The Puffer Forum

HI, I am new to the fish world. Proud owner of a Green Spotted Puffer named Guy, Picture below. He has been in my 30 gal tank for a bit over two months. I have begun the process of turning the 30 gal into a brackish tank. If anyone has advice on this it would be highly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19348

That there thread should help you out a lot! Your puffer looks great and I am sure you are going to see some nice changes in his behavior when you get him up to high end brackish.

Thank you Briguy44

One of the most important things is not to put too much salt in your tank to begin with. If you add too much too soon, you will kill off the beneficial bacteria that's built up in your filter, and you definitely don't want to do that. If you look in the forum section, under "brackish tanks" I believe there's some posts on mixing salt and doing a brackish tank.
You probably already know this .... but just in case, always use "marine" salt, not aquarium salt, they are 2 different things (and forgive me if you already knew this).

Here's a good article to read about GSP care and preparing the tank:
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

They are fun fish, and you won't regret it! If that 30 gallon tank is cycled, you could move the puffer there (it will be better for hm than a 5 gallon) and gradually raise the salinity no more than .002 each week (you need a hydrometer, just a couple bucks, and marine salt, more expensive but you won't be using too much). Raising the salinity isn't that hard, but the puffer will need a cycled tank to begin with. So if you have filter media or decor you can "steal" from an existing tank, you can start off the 30 with that (but not if you've already raised the salinity.. jumps of more than .002 per week can kill the bacteria).

Thanks, Guys I did make the mistake of buying Aquarium salt. But I just bought Instant Ocean, cause it seems so well reviewed. I am adding to Tablespoons a week will that be to much for the beneficial bacteria to handle. Thanks for the links.

Can you get a refractometer or a hydrometer? Then you will be able to measure the specific gravity, rather than just guessing.

Yea a hydrometer or refractometer is crucial to making sure you never accidently raise the SG too much. Salt also wont evoporate so when you have evaporation top off with dechlorinated tap water with no salt in it. Only add/raise the SG when doing a water change.

.002 a week no higher which is very easy to accidently do more and crash the tank or cause a mini-cycle