Green Spotted Puffer

[Robyn1058]

I just saw one and I was thinking about getting one. I just read they are brackish. I have no idea what that is or how to turn one of my tanks into brackish. I have all freshwater tanks with tetras. Any suggestions?
Thank you

 

[DarkEntity]

Info taken from The Puffer Forum

Tetraodon nigroviridis

Date: 16/08/06
Owner: PufferPedia Admin
Size: 9 items

Common Name: Green Spotted Puffer

Other Common Names: GSP; Leopard Puffer; Spotted Green Puffer; Occasionally incorrectly as Green Puffer

Family: Tetraodontidae

Distribution: S.E. Asia: Esturaine rivers and floodplains; Mangrove swamps

Water Parameters: High brackish to marine salinity; Temp: 23–26C (73 - 80F ); pH: 7.0 - 8.3

Personality/Temperament: Agressive to other tankmates, especially with age. Hunts for food.

Max. Size: 6.5 inches (17cm)

Estimated Lifespan: ~15 years

Sexual Dimorphism: Unknown. Cannot tell genders apart by eye.

Diet: Mollusks and crustaceans. Needs to be fed a regular diet of hard-shelled creatures to guard against beak overgrowth. Feeding and Diet article

Care: Requires medium to high-end brackish water, and usually thrives in marine conditions. Introduce to a fully cycled aquarium, and raise the specific gravity by at least 0.002 per week, aiming for 1.015. As GSP's are active and agressive puffers.

Breeding: Unknown. No records of captive breeding.

Minimum Tank Size: 30 US Gallons (115 liters)

Not a fish for beginners and requires some serious thought before trying to keep one. Then there is the mis labelling of Ceylon Puffers as GSp's which get even larger again...

 

[steelhealr]

was permission obtaing from The Puffer Forum? SH

 

[Puffergirl]

I just saw one and I was thinking about getting one. I just read they are brackish. I have no idea what that is or how to turn one of my tanks into brackish. I have all freshwater tanks with tetras. Any suggestions?
Thank you

Hi Robyn,

If you do get one of these puffers you will need to give it a tank to itself...it will eat/nibble your tetras (or anyother fish in there!).

Keep the tank cycled with freshwater until you find a GSP you like. More often or not your lfs will have it in freshwater unless they have a brackish section and understand this species. If you find a shop with one in freshwater then you can take it home and add it to a freshwater tank (then raise the salinity with the fish in the tank). If it is in brackish in the shop you will have to ask what the salinity of their tanks is, reserve the puffer, and raise the salinity of your tank to match before bringing it home.

To create a brackish environment you need two main things, marine salt (not aquarium salt) and a refractometer (which measures the salinity). They are often marked up with both specific gravity (sg) and sometimes the number of grams of salt per litre of water (PPT) in the tank. In freshwater sg = 1 and ppt = 0.

The bacteria which live in a freshwater filter cannot survive in brackish water, and therefore you need to generate 'new' bacteria. All this means is you cannot bring a freshwater tank up to a high salinity too quickly as the bacteria will die off and you will have to cycle the tank again. You need to add the salt slowly, one site I use recommends no more than an increase of 0.002 sg per increase and no more than one increase per week in order to establish the new bacteria colony. Personally I have added salt at twice this level before now and had no problems. As for how much salt you need to add to your tank to raise the salinity by 0.002 it is about 3 grams of salt for each litre of water you have in the tank.

When juvenile (<2") they should ideally be keep in low brackish (1.005 to 1.010) and the salinity raised over the years as they grow until you reach full maturity and full marine.

I hope this helps?

Jeni