fresh to brackish for a green spotted puffer

[alanthepuffer]

hi everyone,

i recently bought a green spotted puffer fish (alan) he is about 2 inches long and when i got him he was in freshwater at the shop. I was told that he will be best kept in fresh water and was shown a very large looking fellow who had lived his life in fresh water to prove it when i questioned them!

Naturally i have researched this and almost everyone recommends this little chap should be in brackish water. so my question is.....

How do i change his water that he is used to, to brackish? should i just pop him in the changed water or should i adjust the water gradually changing it to brackish? if so wat is the best way to do this? i know these guys are very sensitive so my concern is that if i take him out of fresh water into brackish straight way it could be to much of a shock for him.?.

any advise on this would be very much appreciated xx

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

I'm no expert on puffer but I'll try to help.

Yes, taking it out of freshwater and dumping it in brackish water would definitely stress the fish. You want to increase the salinity slowly.

I suggust doing so when doing your small partial water changes. Mix aquarium salt into your bucket of clean water until your desired salinity. Do small water change like that.

Or if you are lazy, you could try re-acclimating the fish again. Just put it in a bucket of aquarium water, add salt into your tank and set it on a drip-acclimation for about 30min to 3 hours. You might want to turn off any filtration unit as the salinity swing could screw your BB (Not sure about this part)

Once again, Im no expert and just speaking in terms of general fish. Best to leave the experts here to confirm.

 

[fhawk362]

I'm thinking about getting one myself, I had one for about 3 months in freshwater but then he passed so I want to do it right this time. Heres a very informative link I found, and yes either you can use a drip acclimating system or raise it .002sg per week, drip sounds pretty safe and fairly foolproof which I believe will be my route. http://www.aquariumlife.net/articles/tropical-fish/64.asp
You can also google the amount it takes to raise sg if you do not have a hydrometer.

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Do note that his tank is already cycled (I hope). And the filter media would be full of benifical bacterias. I don't think the bacteria can take the full salinity swing. Best is to raise it .002sg per week