Brackish Green spotted puffer tank

[Patrick_G]

Back in October my 18 year old daughter decided she wanted a puffer for the birthday on 10/16. We went out and bought a supplies but then waited for her to organize her cluttered room so we have space for the tank. I’m still waiting but it’ll happen soon.

The tank will go in the space where the wooden drawing desk is now. She has a bit more organizing to do! 

Tank: 40 gallon breeder 

Stand: stock Aqueon 40 Breeder metal stand

Light: Aquaneat budget LED. The tank won’t have plants for we don’t need anything fancy.

Substrate: Pool filter sand

Filter: I bought a cheap HOB but it’s really noisy. I think I’ll get a tidal. In this tank a whisper quiet self priming filter will be key. 
Decor: Puget sound driftwood and beach cobble. 

[Patrick_G]

I’ll be attempting to use cycled media from my fresh water tanks to instant cycle this tank at a low salinity level. It’s hard to get definite information on cycling a brackish tank this way but If it doesn’t work I’ll just do a fishless cycle. In any case a single juvenile Green spotted puffer in a 40 is a really small bio load so I’ll have some leeway. 

[eatyourpeas]

It is happening!!! 😍 🐡

[Patrick_G]

On 2/16/2022 at 5:06 PM, eatyourpeas said:

It is happening!!! 😍 🐡

Yes!!

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Patrick_Ga lot of brackish keeper start low on the salinity and build. I would find out the salinity they are keeping the puffer at using that as the goal for start. 

[Patrick_G]

On 2/17/2022 at 10:07 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@Patrick_Ga lot of brackish keeper start low on the salinity and build. I would find out the salinity they are keeping the puffer at using that as the goal for start. 

That’s my plan at this point. I’m also looking for a group of Bumble bee gobies. They’re not easy to find, most of them I see are advertised as “true freshwater” gobies. I’m not sure how they’ll take to brackish. 

[Patrick_G]

A little progress today. I cleaned out and removed the drawing desk, added opaque white cling film to the back of the tank and moved it into the spot. 

[Patrick_G]

A new Aquaclear, marine salt and a refractometer are arriving tomorrow. I need to find out what salinity the LFS keeps their Green Spotted Puffers so I can mix the water to that level. I’ve been told that low brackish and freshwater beneficial bacteria are the same so I’ll be using pre-cycled media from my current tanks. I’ll test it to make sure the cycle is working before adding the fish. 

[MAC]

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses. We absolutely love the GSP we have. 

[Patrick_G]

@MAC do you keep multiple in the same tank? 

[MAC]

On 3/3/2022 at 3:11 PM, Patrick_G said:

@MAC do you keep multiple in the same tank? 

No, just the one in a 40 gallon. Haven't tried any other tank mates as of yet. Not sure if I ever will, he seems pretty aggressive. 

Really fun and interactive though. 

[Patrick_G]

I rinsed the pool filter sand about 10- 15 times with a garden hose and clean garbage can. I added it to the tank and started trying to arrange the stone and driftwood. It's hard to get a nice layout when there won't be any plants to hide the unattractive bits. I'm not happy with so I think I might get some river stones and see how those look instead of the black beach rock. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Patrick_Gyou could always start with this then see how they interacts with the environment before adding more scape but river stones are always awesome. 

[Patrick_G]

I made some progress on this. 
-I used a pump to dissolve instant ocean marine salt to sg of 1.005 measured with a refractometer.  It’s had to find scientific information on the salinity requirements of this species but a majority of folks on the puffer forum agree that they do better with higher concentrations and transitioning to full marine as soon as possible. When I buy the fish I’ll adjust to match the water at the LFS.
-I used the same pump to transfer the water to the tank (and a good amount on the carpet 😁)

- The next step is to add cycled media and see if the bacteria live in this concentration of salt. It’s abou 1/2 what full marine would be. 

Edited March 14, 2022 by Patrick_G
Wrong sg

[Biotope Biologist]

This will be cool! Once you transition above 1.010 are you going to attempt some macroalgaes? 
 

Also blennies will hold there own against the onslaught of puffers the tophat and zebra blenny (omobranchus) come to mind

 

Look forward to seeing how this turns out!

[Patrick_G]

On 3/14/2022 at 4:59 PM, Biotope Biologist said:

This will be cool! Once you transition above 1.010 are you going to attempt some macroalgaes? 
 

Also blennies will hold there own against the onslaught of puffers the tophat and zebra blenny (omobranchus) come to mind

 

Look forward to seeing how this turns out!

I guess I’ll need some help with those decisions. I figured I’d need to be at full 1.02 before adding any macros or Blenny.  This is going to be a huge learning experience. 😀

[Patrick_G]

Yesterday afternoon I added the Aquaclear 50 and cycled media. I dosed with Dr. Tim’s ammonia to .5 ppm. As of this morning it’s still at .5 and I’m not seeing and Nitrite or Nitrate. I’m wondering if the salinity damaged the beneficial bacteria population. 

[eatyourpeas]

On 3/15/2022 at 7:48 AM, Patrick_G said:

Yesterday afternoon I added the Aquaclear 50 and cycled media. I dosed with Dr. Tim’s ammonia to .5 ppm. As of this morning it’s still at .5 and I’m not seeing and Nitrite or Nitrate. I’m wondering if the salinity damaged the beneficial bacteria population. 

You may want to try this instead. I used the BA Microbacter7 to cycle the SW tank. I like their products.

[Patrick_G]

On 3/15/2022 at 8:48 AM, eatyourpeas said:

You may want to try this instead. I used the BA Microbacter7 to cycle the SW tank. I like their products.

Good tip, thanks. I’m hoping some of the BB survived. For now I’m just going to be patient and watch parameters for a week or so. 

[Odd Duck]

I have ZERO personal experience with GSP, but I have read that it’s better to just cycle the tank in salt because the salt will kill your freshwater BB’s anyway.  When you get the puffer they recommend a slow drip acclimation straight to salt, then just plop them right into the cycled salt tank.  Seemed drastic for the puffer, but I kept seeing it over and over, from people that had them and some that I considered extremely knowledgeable.  They said the fish fairly routinely swim back and forth from fresh to brackish to full marine and they can handle it even though the BB’s can’t.  🤷🏻‍♀️ Just another thought that may be far out field.

[Patrick_G]

@Odd Duck, I’ve read a bunch of posts on the puffer forum supporting your suggestion. For such a relatively common fish I’m surprised there’s not more scientific information on habitat. I’ve seen one video of a guy “rescuing” hundreds of Juvenile GSPs from tide pools in a clearly marine situation, but I can’t find any info in exactly where they’re collected for the aquarium trade. (Might be easier if I could use Indonesian Google 🙂) 

I’ll consider going full salt right away. I think one LFS does keep their GSPs that way. 

[Odd Duck]

On 3/15/2022 at 9:07 PM, Patrick_G said:

@Odd Duck, I’ve read a bunch of posts on the puffer forum supporting your suggestion. For such a relatively common fish I’m surprised there’s not more scientific information on habitat. I’ve seen one video of a guy “rescuing” hundreds of Juvenile GSPs from tide pools in a clearly marine situation, but I can’t find any info in exactly where they’re collected for the aquarium trade. (Might be easier if I could use Indonesian Google 🙂) 

I’ll consider going full salt right away. I think one LFS does keep their GSPs that way. 

The salt cycle makes complete sense to me.  It’s just the fairly quick drip acclimation that is scary.

[Patrick_G]

The brand new Aquaclear HOB just went belly up! This tank is frustrating. I think I’ll replace it with a Tidal and a separate protein skimmer, but this sets back the cycling process.  

[Odd Duck]

On 3/17/2022 at 5:39 PM, Patrick_G said:

The brand new Aquaclear HOB just went belly up! This tank is frustrating. I think I’ll replace it with a Tidal and a separate protein skimmer, but this sets back the cycling process.  

Just float your media until you get the new filter.  It doesn’t have to set it back by much.

And make sure it isn’t just something stuck in the impeller.

[Patrick_G]

On 3/17/2022 at 4:08 PM, Odd Duck said:

Just float your media until you get the new filter.  It doesn’t have to set it back by much.

And make sure it isn’t just something stuck in the impeller.

Good idea on the media.

The impeller is free, but the motor cuts out intermittently. There’s not much to troubleshoot aside from making sure the impeller and shaft are not jammed. I think the self priming Tidal might be better anyway since this tank is in my kid’s bedroom. The less to worry about the better.