Gsp Disaster!

[divegirl]

Absolutely gutted here, I have spent the last two months setting up my new brackish tank, water quality perfect...looked fantastic! I moved my two juvie GSP's over last week and all was good, they loved their new set up of ocean rock and sand and spent hours swimming in and out of the little caves I had lovingly made.
Went to feed them yesterday morning and found one of them dead (
He'd managed to jump through a tiny gap and land on top of the condensation trays.I won't go into further detail!

So I now have one baby left on his own in his 55usg tank! Water is 1.007sp.

So my question is to Neale or anyone with good stocking knowledge, what can I put in with him? He is only still young, I've had him around 6 months and he is still under two inches in length.The two of them always got on well with no signs of aggression just yet. Am at a bit of a loss!

Many thanks

Lisa x

 

[nmonks]

GSPs aren't the best tankmates for other fish. If you're going to try, you'd do best with robust fish that are able to dart away into rocks if they feel overpowered. Some of the cichlids can work, but the classic choices are damselfish. There are some brackish water ones, but they're pretty unexciting. Instead, you might opt for the ones tolerant of reduced normal-marine conditions, SG 1.018, like sergeant-majors and humbugs. At his age, your GSP should be amenable to that sort of salinity, though you may elect to hold off for another six months.

Alternatively, you could try another GSP or one of the other puffers, perhaps Chelonodon patoca, a beautiful, nippy, but not aggressive species occasionally imported by Wildwoods at least.

Cheers, Neale

So my question is to Neale or anyone with good stocking knowledge, what can I put in with him? He is only still young, I've had him around 6 months and he is still under two inches in length.The two of them always got on well with no signs of aggression just yet. Am at a bit of a loss!

Many thanks

Lisa x

 

[divegirl]

Hi Neale, thanks for getting back to me.

I've had a look at the Chelonodon patoca, lovely little fish but seems a bit hard to get hold of and care for. I think I'll just go down the GSP route again, I know what I am doing with them!

Lisa x

 

[TheHolding]

I would wait 6 months and start going marine.

I have done this with mine and he is doing fine. Got him with some clowns and a royal gramma! Totally worth the wait!

Like you I had 2 GSP but one sadly passed away

Sadly the intake hose for the canister filter fell off and it vanished - could only have gone one place.

 

[divegirl]

Woopps! Poor thing!

I have rightly of wrong managed to get my hands on two very tiny GSP's whom are now happily swimming around with my original 'boy'! I do have the luxury of re-homing one or both to the LFS if it gets hairy or crowded in there! They seem happy enough for now and are in my display tank so are constantly watched!

I love the thought of taking them full marine and would be interested to know what equipment upgrades you made a long the way. I know there must be a cross over point but at what salinity did you add live rock [if any] and a skimmer?

Lisa x

 

[TheHolding]

Hi Lisa,

Massive apology for the delayed response! I spend most of my time in the marine section now lol.

How are the fish doing?

You will need a good protien skimmer and a decent powerhead.

You can keep all the remaining stuff like heaters etc you will only need the above to upgrade.

I'm assuming at present you have an external canister filter?

If so keep this and all of the media until you get live rock (quite expensive).

I increased my salinity by 0.02 every 2 weeks by adding salt to the tank daily.

How big is your tank? For a 55 gallon I worked out 5 teaspoons of salt a day raised the salinity by 0.02 over 2 weeks.

Once your salinity gets to 1.022 you can start thinking about getting some Live rock, I bought mine online from a company who cures it for you I can give you the details if you like (I highly recommend them).

When the rock arrives quarantine it in a seperate tank for a couple of days (just add a heater and filter) to cover any die off - although it's pre cured I had a very small ammonia spike when it arrived it peaked at 0.1 but was gone after 2 days not a big deal for normal fish but will make your puffers suffer!

When you read no ammonia and nitrite you can bang it in the display tank.

Also when the live rock has been added you no longer need the sponge media in your canister filter as the live rock acts as your biological filter. However, you must not take it out all at once as we no how messy our puffers can be - remove the sponge media over a period of 4-5 weeks to allow the live rock to gain more beneficial bacteria to deal with the ammonia levels.

If you need any more information PM me. I'm more than happy to help a fellow brack

 

[divegirl]

Hi! Well all three 'boys' seem to be getting along just fine...I absolutely adore them lol, everyone who comes into the house knows them and they will all come up and say Hi[give me food] when approached!

My salinity is around 1.10 right now and I am in no hurry to take it up as of now, the two newbies are around 8 months old now and just under 2'', Big Boy is around 3'' and looks amazing even though he does have to battle for food at times! I gave them a live mussel the other day and thought I'd killed them all, never realised how much 'meat' there was on it!

So far I can see no real aggression but I do wonder how long it will last! No worries though as I have my eye on a bigger and better home, just don't tell my kids!

I hope to go to Marine levels around Christmas so thanks for the foolproof tsp guide on how much salt.

I WILL add some pics soon as the tank looks so good, just a few issues with algae but nothing too major!

Lisa x

 

[divegirl]

Oh and just re-reading this thread....I am so going to get some Humbugs when I get to the right salinity!

 

[fi_sjo]

Remember not to add salt directly to a tank with livestock in it. Dissolve it in some water first before adding.

 

[TheHolding]

Remember not to add salt directly to a tank with livestock in it. Dissolve it in some water first before adding.

Indeed a very good point which I missed off. Syphon out about 10 litres of water mix it up and spread it evenly around the surface of the tank.

With regards to Humbugs becareful they can be very nasty and very territorial!

I personally would just have the one and I would make it the last fish added to the tank.