydrometer and added some marine salt. I change about 15% water and added in BW. The SG is about 1.001 at this point. I'll do this slowly as not to destroy the backteria.

Those little fellas looks happy.

Good job in switching to marine mix instead of aquarium salt! Floating hydrometers are somewhat of a pain to use. You may want to consider purchasing a swing-arm hydrometer down the road (<$10 U.S.) or maybe a refractometer for about $50 U.S. (see the link in the classifieds). I find that these are much easier to use than the floating hydrometer and worth the cost.

If you feed the GSPs a varied diet and maintain the tank properly, I think you will be surprised to see how fast they will outgrow the 80-gallon tank. Puffers are easily stunted though, leading to health issues and shortened lifespans, so I recommend either returning a few of the 6 GSPs that you have or planning for the upgrade/relocations sooner rather than later.

Anyway, welcome to the GSP club! Don't forget to check out the articles in the library and post anytime you have questions or need advice.

Floating-type hydrometers are calibrated for lower temps (in the 60's, I beleive). Does it read 0 in tapwater?

Thanks for the wonderful advice from all you gurus. The reason I bought the floating hydrometer is the swing-arm type starts with 1.010 as the lowest reading. They don't have 1.000. I guess it's meant for full marine reading and not brackish. They only have floating type which starts with 1.000 at tap water. Yes, I do agree floating type is rather problematic.

I have only used a floating hygrometer since I started raising the levels of my tank from fresh to full marine. They are calibrated for 60 degree F and according to all calculators and charts I have found, this works out to a reading of 1.021 at 75 degree and 1.020 at 80 degree. I mix my salt at 60 and then use a heater to raise it to tank temp, test and if things are good, proceed with water change. It may not be as accurate as a refractometer, but I believe consistency is more important.

RTR wrote:There are no midrange or higher BW plants in the trade. Once you get to light SW levels, several macroalgae will do okay. In between, the cupboard is bare unfortunately.

Yes why is this? I know there are some plants that live in BW because I remember when I used to fish in an estuary and I was always pulling out clumps of seaweed looking stuff. It was more than a few years ago though, so it's a hazy memory. Is it a case of no demand = no BW plants?

Rainmaker,
I didn't know floating hydrometer gives different readings at different water temperature. The hydrometer I bought do not have any charts or table readings but it does come with a built-in termometer. At the same time how do you calibrate your floating termometer?

I'm living in a tropical country where our climate is consistently hot all year round (93-94F).

Water, like many materials, does expand and contract with temperature. It is most dense at 4C, expands on both sides of that figure. It continues expanding slightly with increases in the temperature, so specific gravity measures must be at some pre-set temperature.

Google on "specific gravity measurement" and you will find temperature compensation charts among the responses.