I haven't got msn but I can PM you my email address

yesh plz lol

Tides don't work that way. They don't suddenly appear and at the same time instantly remove all the brackish water in the vicinity. It's a relatively gradual process, much like drip acclimatisation on a very large scale. The fish also have the option of following the receding brackish water if they want...no such option in aquaria.

And as I said, the euryhaline characteristics of Tetraodontidae are still being discovered - the most recent one I know of was regarding T. nigroviridis and was published in March '08.

That is really inaccurate to say. First off it’s too broad saying “all anything”. Second, it simply isn’t true. Do you know any reef aquarists that would follow this with Dogfaces for example? You would go broke buying the salt alone. I have had GSP for years and never have done 50% water changes. They are healthy, never had ich or other diseases, grow steadily, eat heartily etc. I hate making anecdotal arguments…

While advice like that would never hurt and probably would be a good practice. It simply isn’t reasonable, especially with big tanks. Do you know how long a 60-90 gallon water change would take if you had to use RODI, mix the salt etc? Hours. You cannot expect anyone to do this every week. Even freshwater changes would take forever even with a python.

Anyway. it all depends on the bio-load, filtering, protein skimming etc. Too many factors to say, x% per week.

You're right that it depends on bioload and the equipment you've got. You're also right to point out there are sometimes exceptions - some puffers will require far larger water changes Pedantry aside, the fact that they are exceptions, though, suggests the generic advice of 50% water changes per week is good for beginners with puffers.

Yes, I do know what it's like having to do water changes on large tanks - I have 8 - and I consider it part of the responsibility of good puffer ownership. I'm not sure my puffers would appreciate it if I started doing less water changes because it was too time-consuming

It's difficult enough trying to get some new puffer owners to buy large enough tanks or to use marine and not aquarium salt for brackish species, without suggesting they can skimp on water quality because they might have something better to do.

If they've bought tons of equipment, learned how to use it, test their water regularly and so on....you know, the sorts of things that'd be necessary for them to understand their individual fish's bioload....I doubt they need my advice at all.

All in all, I'm happy to place sweeping statements on these things so new puffer owners take good care of their puffers.

Ok so i have marine salt for the brackish set up, and i am also looking out for plants too that will take the salt well-ish lol

as for filters im running an internal, its built into the tank, but im also going to be adding my fluval external to it also, when i get round to moving it again

as for protien skimmers, do i need one?

i am used to regular water changes, i have to do this for my bettas, so im not fussed by it, and again i take gr8 care of my fish, so the puffers wont be an exception

ive gathered up a load of pest snails for them, and they loved it lol

Java Fern and Java Moss do well in Brackish, but once you go over SG 1.011 I dont think there is many plants that will survive

While you're still in brackish, you don't 'need' protein skimmers - they're certainly handy, but not necessary. Once you move into marine, I'd strongly recommend getting one. Another area of debate - some marine and reef aquarist claim skimmers aren't needed, other say they're absolutely needed. I fall on the definitely recommended/needed side of the fence

This post has been edited by Bonsai_girl: Jul 6 2008, 08:18 PM

dammit lol

ok so heres my tank at the mo

excuse the uprooted plants, i knocked them out by accident lol, and the big one in the right corner needs to be planted in yet



This post has been edited by Phoenixbaby: Jul 7 2008, 11:25 AM