Check Out My Gsp Tank.

[Dave Legacy]

My wife is a huge fan of puffers and decided that she wanted to try out a Green Spotted Puffer. I went out and got her a 37 Gallon Tall (29" x 12.5" x 25") and we got to work. We used 2 grades of crushed coral sand, 20lbs of lace rock, several silk plants, and some mussel shells that I collected yesterday. She's about 2.5" Long and I have her in 1.010SG, also quite shy I might add.

Here's a pic, she's peeking out of her cave!

Here's a close-up:

Just wanted to share, what do you guys think?

 

[nmonks]

David --

Looks pretty awesome. Very authentic. I like the big mound of rock with the oyster shells (mussel shells?). Looks exactly like the kind of place I've watched puffers swim in the wild. The seaweeds are cute, too. Fake, presumably? Were they expensive?

You might try some of the Nerites snails. They do better in brackish than fresh, and I suspect they'd be too hard for puffers to eat. Worth a try, anyway.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[penguinpimp1990]

wow looks very nice! the artificial seaweed looks real too! but perhaps a background? a black one would look real good on your tank. Also, what type of test kit are you using for your water at an sg of 1.010, freshwater or salt?

 

[Dave Legacy]

David --

Looks pretty awesome. Very authentic. I like the big mound of rock with the oyster shells (mussel shells?). Looks exactly like the kind of place I've watched puffers swim in the wild. The seaweeds are cute, too. Fake, presumably? Were they expensive?

You might try some of the Nerites snails. They do better in brackish than fresh, and I suspect they'd be too hard for puffers to eat. Worth a try, anyway.

Cheers,

Neale

The plants are made by a company called "SeaGarden". All of the plants made by that company are made of silk rather than plastic and look much more realistic than plastic, especially the hairgrass! In the tank I have two 24" Dictyota Verdes, one 15" Dictyota Verde, and two Caulpera Mexicana but one of them is from a different manufacture and is a much brighter shade of green... oh well. I paid only $8.99USD/each for the 24" plants and $5.49USD/each for caulerpa mexicanas through www.drfostersmith.com, however they are almost double that price if bought from a LFS.

The shells are California Mussels that I collected from the beach on Sunday. What I like best about them is that they're not flawless. They were collected by a large tidal pool area and the shells had been beaten along the rocks so most of them were broken in some way or another.

As for Nerites snails, I would love to try them out. I didn't even know it was an option for me. I'd like to have more life in the tank but with puffers it's usually not an option. I never see snails anywhere in any of the LFS but I'll keep an eye out. Will these snails hold up in full marine or will they need to be evacuated before I get to that point? Any other invert suggestions?

wow looks very nice! the artificial seaweed looks real too! but perhaps a background? a black one would look real good on your tank. Also, what type of test kit are you using for your water at an sg of 1.010, freshwater or salt?

I'll be getting a black background at some point, it just hasn't been top priority. As for test kit I use an Aqua Pharm. Marine Testkit. I always have from as low as 1.003SG. I took a look at the freshwater kit and the chemicals are exactly the same, the only difference is the color that the solution changes. For example, zero NH3 for freshwater will show up a shade of brown, where the same for Saltwater will show up more of a yellow. I found that most of the shades of colors were almost the same.

 

[penguinpimp1990]

i have no experience with gsp's, do they lose their colorations when they mature? and do you have any powerheads to create any currents in your tank? again it looks awesome!

 

[nmonks]

David --

As it happens, you can mail order these snails within the UK relatively easily. They are not expensive.

http/www.snailshop.co.uk/html/nerite_snails.html

The Aquatic Design Centre (in London) always has a good selection of them, and I've also seen them at Wildwoods.

I don't know very much about them except that they are relatively short lived in pure freshwater but do well in brackish. My guess is that you could easily keep them up to SG 1.010. A quick Google for 'neritina' and 'salinity' yielded some hard data. Neritina reclivata, a.ka. the olive nerite, is found from 1 to 19 ppt salinities (where 35 ppt is standard "normal marine" sea water).

http/www.epa.gov/ged/publica/c1581.htm

Olive nerite, Neretina reclivata

There's a useful article here:

http/www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2003/invert.htm

The main problem is identifying them, and figuring out which ones are brackish and which (the minority I expect) truly freshwater.

Cheers,

Neale

As for Nerites snails, I would love to try them out. I didn't even know it was an option for me. I'd like to have more life in the tank but with puffers it's usually not an option. I never see snails anywhere in any of the LFS but I'll keep an eye out. Will these snails hold up in full marine or will they need to be evacuated before I get to that point? Any other invert suggestions?

 

[love cichlids]

Hope you did research and knowing that they need full SW by the time they are fully grown. I have had my GSP since June of last yr and she is doing great. Just make sure that you give her snails once a week. She is so cute. Was going to get live rock for my tank but now just wondering about the type of rock you have in your tank, looks great. And would be cheaper too, 10 lbs costs 100.00 here.

 

[Dave Legacy]

Hope you did research and knowing that they need full SW by the time they are fully grown. I have had my GSP since June of last yr and she is doing great. Just make sure that you give her snails once a week. She is so cute. Was going to get live rock for my tank but now just wondering about the type of rock you have in your tank, looks great. And would be cheaper too, 10 lbs costs 100.00 here.

She's only 2" in length, she's probably not ready for full marine yet. I have yet to find snails for her at any LFS in my area. I've been feeding her Krill in hopes that the shell might wear down her beak. Not to say her diet isn't varied... I also feed Mysis/Bloodworms/Squid.

The rock in the tank is Lace Rock. I have heard people say that Lace Rock is basically the type of rock that the "LIFE" grows on. I don't know how accurate that is though. As far as I know Lace Rock is igneous rock that was formed underwater. It's actually quite light and cost me $1.39USD/per pound.

I always research my new projects and never buy impulsively.

 

[love cichlids]

The Green Spotted puffer does best in brackish water to full marine (as adults). At 1” they should be in a SG of 1.004, at 2” an SG of 1.010, at 3” they should be an SG of 1.015, at 4” they should be in an SG of 1.018, at 5”-6” an SG of 1.022-24 (full marine).

 

[nmonks]

I keep reading this, but I am not sure I believe it.

In the wild these are brackish water puffers and spend their entire lives in estuaries, exposed to fluctuating salinity (Fishbase; Schaefer, 2005). Both Schafer and Ebert (2001) recommend keeping them in brackish water, SG 1.010.

So I wonder where this new "keep them in marine tanks" meme has come from? It's funny, I remember reading in older marine aquarium books that green spotted puffers should not be kept in marine tanks because they cannot handle the salt! Just goes to show how things change.

Cheers,

Neale

Hope you did research and knowing that they need full SW by the time they are fully grown.

 

[chris_1127]

loveciclids - what problems have you had when you have kept gsp's at the stated sizes below the recommended SG's that you quote?

 

[love cichlids]

She seems to perk up when I first increased her salinity. Since then I think she is happier because I changed from gravel to crushed coral(maybe the slight change in Ph). She doesn't seem as bright and happy than she usually does when the salinity is too low. Maybe my imagination. But if she is happy I am happy. To practice for full SW tank I am going to do a small sump for her tank, hoping to have everything I need when it is full SW. Some people might think this is a waste of money but I don't think so, it will familiarize me about all the equipment needed and how it works. I am sure I will learn alot. That was the reason I bought her in the first place, to get ready for full SW.