The Puffer Forum

I have a new ceylon puffer and I,m trying to find out if he could be put into a full salt water tank ,my lps said he could be but I wanted to ask here before I do anything and if I do put him in there will he eat or hurt any of my soft corals or amemoines any help and I,d be grateful. THANX

They are marine fish as adults. I would not trust them w/corals.

Please do not just plunk him in full SW if he is in fresh or brackish right now (i'm not assuming you would, just a disclamer ). Puffers with corals are hit or miss, some pick them apart, while some don't give them a second thought. I'd be very careful though!

lovely article... thanx man

just a few more Qs:

Can i use Crushed Coral as the substrate?
more rather, in my case, i already have a FW setup to which i want to add salts can i mix the coral sand with the present simple sand?

thanx

You can use crushed coral and it is a good idea to help balance the pH to ~8 in marine conditions.

And yes, you can just mix it in if you don't want to change the whole substrate.

Be sure to add the salt slowly. Get a hydrometer if you don't already have one and raise the SG by no more than 0.002 per week.

thanx man,

im at it already... adding the salts slowly. hope he finds comfort soon.

thanx a lot for the advice XorTrnuks

Do you have a hydrometer or refractometer?

Puffer will eat the coral?

Some do. That's why I had to find new homes for my GSPs.

Oh.. I thought that is good cause that will keep the puffer tooth short and not overgrowth

If they chewed on coral rock it might be OK. It's not so OK when they chew on $50-$100 pieces of live coral or eat the cleaning crew though!

if it's eating da coral sand...hey, atleast it'l 'eat'.

yep, i have a hydrometer. i also mixed 2 table spoons of sea salt in a bottle and poured it into the aquaria last night... it still show any change in gravity/salinity

how soon can i add more?

advice pls

You can rasie the SG as much as .002/week. That's around a little under than 1/2 cup of salt/5gal (roughly). Still has to be checked w/your hydrometer.

You want to raise the SG slowly, no more than .002/week but there is no rush and slower is better. The best way to do this is with your weekly water changes.

Let's say you want to raise it .001/week and your SG is currently 1.000 (FW). Mix replacement water at .002 SG and aerate it at least overnight. Remove 50% of the tank water and replace it with the water you mixed the day before. The resulting SG of your tank will be .001. Mix replacement water at .003 to .004 the next week and do another 50% water change. The result will be .002 to .0025). Keep raising the SG of the replacement water a little each week until the SG of the tank reaches whatever level you are aiming for.

what should be the best suggested level of salinity for ceylon puffers...

and another thing, doesnt water change waste the expensive sea salt? is there any way to save this?

Shaji

PS: he's lookin dull now, and still not eating... should i remove the rosy barb?