Newbie

[Napoleon]

Hello all those much smarter then myself in all things Puffer,

I bought two GSP's (Biff and Napoleon) from a local pet store before reading up on them. I had planned to put them in with other fish and keep them in a single freshwater 30gal tank. However, I liked the two little guys so much that I wanted to know more about them. I very quickly found out what and who they are and what was required. I now have two 30 gallon tanks one for each, and they are still in fresh water. I am not sure how old they are, or when I need to start making their water brackish. I would love any advice, questions about them, their setups, basically anything that will make them happy. They seem to pace the sides of their tanks periodically but not constantly, I have decor with tunnels broken lines of sights in their tanks, they both just moved into their new tanks today, I matched the levels with what they were in. I look forward to hearing and taking advice from all.

I am glad such a community exists!

Jason

[xrayjeeper83]

both tanks were cycled? if so how?

Pics of said tanks please. How big are they? From my reading you can move them to brackish when ever.

[jjj5311]

Welcome to the forum! I just got my gsp all set up in 29 gallon tank. If you navigate to the learn part of this site there is a lot of good reading on gsp there. That should answer some of your questions...

I started my gsp transition to brackish today and he is currently at 1.002 salinity. Idk if there is a certain age/size to put them in brackish but what I have read on here is that it is never too soon as long as you transition then nice and easy... There is an article in the library about mixing brackish water.... Or maybe it was a post but that is what I used as my guide.

[Napoleon]

The first tank, a 30gal has been up for two weeks, with normal fish. Declorinated the water, added conditioner, adding the bacteria per what the bottle said, and did a 50% water change two days ago to lower the levels to match what the puffers where in for a easy transition.

The second tank, a 38gal hexagonal tank, has been up for four days, two days, added the new water the exact same way, declorinated, conditioned, added bacteria. Then added the regular fish to that tank for two days and then moved them out today and put Biff in there, as the levels were matched.

I had the two little guys in a little 10gal tank (gasp!) and was trying my best to get them into a better system without harming them as quickly as I could, as I was having to do 50% water changes almost daily to keep the No2 and No3 levels down. I will edit this post with pics of there tanks in a few minutes.

[Napoleon]

Pictures are up in my last post, they are appox. 1" long.

[Pufferpunk]

Glad you found us & did the upgrade. What kind of bacteria did you add? Do you have test kits? It would be best to test for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, for the couple weeks you have them.

[Napoleon]

I am glad I found you guys as well. I am using Nutrafin Cycle bacteria. Yes I have a full test kit, have been checking levels daily since they were put in the new tanks.

[bertie 83]

That nutrafin will add to your bio load, first off throw it away. Then do many daily waterchanges whilst keeping an eye on your water parameters until the tank is cycled. Check out the emergency cycle article in the library

[Black Widow]

That nutrafin will add to your bio load

How ?? It is cycling bacteria and will thus help the cycling process. Adding to your bioload means adding more nutrients to your water for e.g. Excess Food, More Fish = More Waste, etc will add to your bioload

[Napoleon]

OK, So just add the treated water to the tank and no bacteria?

[bertie 83]

That nutrafin will add to your bio load

How ?? It is cycling bacteria and will thus help the cycling process. Adding to your bioload means adding more nutrients to your water for e.g. Excess Food, More Fish = More Waste, etc will add to your bioload

this is dead bacteria in a bottle i would not go near it personally

[bertie 83]

I would just keep up the w/c as regularly as you can

[Napoleon]

So if I am doing water changes and not adding the bacteria, then am I not losing those bacteria and not replacing them lowering the bacteria in the tank?

[bertie 83]

The bacteria multiply depending on the waste products your fish produce, adding dead bacteria from a bottle is not good practice imo. Keeping the water clean is good, please read the emergency cycle article in the library as it will help you massively. Thus helping to keep your puffs healthy

[Napoleon]

I am reading it now thank you.

So I read it and I am a little confused. The tank is suppose to cycle, building up bacteria in the tank that helps keep the levels down of the bad things. They say it takes up to two months to properly establish a tank, do I change the filter media once a month like it says to?

And if I am removing a minimum of 50% during a w/c everyday doesn't that remove 50% of the bacteria that I am trying to establish? Or is that coming from a build up in the filter? and in that case do I not change the filters? Thanks for all your help, I have no problem doing 50% w/c everyday for the next two months if that is what it takes, just trying to do what I can and do it correctly.