dwarf puffers

raymgnz

AC Members
Apr 16, 2006
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Philadelphia
Just started a 10 gal freshwater puffer tank 2 weeks ago. Just how much salt should I be putting in per 10 gals of water. Been asking around and of course have been getting different answers. I put 1 1/2 tablespoons in to start and they seem fine. Is this enough or too much? Please help.
 
Zero. None. Nada. Nil. Ziltch.

Freshwater is just what it says, FRESH WATER. Not brackish, not marine. You don't put salt in a FW aquarium unless you are treating for parasites and that's on a short term basis.

As for dwarf puffers, they are FW fish and don't need salt.

Roan
 
How about a second vote for no salt? will that help? If you can offer any scientific reasoning as to why you would want any salt in the first place, I would be happy to provide a rebutal. Note the part under "care " stating no salt is needed. More DP info can be found here
 
Thats good enough for me. I was following the advice of the LFS( Yeah dummy me) although this morning I read on two different websites that recomended 1 tbls per 5 gals. It sounded wrong but I'm not an expert. I've had oscars for over 20 years ( my oldest lived to 12 yrs ) so I know a little. Guess I got some water changing to do.
 
LOL our petsmart just re-did thier species profiles. They did a really nice job, save for the fact that half the fish have "needs aquarium salt" under thier profiles. I asked why The mollies needed it, "cuz thier brackish". I tell them that one: these are not wild mollies and have likely been in FW for generations and two: brackish water is not h2o+NaCL. Then I ask why the African cichlids need it, and have to explain that one: most of these fish(since they had it under ALL the africans I didnt want to get more confusing than I already had) simply need hard water, which is better replicated by using crushed corral as a substrate or in the filter and two: those that do require "salt" need rift salt formulated for the biotope, not h2o+NaCl.
 
sumthin fishy said:
LOL our petsmart just re-did thier species profiles. They did a really nice job, save for the fact that half the fish have "needs aquarium salt" under thier profiles. I asked why The mollies needed it, "cuz thier brackish". I tell them that one: these are not wild mollies and have likely been in FW for generations and two: brackish water is not h2o+NaCL. Then I ask why the African cichlids need it, and have to explain that one: most of these fish(since they had it under ALL the africans I didnt want to get more confusing than I already had) simply need hard water, which is better replicated by using crushed corral as a substrate or in the filter and two: those that do require "salt" need rift salt formulated for the biotope, not h2o+NaCl.
Amen.

Roan
 
raymgnz

If you want the reasons why salt shouldn't be used, here's a great article written by RTR:

http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/water/salt.html

FWIW the above article has been published on the internet on dozens of reputable aquaria sites.

Maybe print it out and hand it to your LFS ;)

Roan
 
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