I want green spotted puffers, some people say I can put them in freshwater and change it to brackish overtime? Is this true? Just want to make sure!
Puffer?
- Thread starter rileypoole
- Start date
Two puffers are commonly imported as green spotted puffers, Tetradon fluviatilis (Common Spotted Puffer [CSP]) and T. nigroviridis (Green Spotted Puffer [GSP]). You can tell difference typically fairly easy in the eyes. The CSP tends to have reddish eyes, whereas the GSP tends to have yellowish eyes. CSP = 6"-7". GSP = 5"-6". The two above mentioned puffers have similar water parameter requirements for salinity. Keeping these between 1.010 and 1.018 is ideal. Though these puffers do tolerate freshwater for a short amount of time, they tend to get stunted in growth and fall ill much easier. If they are in freshwater now, I recommend starting to increase the salinity in small increments immediately. Just a side note, they tend to be sensitive to nitrogenous wastes. I just compiled this info from a couple of books on keeping brackish fish, as I do not have a whole lot of experience with puffers because mine's unrelenting and waspish attitude.
Most lfs sell them in fresh water
So most likely you will be acclimating it yourself to brackish water. You will want to do this very slow, not only for the fish but for the bacteria in your tank as well. The standard is to raise your salinity by .002 per week. If you do it too fast you will cause the tank to re-cycle with the poor GSP in it. They are very sensitive to ammonia so make sure you keep that in check. They are high end brackish fish and eventually seem to thrive best in full marine water. (That is just what Iv read I kept mine in brackish not full marine)
Hopefully you know this but you will have to provide them with snails and other shelled foods in order to trim their beak down or it will grow until they can no longer eat at all. I bred snails myself so that i didn't have to go to the lfs all the time. Also I wouldn't recommend more then 1 GSP per tank. They would probably be ok for a little bit but eventually, in my experience and from what Iv read, they will go after each other.
I hate to send you to another forum but here is a link to some good info:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f29/green-spotted-puffer-profile-174144.html
Also The Puffer Forum is another great resource for information about all puffers.
I hope this helps! Good luck, they really are cool fish to keep!!
Sent from my SM-N900V using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
So most likely you will be acclimating it yourself to brackish water. You will want to do this very slow, not only for the fish but for the bacteria in your tank as well. The standard is to raise your salinity by .002 per week. If you do it too fast you will cause the tank to re-cycle with the poor GSP in it. They are very sensitive to ammonia so make sure you keep that in check. They are high end brackish fish and eventually seem to thrive best in full marine water. (That is just what Iv read I kept mine in brackish not full marine)
Hopefully you know this but you will have to provide them with snails and other shelled foods in order to trim their beak down or it will grow until they can no longer eat at all. I bred snails myself so that i didn't have to go to the lfs all the time. Also I wouldn't recommend more then 1 GSP per tank. They would probably be ok for a little bit but eventually, in my experience and from what Iv read, they will go after each other.
I hate to send you to another forum but here is a link to some good info:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f29/green-spotted-puffer-profile-174144.html
Also The Puffer Forum is another great resource for information about all puffers.
I hope this helps! Good luck, they really are cool fish to keep!!
Sent from my SM-N900V using MonsterAquariaNetwork App