Was thinking about starting a species tank (20 gal hex ) with Green Spotted Puffers. Was doing research and found that as juveniles they can be put in freshwater but as they reach maturity they will need brackish water that is hard and on the alkaline side. My question is what salt will be best to add and what is the best way to harden the water? I live in Philadelphia and our water straight out of the tap is neutral (7.0) and is very soft. Any suggestions. I have a Dwarf Puffer tank but they do not require salt. I also have African Cichlids but I'm sure the cichlid chemistry is not the best thing to harden the water for the GSPs. Any sugestions please.
Need info on Green Spotted Puffer
- Thread starter raymgnz
- Start date
Do a search in the brackish forum here as they are a brackish fish (even from juvies) and the best salt to use is marine salt (Instant Ocean). You will need to put crushed coral or some other buffer in the water to get the pH at least 7.8. Anyway hope this helps and good luck!
GSP's get pretty big at around 6-7 inches, and as you mentioned they need to go from freshwater to brackish to salt . I wouldnt suggest more then 1 in a 20 gal hex if that, And you probably already have a snail breeding tank if you have dwarf puffers so your set there. About your water hardness im not sure...
The standard minimum suggested tank allowance per GSP is 30 gallons, so IMHO and IME, a 20 gallon hex is too small for one - and seriously lacking in swimming space. They are very easily stunted.
I have a 55 gal in the waiting. Just thought I would start with the 20 but after doing reaserch I think I'm going straight to the 55.