# Setting up a Brackish tank.....some questions



## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

Ok, I was wondering or needing some What to do things for a Brackish tank,,,,meaning for setting up one.
I know water and salt,,,what I am going to do is use a 15H for a beackish tank Sometime in the near future.
It will prolly start out as freshwater for a small GSP = Greeen Spotted Puffer, and then to Brackish when it gets older...
How much salt do Brack tanks need, what kind of salt can you Use?
And anything else I am forgetting....
TIA for any help.....


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## Pufferpunk (Jan 25, 2005)

A 15g cannot house an adult, 6" GSP. Unless you intend on upgrading to 30g in the future, why not stick with a figure 8?

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html

http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...s&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=103&page=1


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## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

I didn;t say anything about an Aldult GSP......
And IMO a 15H would be allot of room for a 6'' one


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

Hey Mr. A, seems people are always thinking way ahead, it would take forever for that thing to get full adult size anyway and rarely do u ever see one. You can use normal equipment, heater and filter. You want to use salt like Instant Ocean or Oceanic Salt, and ur going to need a hydrometer to measure the Specific Gravity(salt levels) when ur mixing the salt into tank, dont need what it recommends on bag but start out with half of what it says, then measure with you hydrometer u want around 1.012-1.014. 


HTH


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## aurora_skys (Feb 8, 2005)

hey, you may want to visit dwarfpuffers.com
its a forum of puffer fish owners and (even though the forum was originally designed for freshwater puffer fanciers) many people there can tell you all you need to know about GSPs and brackish tanks.
good luck on your brackish tank!


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## Pufferpunk (Jan 25, 2005)

I don't understand.  Why _not_ look ahead?  The reason you never see adult 6" GSPs is because of folks not planning ahead--their growth gets stunted in a tank that is too small, or they are cared for improperly.  My GSPs grew from 2-6" in less than 2 years.  Their bioload is great, therefore they cannot stay healthy at that size, in a 15g tank.  If you aren't prepared to upgrade to a larger tank, why even buy the fish?  Also, even small GSPs need BW.  Dwarfpuffers.com is a site on dwarf puffers, not brackish puffers.  You can go to my website http://puffer.proboards2.com/index.cgi for any puffer question.  

By the way, I just published a GSP article in Tropical Fish Hobbiest magazine.
You can read it here & see what adult GSPs look like: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/gspsart.htm


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## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

First let me say, i'm not going to get up and measure this tank,,,,,but it;s way longer, higher the 6'', and around waht 10'' wide?
I didn;t say anything about an aduld, becuase i don;t have to worry about them,,,,I don;t wanna salt tank.
My neighber is planning a 120/125 pretty soon, he has 7 GSP of dif sizes in a 55 along with other fish,,,,,so My planning is already figured way ahead.
Beside, it may not be the 15h, it may be 29g also, havn't descuted this yet as it;s going to be a surprise.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

puffer,
Money is usually the case or fear that people do not know how to properlly maintain such a large tank but learn. But anyhow, it's like saying Fry are small but grow up to be dang near 6-7" would i want them in a 50-75g to start? no i wouldn't no way to keep them healthy and if one dies u have no idea it died in such a large tank, but like i have clownfish in my 10g they do need larger, but are small right now and not necessary but i am working on the 50g right now getting setup, just time and money plays in that, usually if a person is willing to come to a forum talking about fish almost always they are going to upgrade.


Mr. A, 29g are 30"x12"x? high.


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## Guest (Feb 13, 2005)

i totally agree with malawian. If the puffer is 2 inches now and isnt going to completely grow for a couple of years, theres no sense in buying a large tank right away.


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## Pufferpunk (Jan 25, 2005)

All I wanted to do was to make sure an upgrade was in the near future (within 2 years) for this puffer, that's all.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

ah ok, thanx for clearing that up didnt want to come off as a A** to you. cuz i know u know ur stuff when it comes to puffers and BW stuff.


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## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

Let me start off my saying I have an eye-spliting headache so don;t let 
anything I say affend anyone "out of IBU"  
Yeah the 29 is 30x12 by what ever high,,,,just your standard type 29g.
And right now I'm not really seeing any problem of keeping one up to 6'' n a tank like that.
I have a 8'' dragon bubbler thingie, couple pieces of wood and hornwort in there, along with 
a box filter and I can;t even see him in there if he aint out swimming around.
When the time comes for it to be saltwater, he will more them likely be swapped for a small one again with my nieghber guy I got this guy from.
he aint any bigger then an inch now.
While we are on the subject of Puffers, 
What kinds of stuff do they like to eat beside snails?


"does this chat seem Brite or Is it Just Me?"


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## chrisinha (Jan 24, 2005)

sorry, but i dont understand... if you know that it's going to need saltwater in the future, and you dont have plans on setting up one, why bother? if you want a puffer, just get a dwarf puffer then. it's freshwater and will always be. or if you want an only brackish puffer, go with a puffer 8.


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## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

[/quote]When the time comes for it to be saltwater, he will more them likely be swapped for a small one again with my nieghber guy I got this guy from


> Is what I said
> 
> I don;t have any plains to every do a salt tank.....I wouldn;t have even set up a half salt tank
> if the g/f
> ...


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## chrisinha (Jan 24, 2005)

yeah i know what you mean. the same happened with me and my boyfriend about a month and a 1/2 ago. he knew i've always wanted a GSP and he bought me 3 for our anniversary. Everything went wrong and i lost them. And i was willing to have a salt tank in the future. I knew what was coming and i wanted it. Now, i still think GSP are the cutest puffers ever, but i'd rather try a DP. i learned the lesson and im not going to put myself and the fish thru the same problem again. actually im not getting puffers of any kind until i really think i have enough experience. also, fish for me is a pet just like any other if i buy them, they will stay with me until they die, unless of course an unexpected situation comes up.


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## Pufferpunk (Jan 25, 2005)

A 29g can house a GSP for life. If you're not ready to try SW, high-end BW should suffice. 

If you scroll up to one of my other posts, alll you should even need to know about the GSP (care & feeding) is in the article I linked you to.


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## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

Sorry I missed that URL somehow....
ANd Puffer Punk, I believe I joined your website a couple days back.....
Will most likely be posting there pretty soon about GSPs....
Later,


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## babyhuey (Feb 19, 2005)

well Mr A Iall I got to say is that you are doing a good job on that puffer if I do say so myself. You can trade it in to me for another smaller puffer when it gets too big    :mrgreen:


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## UgLy_eLf (Feb 26, 2005)

chrisinha @ Mon Feb 14 said:


> Now, i still think GSP are the cutest puffers ever, but i'd rather try a DP. i learned the lesson and im not going to put myself and the fish thru the same problem again. actually im not getting puffers of any kind until i really think i have enough experience. also, fish for me is a pet just like any other if i buy them, they will stay with me until they die, unless of course an unexpected situation comes up.


Dwarf Puffers aren't very difficult to care for actually, you could probably pull it off no problem. A regular freshwater tank, heater, and filter. After you get them to take frozen blood worms (sometimes its difficult, I had to ween one of mine off of live foods) it's easy sailing from there, especially if its the only tank you own.

They do need more maintenance though because they're "messy" eaters.

Snails arent necessary for the beaks, like with other puffers, but you can use them as a source of food they love 'em.

I was afraid that I couldnt get them to survive too, but its proven to be a lot easier than I had originally thought.


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2005)

i love puffers....fish w/ a hell of a lot of personality!


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