spotted puffer

[eh1421]

picked up two of these bad boys today and was wondering how much salt i should keep in my tank to keep these bad boys happy
any other help you guys and gals could give me would be great
i really don't know alot about them but when my boys say that is what they want for their tank how could i say no

p.s. right now i have 1 tbsp salt per 5 gallons of water

mike

 

[eh1421]

help please

 

[eh1421]

heres a couple pics

 

[davo]

hi, just wanted to say nice puffers, sorry can't help with the salt, this is just really another bump, but for what its worth, my lfs has them in FW. But then since when did lfs stores know anythin... (granted exceptions)

 

[fatsolomon]

are those gsp's or figure 8's? either way i keep mine at african cichlid levels. i use all the conditioners and buffers that i use for the africans for my puffers. i dunno if that is helpful or not...

 

[big E]

Nice puffers! I have one of these Green Spotted puffers, they need a pretty good sized tank or they may kill each other, these things love to bite and they have the teeth to cause serious damage, I hear they can get up to 7 inches , I've seen pics of this, but the biggest I've seen personally is maybe 5 inches. I think it would be a good idea to get a hydrometer(maybe 10 bucks) to measure the salinity/ specific gravity of the water, I am keeping mine at about SG 1.014 and he is doing great , just remember to aclimate them slowly when moving up in salinity, by the way you are a cool dad for getting fish for your kids!

 

[Jason_S]

while they're small you can start them at say 1.008 to 1.010 but as they grow this will need to be increased. a general rule though is not to increase sallinity more than .002 per week. when I had a fig 8 and green spotted puffer (separate tanks) I think I was adding around 1 cup of marine salt per 3 gallons and that got the salinity. for the GSP I always added a little extra salt. to keep the 2 you'll probably need a 55 for them with lots of hiding places and broken lines of site.

 

[eh1421]

thanks guys for all your help
jason thats what i have them in is a 55
good call on the hiding places i will add a few more to be on the safe side

 

[Jason_S]

sounds good I'd keep an eye on those Africans as well. for one thing they probably won't be able to handle the salinity as you increase it. the puffs will need close to full marine conditions as they reach adulthood. also, as the puffs grow they may wind up making a tasty snack of the smaller africans.

 

[eh1421]

yeh the africans were cheap and i bought them basically to use as dithers
but now that i know what the salt ratio should be i will probly move them to their own tank when i think the salt ratio is to high for them
thanks jason your the
btw what if any are some good tank mates for my puffs
mike