The Puffer Forum

I purchased a 45 gallon bow front tank today and want to introduce a gsp to this tank. I also purchased a gsp today and I'm keeping him in a 10 gallon cycled FW tank, which I know is too small. What I would like to know it what's the best way to get him to the larger tank asap? I've seen talk of just starting a marine tank from the get go and in the long run it will save me money. The problem is I've been reading about SW tanks and I'm totally overwhelmed. So I'm thinking about cycling it as FW and gradually increasing over time. Any input would be great! Thanks!

Move everything form the 10g to the 46g: substrate, decor, filter. Instant-cycled tank!

+1. Just move everything from the 10g to the 46, you will be sorted and saves the time needed to cycle

Marine is expensive up front, cheap in the long run and mostly maintains itsself (with live rock)
30%+ monthly wc.
Freshwater is cheap up front and expensive in the long run. Plus maintanance is required weekly. 40%+ wc

Sw isnt that complex as long as you keep it fish only.

I totally disagree with moving your stuff over from your 10gal. You just had a fish die in that tank! Do a fishless cycle. Easy to do (add fish food or a piece of raw shrimp to your tank) and let the process of cycling run. Ideally you should have waited to get the fish, but since you haven't. . . Use this time in a small tank as a quarantine time. I agree with above poster that SW isn't hard and cheaper in the long run, but that will require buying at least 46 lbs of live rock, and then you could add the fish immediately (after a long acclimation process)

Good luck! Just in case your previous fish had something that could be passed to this fish, I wouldn't move your stuff over.

But if it's the only fish then QT isn't necessary and is the same wether in a 10g or a 46g.

Another suggestion is test your water temp in your 10 gallon with a good thermometer. See what your temp actually is to rule out that temp didn't have a cause in your previous puffers death - too cold or too hot, though I don't think 84 degrees would kill a puffer unless he was in that a long time, then it would likely shorten his life.

JRC3 wrote:But if it's the only fish then QT isn't necessary and is the same wether in a 10g or a 46g.

Yes, you're right, I just thought of that myself On top of that the fish is already in the tank the one died in, so I guess my suggestion is stupid

I'm going to get a thermometer tonight to get the accurate temp. I didn't even think about something being wrong as far as diseases in the tank that caused the death of my gsp. Wish I would have waited, I just didn't want to lose my cycle without having a fish in it. The new gsp is probably double the size the last one was and appears very health and outgoing. Well at this point I'll just get him moved over to the larger tank and see what happens. This may be a stupid question but if there is anything in the tank that's a problem will going to a larger tank dilute out the "disease". Thanks again for your help! Love this forum!

Not a stupid question, but adding more water won't help keep a disease away. Fish are suseptible to diseases when stressed. Just make sure your water temp is around 78 degrees, and if the fish is healthy to begin with, you're probably okay. You need to add salinity slowly or you will crash your tank, and it will go into a cycle. Recommended .002 per week of salinity. Your limited with brackish. You are very limited on live plants (unless your doing fake decor), and you do need to do weekly water changes. You can do live rock only, and keep your salinity at 1.017-1.019. If you get enough live rock, you can get away with doing much less water changes.

Some things to think about. If you want just one fish in your tank, the GSP will be a good one for you.

If it is a disease dilution will not help. Please consider that fish are often very weak and generally in bad shape when we get them, they are also extremely stressed and have been well shaken about. Puffers are wild caught so you can add the extra stress of being whisked from high end brackish water, put in a bag and flown all over, not kept in good conditions whilst in transit then dumped in f/w somewhere along the line. Mortality is not too uncommon especially if the desiltination tank is not mature.

I totally disagree with moving your stuff over from your 10gal. You just had a fish die in that tank!

Sorry, I didn't follow back from the fish dying thread (I get confused about what happened with whom). I would have just put the new fish directly into the 46g & added a bottle of Tetra's Safestart to the filter. God knows if the new fish is diseased now...

Dang it!! Alright well at this point should I just go ahead and move everything in the 10 gallon since he's already in there? So my to do list for now is to get a good thermometer and get the 46gallon up and going and transfer him over. To Puffer Me: I only planned on having one gsp, that's one thing I seem to have gotten correctly. Sorry for all the questions guys, I want to do this right but I'm not doing so well at the moment!

Again--I would do as I posted, above. What are you using for substrate? I'm sorry if this has been discussed previously, are you planning on going SW? If you are & have no plans for a sump, leave room behind the tank for a HOB skimmer. You'll need about 5" for a Backpac.

Sorry puffer punk...but are you referring to the instant cycling with the 10g tank contents since he's already in there or the just moving directly to the 46g and using safestart. You had said both so I just want to make sure. I would like to go to salt water but the up front costs are a little much for me right now which is why I'm leaning towards slowly moving towards brakish for now and having the extra work. As far as substrate I have gravel in my 10 gallon and bought some argonite for the 46g. I really don't know what's needed for saltwater as there is so many ways to do it. Things I have learned about saltwater are that you need live rock, marine salt, powerheads, good skimmer and live sand/argonite. I already have a saltwater testing kit, hydrometer, lights and heater. Do you need a filter for mechnical filtering? Also the sump/refugium thing has got me confused. I plan on just keeping a fowlr tank if I do decide to go to salt water.