The Puffer Forum

I'm planning on getting a new tank, first brackish/marine tank for me. I'm in love with GSP's, and would like to get a couple.

I'm looking at a 65 gallon, with a Fluval FX5. How many GSP's would I be able to stock safely without having to upgrade in their lifetime? I'd like to get two babies. I plan on adding a 30g sump down the road when I switch over to full marine. I'm pretty overprotective of my fishies and would like them to live long and happy lives!

2 would be best

They sound like very fortunate fish

2

Addition from my far too short answer and I missed the part about the sump.
3... maybe 4 would probably be very comfortable bioload when there small shouldnt be too much of an issue and then as it heads marine adding the sump would bring the volume up. What sort of dimensions is the 65?

In my opinion

For the first one 30 gal is a must

and then 20 gal per GSP.

Depends on what you filtration will be long term as well. I'd probably go with only two due to territorial issues, but consider another small tankmate if you go full marine. That's a simple matter of adding a bunch of live rock and a skimmer after the SG gets above 1.017. Skimmers are good for water quality, and the fluval will still be a good addition if you remove the sponges and just stock it with biomedia and chemical media(I like purigen).

The tank is 36x18x24

Would there be an issue if I were to remove the FX5 once I had the sump going with the live rock, dsb and skimmer? I have a 125 gallon freshwater that is using a plethora of HOT filters tank that I would like to use it on once the 65 gallon was full marine.

If you don't mind getting a good return pump for the sump (Think about 700gph), you could set up a flooded tray for chemical media and get rid of separate filtration units altogether.