My Introduction

[BMAF]

Hi guys & gals! I'm new to the forum and wanted to introduce myself a little.

I'm Dustin, 25 yrs old and live in Southern Maryland. I've had aquariums most of my childhood. Around Thanksgiving I decided to venture back into the hobby. I purchased a 10 gal tank and all the goodies to go with it. I figured a 10 gal would be good to start with since I haven't owned fish since I was younger.

I had already made my mind up about having a brackish tank. I've done lot and lots of reading and I also have a few friend with a marine tanks for any quick questions. I put about 15 lbs of live substraight in that bad boy and I started trying to cycle this tank with 3 Mollys. After countless water changes and wishing I had gone the fishless route... finally the levels equalized and I had a tank that was cycling. I purchases 6 fiddlers to clean my sand and they do a great job. However, their little black poop pisses me the F off with my pretty white sand! haha. Now I'm just waiting for my Java moss, Java ferns and lotus to come in the mail.

Walking around Walmart yesterday I fell victim for the "save a GSP". The original plan was to get a figure 8 down the line... but I couldn't help it. They looked to pitiful! So... I out the door I go with the most active GPS the place. Got him home and acclimated him to my water. (which I keep at 1.008 SG, 8.2ph, 77 degreeF, 0ppm-nh3, 0ppm- no2 and between 5 and 10 ppm- no3) I must say this little fish might be the coolest pet I've ever owned... well beside my Italian Greyhound.

So far he hasn't bothered my fiddlers. I think that only a matter of time though. So far I've fed him a jumbo shrimp, a mussel and I have some zucchini for a treat waiting for him tomorrow.

Now this leads me to my problem. With 3 Mollys, 6 Fiddlers and 1 GPS... I feel I've over stocked my 10 gal. I have access to a 30 gal. I know one GSP needs 30 gals, so it's got me a little worried. Should I get this 30 gal and start it up for the switch or am I fine til my GSP starts growing???

I enclosed a picture of my tank. I plan on mossing a lot of the sand in the back of the tank. That's real driftwood from the Patuxent river right by my house.

Lemme know what you think and I'd appreciate opinions on the tank size also! Thanks

 

[nmonks]

Hello Dustin,

Nice looking tank. However, I do think the size will cause problems. It isn't so much overstocked, but rather improperly stocked. The GPS puffer needs more like 55 gallons to work well, especially if you wanted more than one specimen. They get surprisingly large when mature, and though they may only measure 15 cm/6 inches in length, they're very chunky, and easily fill a man's hand in terms of overall bulk. Furthermore, these puffers eat crabs in the wild, and your fiddlers really are live food waiting to be eaten. Yes, you're offering shrimp and mussel, but given these are thiaminase-rich foods, they shouldn't make up more than, say, a third of their diet (unless you're using a marine aquarium vitamin supplement alongside these foods). Cockles, tilapia fillet, earthworms and snails are all thiaminase-free, and should be used to make up the bulk of this puffer's diet.

Even the mollies could cause problems. I've yet to see mollies work well indefinitely in 10-gallon tanks. Males are aggressive, and females are big, so either way, in my opinion they're fish for 30 gallon tanks and larger. Your tank could be an excellent home for the fiddlers, together with small brackish water fish. Bumblebee gobies are obvious choices, but guppies, Endlers, Micropoecilia picta, Micropoecilia parae and perhaps even Limia melanogaster would all be better choices than the mollies.

Cheers, Neale

Now this leads me to my problem. With 3 Mollys, 6 Fiddlers and 1 GPS... I feel I've over stocked my 10 gal. I have access to a 30 gal. I know one GSP needs 30 gals, so it's got me a little worried. Should I get this 30 gal and start it up for the switch or am I fine til my GSP starts growing???

 

[BMAF]

Thanks for the reply Neale.

I'm learning all this as I go, so bare with me. It was def a bad idea with the Fiddlers and the GSP. Seeing how I have only 3 left and the ones that survived... don't have many legs left. They stay out of the water as much as possible and are in panic whenever they have to go in. I think the only way I'd be able to keep the fiddys safe is to build a beach but they'll have swim at their own risk.

I plan on upgrading tanks to a 55 gal or larger. I just wanted the 10 gal to start with. The maybe use it as a QT

The molly's were originally just to kick start the cycle. I figured I'd end up sacrificing them for the greater good of science. They lived, so I have to keep them. You recommend guppies with my GSP?

I've got little specks like the size of micro bubbles floating around in my tank that I can't filter out. I threw my other hang on filter to wayyyyyyy over filter the tank. They're still in there. Would a skinner relieve this?

also, is there anything else I can use for the "clean up crew" that my GSP won't consume?

 

[nmonks]

I'm learning all this as I go, so bare with me. It was def a bad idea with the Fiddlers and the GSP. Seeing how I have only 3 left and the ones that survived... don't have many legs left. They stay out of the water as much as possible and are in panic whenever they have to go in. I think the only way I'd be able to keep the fiddys safe is to build a beach but they'll have swim at their own risk.

You see, this is the kind of fishkeeping that rubs me up the wrong way. Within the confines of an aquarium "risk" isn't really a helpful concept. The crabs will be viewed as food just as soon as they go under the water. The only humane approach is to keep puffers and crabs in their own tanks. If you choose to use live food like crayfish, that's fine, so long as the crayfish is killed and eaten at once. Allowing the puffer to nibble the crabs to death strikes me as cruel and unusual.

The molly's were originally just to kick start the cycle. I figured I'd end up sacrificing them for the greater good of science. They lived, so I have to keep them. You recommend guppies with my GSP?

Again, using sacrificial animals is not the best or kindest approach, and certainly doesn't qualify as science. Yes, you can use fish to cycle a brackish or saltwater aquarium, and yes, mollies are a good choice. But you should have an overall strategy here. Mollies can't really be kept with GSPs with any degree of safety, so they'll need a new home. Leaving them with the GSP to be harassed just isn't fair.

I've got little specks like the size of micro bubbles floating around in my tank that I can't filter out. I threw my other hang on filter to wayyyyyyy over filter the tank. They're still in there. Would a skinner relieve this?

No. Could be air bubbles, in which case supersaturation of the water with gases is a risk. Could also be diatoms, which often bloom in new aquaria.

also, is there anything else I can use for the "clean up crew" that my GSP won't consume?

No. Do understand that "clean-up crew" ONLY applies to reef tanks where moving rocks and corals just isn't viable. In ALL other tanks, cleaning up is YOUR job, and you will do a better job than any clean-up crew organism. Remember, removing waste before it gets eaten or decays means there's less ammonia and nitrate in the system; clean-up crew are a compromise, the benefit being some degree of waste removal against the cost of increased ammonia and nitrite. Plus, reef tanks have active removal of the end product, nitrate, through a deep sand bed or live rock. That's something you don't have here, so nitrate builds up even faster in this sort of tank than in a reef tank.

Cheers, Neale