Fresh Water Spotted Green Puffers.. what to do??

Ok.. new tank is here. Still in the box. It's a 25 gal. The kids and I want a spotted green puffer. they're in freshwater at the store. so, do I set up the tank freshwater and turn it brackish later?? Please help!!

I'm so nervous.

yes as they mature they require brackish. they like heavily planted and caves and tunnels. you may want another tank for breeding shrimp and snails too.

I completely agree with above. The guy that runs my LFS insists that GSPs don't need brackish, but that is baloney - it just makes things easier for him. They do okay short-term, but definitely look into converting things over to brackish.

Keep in mind if the tank is cycled for FW, there are different biobugs that need to grow in a brackish tank, so it has to cycle brackish.

Definitely have your crop of snails going strong before getting the puffer, if you can. They can eat a lot of them and you don't want to be fooling with trimming their dental plates!

so should i set it up brackish or fresh?? i'm so confused

Set up Fresh at first... let the Tank Cycle.

A few days or a week later add the right amount of Aqua salt.


I did the same thing for my White Tip.

I would not use aquarium salt, which is only sodium. A brackish species needs the minerals and elements that are present in SW. You need to use marine salt.

What I do is use a packet of Instant Ocean (or similar) that is meant to treat 5 gallons of water, and put that in a 5-gallon water cooler jug. I mix it up and then use that mixed with some FW in the tank to get my SG to the right place. Each water change I add some FW and some of my full marine mix, always testing SG to be sure it is where I want it.

TankGirl wrote:

I would not use aquarium salt, which is only sodium. A brackish species needs the minerals and elements that are present in SW. You need to use marine salt.

What I do is use a packet of Instant Ocean (or similar) that is meant to treat 5 gallons of water, and put that in a 5-gallon water cooler jug. I mix it up and then use that mixed with some FW in the tank to get my SG to the right place. Each water change I add some FW and some of my full marine mix, always testing SG to be sure it is where I want it.

This is gonna sound stupid, but I do this with the fish still in the tank, right??

Def marine salt.

Start with fresh water- add a little pre-mixed marine salt bi weekly. Get yourself a hydrometer so you can fine tune your water after weekly water changes. Google brackish conversion for puffers and you will get an idea of how much marine salt to use bi-weekly with your tank and puffer age. I suggest you get a log book or start an excel spread sheet so you can keep track. I premix 1 cup/1 teasponn and raise it slowly /test/add /test etc... PIA - I am sure there is a better way but I haven't found it yet. These guys will be full marine eventually at least that is my plan now).

I had a whole post written out and for some reason I lost it. I would spend the extra money to get a good substrate since these guys will be spending more time in the brackish to marine conditions. I was also going to remind you that these guys need 40 gallon min when they reach adult size. So you may want to consider a figure 8 (a little smaller in the long run but still the same attitude).

Each week I have to go out of town for other reasons and I make my rounds to get the cheap snails. "Nuisance snails" I get them 10/$1 . None of my local fs have nuisance snails...

I have a 10 gallon brackish that I am raising nerite snails in and the nuisance snails go in here. They do fine btw/eat just don't breed in brackish.

My guys are eating snails a few times a week. I also feed frozen/thawed blood worms, brine shrimp, myope shrimp, whole shrimp, and pretty much anythig I put in there. They also eat algae waffers (crushed) & live plants. I think they have basically doubled their size in about a month or so since I have had them.

joodie wrote:

TankGirl wrote:

I would not use aquarium salt, which is only sodium. A brackish species needs the minerals and elements that are present in SW. You need to use marine salt.

What I do is use a packet of Instant Ocean (or similar) that is meant to treat 5 gallons of water, and put that in a 5-gallon water cooler jug. I mix it up and then use that mixed with some FW in the tank to get my SG to the right place. Each water change I add some FW and some of my full marine mix, always testing SG to be sure it is where I want it.

This is gonna sound stupid, but I do this with the fish still in the tank, right??

Not stupid.. You need to dissolve the salt in aquarium water before adding so they don't eat it and injest too much.

How long does it take to fully cycle a new tank?? I'm soooo impatient.. and just overly excited.