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A note to all looking for their questions and responses here: We ask that, before submitting, you refer to Tips on Asking Questions Ask the WWM Crew a Question, FAQs on FAQs. EDFP, TBPBFAQs,	Parambassis ranga (often listed as Chanda ranga) (Hamilton 1822), the Indian Glassfish. Asia; India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia. Breeds by building nests, guards young. To three inches in length. In the wild eat crustaceans and insects. Need live foods, salt in their water in captivity. Often "Painted" temporarily for the aquarium interest. Full Size Link

Updated 5/5/08 Other Specialized Daily FAQs Logs: General, Freshwater
Daily Q&A replies/input from the WWM crew: Neale Monks, Marco Lichtenberger, Tom/Rick Jenkins, Eric Russell, Chuck Rambo, Pufferpunk (Jeni), Bob Fenner, Scott Fellman, are posted here. Moved about, re-organized into individual FAQs files!
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Spotted Puffers in Serious Trouble 5/5/08
Hello! Last night my husband and I were moving our 30 gallon small (about the size of a big toe) spotted puffer tank. We've had them for two years in this same tank and they were round, silky, and lively as usual and excited about dinner. We removed almost all of the existing water (stupid move!) to move the tank and then filled it back up with brackish water, the same that we would use with any normal water change. The water was the only change we made to the tank. It's still sitting in the same place, just a new table.
<In itself this shouldn't cause problems. But if you disconnected the filter for a period of time, it is possible for the bacteria to die. External canister filters are particularly sensitive because without a flow of water, little oxygen can get into the filtration chamber. So when doing this sort of thing, canister filters should always be opened up and the filter media placed in an open basin or bucket, covered with aquarium water, and ideally with an airstone to keep the water agitated.>
This morning I got my heart broken! All three of them had severely sunken eyes and bellies! I thought the two smallest were dead! They didn't eat dinner last night or breakfast this morning, and they love to eat! The skin on the largest one looked like it was molting! Within 9 hours! I've never seen them this way!
<Massive mucous production is typically a reaction to sudden changes in water chemistry or quality. Pufferfish produce quite a lot of mucous anyway (perhaps because of their unusual skin with bristles rather than regular scales). When irritated by their environment, the mucous forms whitish sheets that looks a lot like dead skin. It clears up when things settle down, but is certainly a warning that something is very wrong.>
I ran to the store, they tested the water; No ammonia but the pH was through the roof. They gave me a better water conditioner "NovAqua +", "Cycle" to replace the bacteria, and "Correct pH".
<When you say "gave" you mean "sold"! Always bear this in mind when going to a pet store for help. Before randomly adding products to the aquarium, step back, and try to figure out the problem, so you can make intelligent rather than impulse purchases. Your first product is a water conditioner. Is there any reason the new water wasn't properly conditioned? You *did* add dechlorinator? If you live in an area where chloramine is used, then a product that removes chloramine should be used as well. Copper can be leached into water from the plumbing in your house, and any decent dechlorinator should remove copper as well. If none of these issues is a problem, then the NovAqua wasn't needed. The second product supposedly (I'm dubious) kick starts biological filtration. The only reason you'd need this (assuming it works) is if your biological filter had died. So test for ammonia and/or nitrite. If they're both at normal levels, then Cycle is redundant. The third product is a buffer. Brackish water at an appropriate salinity (SG 1.005-1.015) for Green Spotted Puffers should easily buffer itself without any additional products. Using a carbonate hardness test kit, you should have something like 5-10 degrees KH depending on the brand of marine salt mix you are using. This is why you don't use "tonic salt" or "aquarium salt" in brackish water tanks -- it's a false economy. You need the buffering capacity of proper marine aquarium sea salt mix, and used thus, it's cheaper than adding buffering potions. In any event, if you're recording a sensible carbonate hardness and the pH is steady around 7.5 to 8, then again, adding additional buffering products like Correct pH is redundant.>
I came home and righted the water three hours ago but their appearance is still devastating. What else can I do for them? They're fighting for their lives.
<Yes and no; brackish water fish by their very nature can, will quickly adapt to changes. It sounds to me, despite your initial ammonia reading, that the filter is unhappy. Brackish water fish tolerate water chemistry changes well, but water quality decline is something else entirely. Check the ammonia and/or nitrite levels again. Do large water changes, perhaps 25% per day, avoiding big changes in salinity that would kill the filter bacteria. Do not feed the fish. Provide lots of oxygen. Check the temperature. Deep clean the tank, taking care to siphon out any organic detritus.>
Could something else go wrong that quickly? Thank you for your help. Any response is appreciated greatly. -Diana
<Hope this helps, Neale.>

Australian natives - Attention Neale, and his BW book 5/1/08
Hi Neale,
Not a question, more of a conversation. You can tell me to stop bothering you if you want. I don't often get the chance to talk Australian freshwater natives (I use the term freshwater loosely), which are a bit of a favourite of mine. I have read some of Bruce's work, although I can't say I've read any of his stuff on Pseudomugil. Will have to try to get hold of a copy of your book. Just to make sure, its title is "Brackish-Water Fishes: An Aquarist's Guide to Identification, Care & Husbandry" right?
<Indeed so; should be available at all good bookstores, or else via your library system. I have to admit to enjoying Bruce's chapter enormously, as well as Richard Mleczko's chapter on Mudskippers, another group of fish Aussies may well be able to enjoy better than anyone else.>
I've done a fair bit of research on many Australian natives. Both personal and professional. I did my masters thesis on Melanotaenia splendida splendida. An often overlooked yet stunning rainbowfish if I do say so myself. Some of the regional colour morphs I've collected far outshine many of the more common rainbowfish sold in the trade. My personal favourite has to be the ones from a little stream on the way to Greenvale. Absolutely stunning. I still have some of those from my research (they'd be pushing 8 years now).
<I would tend to agree with you on this species. It used to be quite commonly traded here in the UK (along with M. maccullochi) as the "Australian rainbow" but you hardly ever see these fish now. They always seemed incredibly variable, and also very hardy and reliable. Seemed to put with anything, even quite salty brackish water.>
I do agree that the P. signifer colour up fantastically in brackish water, they also tend to live longer and grow bigger as well, but I've personally found they breed much better in fresh (more eggs, with a significantly increased fertilisation, hatching and survival rate). For several years I changed their water type seasonally. Three months full
brackish, three months changing from brackish to fresh, three months full fresh, and three months changing from fresh to brackish. I do have to admit I've gotten rather lazy with that one of late and have had them in full fresh for at least a year now. I do tend to try to breed any that I wild collect so in some ways it's probably more practical to keep them in freshwater from the breeding point of view. I've had quite good luck breeding all the different specie of blue eye and found that even most of the euryhaline specie breed best in freshwater. That's one of the reasons I want to speak to more people about the P. cyanodorsalis. My prior experience tells me they should do well in fresh, but my gut tells me they may be more brackish then any of the others I've kept.
<Bruce says P. cyanodorsalis is "more consistently found in brackish water".>
I've had a few of the gudgeons as well and have had limited success with them. The Empire Gudgeon (Hypseleotris compressa) and Northern Purple Spotted Gudgeon (Mogurnda mogurnda) are my newest projects. I've had luck with the empire from the Rolling Stone area, and am working on my success with the purple spotted. I am hoping to go out west and get
some from the interior in a year or so when I have their reproduction a bit more stable. I've heard the ones from some of the inland areas are beauties.
<Oddly enough, Morgunda spp. and also Peacock Gobies are quite common here, and some stores have Chlamydogobius eremius as well, another superb little goby. Gudgeons (or Sleeper Gobies as we call them) are fairly popular, thanks to their good colours and generally hardy nature. Regular gobies always seem that bit more fussy about their food.>
Unfortunately a lot of the regional colour morphs are being threatened. One of the reasons why I collect and breed according to location. Up here the Gambusia is doing a real number on the blue eyes and tilapia are threatening just about everything else. It's always disappointing to me when I go to an area to collect fish and discover an introduced species when I am there. I always try to remove any introduced that I can catch, some are harder then others. Unfortunately it seems every time I go out there are more introduced fish and more different types then the year before. The number of Oscar I've been finding of late has me a bit concerned. I also caught a disturbing amount of other cichlid species which I hadn't encountered before. I always take a deep breath
and enjoy any place I go that I don't encounter any introduced fish although those seem to be getting fewer and farther between. The flooding we get during the wet season is the real problem. It allows the introduced fish to get to new water that they wouldn't be able to access otherwise.
<This is a problem everywhere. The UK govt. has recently gotten serious about limiting the trade in species that could become established in UK waters. Aquarists do have to deal with the fact that they, or at least their trade, has been responsible for some terrible exotic species introductions. So while I'm not wild about the idea of "white lists" of species my government says we can keep, there's an argument for making the hobby a lot more aware of their potential to do harm. I can't think of any other hobby where for small amounts of cash a person can buy wild fish from location X and feel free to release them at location Y.>
Anyway, I'll stop before this turns into a novel.
Cheers!
Amanda
<Cheers, Neale.>

GSPs & Butterfly Goby (Neovespicula depressifrons) 4/24/08
<Hi again, Scott>
Thanks for the reply. I think I had an overprotective mother type situation, because the patch does in fact seem to be going away on its own.
<Good news!>
I am keeping two GSPs in the 30 right now but plan to upgrade to a 55 gallon when I move if I feel that the two fish will get along ok together or stay out of each others way, which ever works. Right now the smaller one is no more than 1 1/2" max and the bigger one is maybe 2", but I think smaller, I am guessing.
<They really should be moved into larger quarters soon. If they have been paired together as juveniles, there is a pretty good chance they will get along into adulthood.>
The butterfly goby is bigger than the smaller GSP but will eventually be moved into something else when the SG gets up there. I wonder if you know anything about that fish actually, I have found very little information on it, I can't even find a scientific name on it, but I guess it is sold as 'butterfly goby' in the US. What I did find listed it as brackish, which is why I got it. Anyway thanks again.
<Here is what I found on the goby: http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/brackfaqpages/Predatory_fish/(4k)butterfly-go.html ~PP>
Scott

GSP with White Patch on Skin 4/17/08
Hi all,
<Hi Scott, Pufferpunk here>
This is my second time writing in because the last response I got was so informative.
<I'm glad we were so helpful!>
I have one GSP that appears to be a juvenile, judging by size, in a 30 gallon tank. He seems to have recently developed a white patch on his back just before his dorsal fin. Searching on the site I found similar questions but they always seemed to include lots of other problems along with the white patches on their fish. I know on one question Anthony suggested that the patches might be Brooklynella or Costia. I don't know a lot about parasites or fungus/infections as I have never had a fish come down with anything before and have never had to treat a fish.
<Brooklynella is a marine fish parasite. In my 30 years of fishkeeping, I've never come across Costia, so I am not familiar with it but looking it up, it doesn't sound like what your puffer has.>
I have been feeding live Tubifex worms to a butterfly goby because he will not eat frozen or flake food, so of course the GSP gets some too.
<Are you sure they aren't blackworms? Rarely are Tubifex sold anymore because of the filthy conditions they live in. I feed blackworms several times/week to all my fish. I soak them in vitamins while they sit in the fridge & rinse well daily, giving them fresh water & vitamins.
I think eventually, the goby will become puffer food.>
I wonder if the live food has brought in something to the tank?
<Possible but with all I feed out, I've never had any health problems with any of my fish, even my discus.>
I have not added any new fish in a long time and I have had this GSP in this tank for at least five months or so. I was waiting for a while for the tank and plants to become established before I started raising the SG in the tank and when I finally did, I started to have a major problem with hair algae, which I didn't know a lot about until recently and realized it was unrelated to adding salt, so I thought that I had crashed the tank and stopped adding the salt.
<Common occurrence when changing parameters of the water. Check your phosphate.>
So basically this GSP has been in freshwater for four or five months until just now when I started adding salt again. I know this is bad for their immune system, do you think the GSP is having trouble fighting off whatever problem it is having?
<Possibly>
Will the addition of salt help to get rid of the fungus/infection on its own or should I medicate?
<It certainly won't hurt. Start raising the SG .002/week, until you have reached around 1.010. At that point all your plants will have melted, I'm afraid.>
The fish is eating fine and acting normal and all water parameters are in check. Another quick thing I was wondering is that this fish does not seem to be growing anywhere near as fast as another GSP that I have, unless I am not noticing his growth somehow. I wonder if there is anything wrong with him in that regard?
<What other foods are you feeding him? Vitamins may help.>
And also, this GSP seems to have very informative stress lines around his mouth that he changes often based on how happy/unhappy he his and the other GSP does not at all, and neither of them have ever really noticeably darkened, bellies or otherwise, where I have had one GSP before who told be me exactly what was going with his belly. Thanks a lot.
<I'm confused--how many fish are in the 30g? It is recommended to keep 1 GSP/30g, so if you have more than that, plus other fish & it isn't growing, it could be a little stunted. What is your water change schedule? Exact parameters? Freshwater tends to stunt them too. As far as the white patch--it may be nothing--I'd be more concerned if it was fuzzy or reddish anywhere. A pic would help a lot. Add Melafix to the water & wait to see if it goes away or gets worse. In the meantime, work on making his tank brackish. ~PP>
Scott

Brackish Sponges and Regenerating Mangroves 4/17/08
Hello,
I always read this amazing website for helpful information! I have a new (been running for 3 months) brackish tank with a SG of 1.006, and one Monodactylus (I did have two but he cruelly mauled the other one).
<Not uncommon behaviour; I've found largish odd numbers, i.e., 5+ specimens work best. Mixing them with Scats and West African Monos seems to help, strangely enough. Perhaps stops any one fish becoming over-dominant.>
I would love to keep coral, but I have found that they cannot live in brackish water. I have seen many pictures of colourful sponges growing on mangrove roots, and they look surprisingly like coral. Please could you tell me if you know there are any colourful brackish sponges available?
<There are many brackish water sponges, and actually quite a few freshwater sponges -- but to the best of my knowledge none of them are traded. While some "reef" invertebrates have turned out to be shallow marine environment organisms that do well in brackish water at middling salinities -- Clibanarius tricolor for example -- I'm not aware of any sponges or corals that fit into this category. Beadlet Anemones (Actinia equina) do fairly well at reduced salinities to around SG 1.015, maybe lower, and despite being temperate organisms in the wild can thrive in well maintained tropical tanks. I'd recommend those perhaps as the best alternative, and sometimes they are traded as "brackish water anemones". I'm actually a bit dubious of their long term survival (they aren't normally found in mid- to low-salinity brackish environments) but some aquarists have had reasonable success with them If you live somewhere they are naturally found, as here in England, you can of course collect your own as they are very common organisms. When collecting wild livestock, do always remember to take the minimum number, minimise disruption to other organisms, and don't collect from places it is illegal or dangerous to do so.>
Also, I have a few Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) propagules in a pot. Because it is very cold here, I keep them in a heated propagator. The other month, the pot fell over as I placed the lid on to the propagator and this chopped the crown off three of the mangroves, far behind the bottom growth nodes! Recently, little red bumps have appeared at the base of the stems, and They have grown into large glossy red buds! I am amazed, because I thought they would die for sure! A few years ago, I killed a mangrove that had a very long stem with 7-8 pairs of leaves by deliberately pinching the top bud off. I have a small photo attached showing the buds.
<Nothing attached.>
Hopefully they will grow further into interesting plants!
<Indeed; good luck!>
Thank you very much for your time. James
<Cheers, Neale.>

Ammonia and nitrite problems, with a GSP 4/16/08
Hello,
<Hi Eric, Pufferpunk here>
I started a 10 gallon tank about six months ago. I bought a spotted puffer and every thing went well. Two and half months ago I decided to buy a 50 gallon tank with a whisper power filter 300 gallons per hour, a submersible 200w heater.
<Good move--adult GSPs need a minimum of 30g. He should be very happy in that large tank.>
I made the mistake of putting my fish in before the tank cycled. Luckily he made it.
<A single, young GSP in a 50g tank shouldn't prove to be too much of a problem, as his wastes will be diluted & will cycle within a month or two. As long as you do proper water changes, the puffer should be fine.>
Three weeks ago I took my water and had it tested.
<Best to have your own test kits: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH & a hydrometer to check the specific gravity for your brackish puffer.>
My ammonia nitrate and nitrite levels had all dropped. I bought two more fish. What they called leaf fish and a wild card.
<Hmmm... never heard of a fish called, "wild card".>
I was going to get another fish so I had my water tested first. My pH had dropped to 6.2 and my ammonia level was up.
<Good thing you didn't get another fish!>
They suggested I buy pH test, pH up and Amquel. I treated the
tank with the Amquel and the pH up. My pH didn't go up. I went to a different local fish store that had been around for a long time. I brought them some tank water. My ammonia was still up pH was down. They sold me some pH up buffer. My pH has gone back up. I also bought a freshwater test kit.
My ammonia is still up. This was the point when I started doing the thing I should of done first research the web. <Definitely! While Amquel may put a Band-Aid on the problem, it is only a temporary fix & actually will hinder the cycle. pH buffers again, are only temporary & will cause the pH to fluctuate, which is more stressful than a low pH. The best way to solve your problem is with large, frequent water changes.>
I was only changing 5 gallons of water a week. 5 days ago I changed 5 gallons of water. 3 days ago I changed
10 gallons. I'm still not testing good. My pH is 7.5. My ammonia is 1.5ppm.
<Anything over 0 is very toxic to your fish, same with nitrite.>
My nitrate is 15ppm. And now my nitrite is at 0.25ppm. I used a API liquid test kit. I was thinking about changing more water but afraid if I change to much I might mess up the biological filter. What should I do?
<The biological bacteria necessary to establish a balanced system does not live in the water column. It is on surfaces: glass, decor, substrate, filter media. You can change as much water as necessary to keep the levels from being toxic. (I change 90% weekly on my discus tank.) You may want to start with 25%, 2x/day & then do 50% or more daily, until the water parameters are good.>
Upon researching WWM I realized that my puffer should be in a brackish tank.
<Correct>
Had a couple of questions. My tank is a glass tank, will the salt corrode the silicone seals?
Not at all. These are the same tanks used for keeping marine fish.>
I have had my puffer for 6 months he is still doing fine. Do I need to change my tank to brackish soon to save my puffer?
<The answer is yes. 6 months is a very short time for a fish that can live into it's teens. If not kept in brackish water (high-end BW as an adult), it will develop a stressed immune system, causing problems with disease & shortened lifespan.>
I do realize that the other two fish will have to go into another tank.
<You are right. They will not appreciate any salt at all (well, I can't say anything about the "wild card" fish...)> Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
<In case you didn't see this article on GSPs: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/gspsart.htm
Another good site on puffers: www.thepufferforum.com.
Enjoy your puffer! If fed & cared for correctly (eats crustaceans) you should have a darling pet for years to come. ~PP>
WWM site has been helpful.
Thanks Eric

Dragon (Violet Goby), sys. - 04/14/08
Hello,
OK I have heard and read much about this wonderful fish that I recently lost in our fish tank. I will try again with another, but before I do, I want to be sure that I have as much information as possible so that I can assure that the Goby has a fair shot at a decent life here.
<Indeed.>
First, I keep reading about sand as a definite MUST have in the Brackish tank. OK<..this is great,. but would somebody please tell what kind of sand (please be specific) is OK for the tank? I keep hearing that Marine Sand (about the only one I can seem to find in stores and online) is NOT acceptable. If there is indeed an acceptable sand for this Goby,...a brand name or specific type would be most appreciated!!
<Marine sand would be fine though perhaps not the ideal. Smooth silica sand (also called "silver sand") would be nice, as would smooth river sand. Basically avoid anything jagged. These fish feed (in part) by plowing through mud, filtering out small prey; let them do this in the aquarium. They also eat plankton from midwater and algae scraped from rocks. In the aquarium, feed bloodworms, algae wafers, and periodically "plankton" in the form of brine shrimp or daphnia.>
Also,...the salt factor seems to be up for debate as well.
<Only debated by the ignorant; these are estuarine fish, period.>
I've been told Marine Salt is not advisable, yet I've been told Aquarium Salt is not good either? Can you please clear this up for me? What kind and how much per gallon of water?
<Marine salt mix, of the type used in marine aquaria. Instant Ocean, Reef Crystals... whatever is cheap and easily obtainable in your area. Aquarium "tonic" salt, the stuff used in freshwater tanks, is not acceptable, and neither is cooking salt. As for the amount, you're aiming for 25-50% salinity of normal seawater, i.e., 9-18 grammes of salt mix per litre of water at 25 degrees C. That should result in a specific gravity of SG 1.005 to SG 1.012. The precise value you aim for doesn't matter, just so long as it is kept reasonably consistent over time: sudden, dramatic changes in salinity will stress/kill the filter bacteria.>
Thanks so much,....I love your informative site!
I also wonder if the Australian Desert Goby would be OK in Brackish water too with the Violet Goby.
<Chlamydogobius eremius is indeed tolerant of brackish water. It can actually do perfectly well in anything from hard freshwater through to twice the salinity of seawater. Should be fine with the Gobioides sp., though don't force them to compete for space or burrows. Set up some small caves for the Chlamydogobius eremius, and then some sand and larger burrows (PVC tubes are ideal) for the Gobioides.>
td
<Cheers, Neale.>

Black Moors, Not BW 4/9/08
I've been searching for info all over and I cannot seem to find what I need. Can Back Moors live in BW? I have a 50 gallon tank that is BW that has a Violet Goby and 2 Bumblebee Gobies as well. I was wondering if the Black Moors can tolerate the BW.
<Mmm, no... Goldfish can tolerate some salt/s in their water (there is some "combination of metals and non-metals" in all source waters...) but really don't appreciate "added" salt of any kind. Oh, and Black Moors are a variety of fancy goldfish. Bob Fenner>

Ammonia in a puffer tank 4/8/08
Hello,
I have a cycled 20 gallon long aquarium with 2 filters, a BIO-wheel 150 and a Whisper 10. The tank is at a SG of 1.003-1.004, temp is 80F, Ph 8.0 and is moderately planted with Anubias, Val.s, Java fern, Sags and Onion plants. The tank inhabitants are a grape sized F8 Puffer , 2BBG's and a 2" Knight Goby. I feed the tank once a day sparingly, frozen krill or frozen bloodworms, enough for the puffer to supplement his daily snails and leave manageable scraps for the gobies, who all seem to be getting plenty of food, plus the Knight Goby munches algae quite a bit. I always rinse the frozen cubes in a net and never let the "juice" into the tank. All the fish are active and healthy.
<All sounds fine, but Knight Gobies are predatory and will eat the Bumblebee Gobies sooner or later.>
My question is this, I have read/known that ammonia and nitrites are supposed to be 0 in an established tank and that nitrates under 10 (I think), and that weekly WC of 25%-30% needs to be done. I test my ammonia in the AM and it is fine, but after a few hours following feeding I get traces of ammonia, under .25, but still present.
<You *must* have zero ammonia, 24/7, 365 days a week. If you're detecting any at all, it means one (or more) of three things: overstocking, under-filtering, or overfeeding. You can add a 4th item to that list in terms of maturity; cycling a tank the old fashioned way takes at least 6 weeks, possibly slightly more for a brackish tank.>
So I have been doing daily WC's of about 2 gallons. I haven't let a daily go since I noticed this, because I was afraid to let it go till the next AM to recheck, since I have never witnessed this with any of the other tanks I keep, but this is my first puffer tank and I wanted to be cautious.
<Wise.>
Is the ammonia supposed to be neutralized instantly with a properly working bio filter or does it take an hour or two?
<The ammonia comes from the gills of the fish as a waste product, and isn't so much from the food itself as the background excretory product of normal metabolism. It is directly equivalent to urea production in your body: the kidneys constantly remove the stuff and convert it into urine, and not just when you're eating. In other words, the amount of ammonia produced by the fish is more or less constant (there may be some variation, but it isn't between "none" and "lots"). Under normal circumstances, the amount of ammonia produced by your fish will be exactly equal to the ammonia consumption of a healthy biological filter, so that the net effect is that zero ammonia is detectable at any given moment.>
I was wondering because I have no nitrite readings.
<If you have high levels of ammonia but no nitrite, it usually means you have inadequate, or at least immature, biological filtration. What's happening is that the filter is converting only a small amount of ammonia into nitrite, and that nitrite is converted immediately into nitrate. So review filtration, in particularly concentrating on how much biological media there is, how old it is, and how you are looking after it (washing biological media under a hot tap for example will kill the bacteria).>
Also, even though I have 2 filters with a combined gph of 250, is the BIO-wheel model I
have's ( the 150) actual BIO-Wheel too small to colonize an efficient colony or should there be enough nitrifying bacteria throughout the tank, the gravel, plants and filter pads that I do not need to upgrade to a larger BIO-wheel model given my gph?
<Gravel and stuff just sitting on the bottom of the tank will have next to now useful effect. Undergravel filters work because the water is pushed through a deep bed of gravel; gravel by itself presents too little surface area to the water to help without the pump. For a 20 gallon tank, any decent filter with a turnover of at least 100 gallons per hour should be adequate for these sorts of fish. So it's more likely an issue with maturation or maintenance than the mechanics of the filters themselves. Do also throw out junk like carbon and "ammonia remover", and instead make sure the filter is optimised for biological and mechanical filtration. Hope this helps. Cheers, Neale.>

Brackish Puffers... sel., hlth. gen. 4/8/08
Hello, I have a 65 gallon tank, my salinity level is 1.006, 0 ammonia, ph is @ 7.8. I want to know what's wrong with puffers. I have gone through a ton of GSP & Fig. 8's! it seems that I can keep 1 out every 10. When I purchase them in the store they always seem to look good, bring them home and they look like they are starved or have worms. They last for 2 weeks maybe then they die. The fish are cool but I'm tired of spending money on them please help? I also have a fig 8 right now that is breathing very fast for 3 days now. he is eating but not swimming just laying around any info will help thank you Dennis
<Hello Dennis. Pufferfish are *not* easy to keep, and despite their widespread sale, they're not fish to start a new aquarium with. They need a mature, stable aquarium with plenty of filtration (to remove ammonia and nitrite) and regular water changes (to remove the nitrate). I'd recommend a filter offering not less than 6 times the volume of the tank in turnover per hour, and at least 25% water changes per week, and ideally 50% water changes. You need to have zero ammonia and nitrite, which means the tank should be matured for at least six weeks, and I'd recommend longer, before the puffers are brought home. Assuming that water quality is good, pufferfish should be easy to feed, and starvation isn't normally a problem. Indeed, overfeeding is generally a much more common problem with pufferfish. In any case, tell me some more about how old the tank is and how you matured it. Tell me also the turnover rating of the filter (this'll be in gallons per hour or litres per hour on the pump). Then we'll take things further. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Brackish Puffers? 4/9/08
My tank has been up and running for two years or more.
<Should be fine.>
I have 2 Whisper 60 filters with under gravel filters.
<Whisper 60 filters have a rating of 330 gallons per hour, so should be adequate.>
I do a 25% water change weekly and vacuum every month. I have 2 GSP's that have been alive for 7 months or so one's belly seems to be black more then white but he eats, swims, acts as normal as the day I bought him.
<Though this varies, a dark belly is often taken to be a sign "all is not well" with puffers. There may not be a one-to-one relationship, but most sick or stressed puffers do become darker than normal in colour.>
The other GSP is just fine swims a little erratic at times unknown reasons there. All the GSP's & Fig. 8's I buy last two weeks three tops. Are they hard to buy healthy?
<Not especially.>
It seems LFS's have and always sell sick ones.
<Not particularly likely. These fish are collected from the wild, and in practise tend to be in reasonably good shape, provided they are looked after and properly fed. It isn't the same as with farmed fish where poor husbandry and overcrowding often allows a great deal of cross-infection of worms, viruses, etc.>
Also it always seems like they have i.p.'s or worm's!
<Unlikely. "Internal Parasites" and "Worms" are often catch-all terms used by aquarists who don't have any idea why their fish died. Unless you're a microbiologist or parasitologist, I'd steer clear of jumping to conclusions here. The vast majority of "mystery deaths" come down to water quality, water chemistry, and diet issues.>
How many Puffers would you say would be enough in my 65 gallon?
<Depends on the species. For Green Spotted Puffers, you need to allow about 30 gallons per specimen, because they get large and can be a bit testy. Figure-8 Puffers are smaller and generally ignore one another, so you could easily keep 3-4 specimens in a tank that size. Does rather depend on how many tankmates you have of course; the more fish you already have, the less space for additional fish. The "inch per gallon" rule doesn't hold for medium sized and large fish, and you need to be a bit more cautious, adding new specimens gradually and keeping a close eye on health and water quality.>
The tank has 1 Silver Scat, 1 Red Scat,
<Both potentially big fish, easily 20 cm/8" in captivity, so questionably suitable for this tank.>
1 Angel Fish, 2 Kissing Gourami's, 1 Red Rainbow.
<None of these are brackish water fish.>
2 Mono Argenteus,
<Hyperactive, so needs swimming space, and again, of questionably value here.>
1 Black Tetra, 1 Golden Nugget Pleco, 1 Leopard Pleco,
<Not brackish water.>
2 Clown Loaches,
<Has been said to be brackish water in the wild, but not convinced of this at all.>
4 GSP's, 1 Fig. 8. All of these fish have lived in this tank together for 7 months or more except 2 of the GSP's & the 1 Fig. 8 these 3 have been in there about two weeks ( almost there death time ) . Oh Yeah I change the filters every month two at a time. any info might help thank you for your time!
<Given you have non-brackish water fish that are doing well, I'm curious whether you really are maintaining the salinity at a high enough level. In any case, you can't mix brackish water fish and freshwater fish in the same aquarium, so rather than fussing about which puffers to keep and how many, I'd concentrate on dividing up these fish. In the medium term, the Monos and Scats will certainly need a more saline environment than the Angels or Plecs will tolerate. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Brackish Puffers? 4/9/08
Neale Why do you guys and gals always tell people they are the ones wrong. you pretty much called me a liar about the maintenance of my tank. If I didn't do something i wouldn't tell you I did there's no problem solving in lying.
<Ah, you misunderstand me. I'm only wondering whether you've been reading the hydrometer right, or perhaps your hydrometer is faulty. This latter problem often happens, and people think their tank is at one salinity, and it turns out to be something else entirely. The reliability of inexpensive hydrometers has been amply criticised on marine fishkeeping forums many, many times. Other folks misunderstand how a floating hydrometer works, and read the salinity above the meniscus rather than at the water level itself, so they think that have salinity X, and it's actually quite a bit lower. Not saying you're a liar at all!>
All my fish except for the puffers have been in this tank for over 1.5 years when I first set the tank up salt wasn't even in there I gradually over 6 months time brought my salt level up. in which case these fish can and do handle the brackish water.
<Doesn't work this way really. While it is true Angelfish and perhaps some of your other freshwater fish might be adjusted to 20% seawater, i.e., around SG 1.003, and perhaps slightly higher, in the long term this just isn't going to work. Monos and scats will need about 50% seawater, SG 1.010, and as sure as God made little green apples that will kill the Angelfish, loaches, etc. I don't need to debate this point, it's simply a statement of fact. Even at SG 1.005, the minimum GSPs and Monos will accept, is too high for most freshwater fish. In any case, maintaining freshwater fish in a saline environment isn't good for them.>
I know which fish aren't brackish and which ones are.
<In which case why combine them?>
So do you have any useful info for my puffers not my other fish or are you just stuck on its the person never fish
<From the information you've given me, there's no obvious reason why you should lose a succession of pufferfish. So if you're after an answer to that question, I don't have one. But the bigger picture is you have a collection of fish that doesn't reveal a clear understanding in what brackish water fish need in terms of salinity, carbonate hardness, and pH. And if a person doesn't fully appreciate what brackish water fish need in those regards, they are indeed going to have problems keeping those fish alive. Hence my concern about your mix of fish. That your freshwater fish are doing well suggests to me that the salinity isn't all that high, and certainly that the pH and carbonate hardness isn't likely very high either. Those factors imply an environment not optimised for brackish water puffers, and perhaps not conducive to their long term survival. What more can I say? Cheers, Neale.>

Mystery Snapper - Marine or Freshwater? 4/7/08
Hello folks!
<Hi Neale!>
I recently saw this fish in a *freshwater* aquarium. It's apparently a snapper or porgy of some kind, but not being an expert on marine fish,
I'm not sure which one. Any ideas?
<My careful guess (!) simply by comparing pictures would be a seabream Acanthopagrus berda. They do occasionally occur in freshwater, especially the young. However, they get much bigger than indicated by the picture. Maturity at about 20 cm and maximum length reported around 90 cm. The dorsal spine number from your picture also seems to match, but all together I am not perfectly convinced by the ID and will leave the email for others to see. In the meantime here's a nice picture of A. berda: http://fishpix.kahaku.go.jp/fishimage-e/detail?START=27&FAMILY=Sparidae&SPECIES=&LOCALITY=&FISH_Y=&FISH_
M=&FISH_D=&PERSON=&PHOTO_ID=&JPN_FAMILY_
OPT=1&FAMILY_OPT=0&JPN_NAME_OPT=1&SPECIES_OPT=1&
LOCALITY_OPT=1&PERSON_OPT=1&PHOTO_ID_OPT=2>
It's apparently been in freshwater tanks for the last couple of years at least, and appeared to be in perfect health.
Cheers, Neale
<We've kept seabreams from the black sea in brackish water tanks, but I've never encountered them in freshwater. The ones from the black sea were pretty much euryhaline, but stayed significantly smaller than in nature, which wasn't surprising. Cheers, Marco.>

Re: Mystery Snapper - Marine or Freshwater? 4/7/08
Hello Marco,
<Hi Neale.>
Thanks for the name! I agree with you 100% about the genus at least, though I'm wondering about Acanthopagrus latus as well.
<Very well possible. Fin colours can be used for differentiation, but its better to see the fish in person or have it in front of a white background to do that. A. latus is supposed to have a yellow caudal (vs. grey at A. berda) as far as I know.>
In any case, you are quite right about the fact this fish is a porgy rather than a snapper. The aquarium store manager called it a snapper, so I was going along with that! Rather a cool fish, anyway. Cheers, Neale
<For an ID guide to the mentioned and other similar species see ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/ad468e/AD468eMJ.pdf . Photographs are in ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/y0770e/y0770e63.pdf.
Cheers, Marco.>

Can my green spotted puffers be dangerous to my kids? – 04/04/08
Hello,
<Hi.>
I recently bought two green spotted puffers and my wife and I have been doing some more research on them. I have been unable to find out if toxin in these puffers can harm my kids through casual contact. Obviously we don't allow our kids to eat aquarium fish but if they get their hands in while I'm not looking and touch the fish and stick their hands in their mouths, is there any risk?
<I think that’s not likely. While they can emit tiny amounts of their poison to tell possible predators that they don’t taste well, in contrast to some other puffers there is no report on people having problems from simply handling Green spotted puffers (which are among the most common puffers). Anyway, to be safe I’d not allow kids (or adults) to touch the fish, also because of their slime coat, which might be disturbed, scratched away by fingernails. I’d explain to them that they as well as the fish might get sick. Also, it’s important to keep the hand out of fish tanks as much as possible to avoid the introduction of unwanted substances like fats, oils, heavy metals. If you have to grab into a fish tank, wash your hands without soap before you do so, or if you have to use soap, be sure to remove it completely before grabbing into the aquarium.>
If there is we will have to get rid of these extremely cute pets that both our children love.
<My choice here would be to clarify that they should not put their hands in there for the sake of the fish they love. Also, when the puffers grow, they can deliver a painful and bleeding bite. Large puffers (larger than an adult Green spotted puffer) have bitten of entire finger tips. They are (like other fish) simply no animals you should pet.>
One other question, the puffers are still small, about 1 1/2 to 2" in a 10 gallon (for now) with brackish water at 1.006, should I up the salinity to 1.012?
<1.006 is okay.>
Also my LFS recommended live feeding my puffers, is this necessary?
<No. Green spotted puffers generally accept a wide range of dried, frozen and fresh foods.>
Right now they are on PE Mysis, with bloodworms and an occasional snail from my community freshwater tank. Is this diet varied enough?
<Sounds good. See http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/ for further ideas.>
Thanks for your time.
<No problem. Cheers, Marco.>

Puffer w/ich – 04/1/08
Hello,
I just recently purchased a F8 puffer and while he seemed fine at the store, he appears to have a few white spots on his tail now since yesterday. He has been a good eater this week and generally acting like a puffer, but today it seems that he is holding one of his pectoral fins close to his body and is not using it to hover around, however still very interested in food. He is in a SG of 1.003 with a Knight Goby and 2 small mollies in a 30" long 20 gallon tank. I intend to raise the salinity to 1.005 over time, but did not want to shock my plants or my bacteria.
<Going from SG 1.003 to SG 1.005 should be fine.>
He was in a freshwater tank with African cichlids at the LFS.
<Poor thing.>
Since puffers are a bit delicate to meds, what temp and salinity can I use to combat this if it does indeed sound like ich to you?
<SG 1.003 should do the trick all by itself, and certainly SG 1.005 would.>
BTW, Water is ph 8.0, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, SG 1.003, 2 HOB filters at 250 gph combined, temp 82F
<All sounds nice.>
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
K
<Good luck, Neale.>

Feeding F8 puffers 4/1/08
Good Afternoon,
I recently purchased a F8 Puffer and he shows great interest in the ghost shrimp I have in the tank, but won't eat frozen Mysis shrimp, Plankton or Krill. I gave him live blackworms which he really enjoyed but I would prefer if he would take interest in the frozen shellfish.
<Puffers can be picky, that is true. Some brackish water fish go off their food if kept in freshwater conditions. But assuming your fish is in brackish water, I wouldn't worry too much.>
Is there anything I can do to stimulate this interest short of denying him live food?
<Nope.>
The LFS I got him from said that they fed the tank frozen and had no problems so I am a bit stumped.
<Don't get too concerned. Letting a puffer starve for a few days often gets their attention focused on things they'd otherwise reject. My Colomesus asellus have little to no interest in snails or krill when I give them bloodworms, so some days I skip feeding them bloodworms until they're sufficiently hungry to eat these other food items. Does them no harm at all. Almost all puffers eat algae as well as invertebrates, so provided there is algae in the aquarium to nibble on, they won't suffer.>
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
<Cheers, Neale.>

Figure Eight Puffer Stocking 3-31-08
Hello,
<Hello! Yunachin here.>
I just purchased a 2 inch F8 Puffer and he is a in a 20 long tank with 4 2 inch mollies and a knight goby.
<Sounds like a little too many fish. I would do one Molly, one knight goby and Mr. Figure Eight.>
SG is 1.004 for now, Ph is
8.0 filtration is a BioWheel 150 and a Whisper 20. Substrate is aragonite sand and the tank is planted with Anubias, Val's and Java Fern...as well as a few other hard water plants that may or may not make the jump to 1.005.
<Raise the gravity slowly, at about 0.001 per week and the plants should be ok.>
The tank as been cycled a long time and all is well but my question is can another F8 be added at all and if so do I need to lose a fish or two (I have several other aquariums including a 30 gallon long livebearer tank that the mollies could easily be added to, these 4 are just my favorites).

I have seen articles saying an F8 per 10 gallons, but I wasn't sure how that equation added up with other fish in the picture.
<Figure Eights require 15 gallons per puffer. Pufferfish give off massive bio-loads and adding another one cause more waste in your tank. Also puffers are not necessarily community fish and can turn on one another unless given ample space to roam and hide to establish territories and block lines of site.>
Do the "regular" stocking rules apply when you have puffers with other fish other than how many Puffers you can successfully have in the same tank? Sorry if these are dumb questions but I really want to do right by the puffer and my other fish before there is a problem.
<Not dumb questions at all. Like I said, keep in mind the fact that puffers put off more waste than regular fish and they are messy eaters. If you wanted to get another one, I would go for a 30 gallon, heavily planted with plenty of places to hide and explore. Good Luck with your Figure Eight, they are little dolls. –Yunachin>
Thank you.
<You’re welcome.>
K

Re: Figure Eight Stocking 3-31-08
Hello again,
<Indeed. ^-^>
In regards to the Mollies, is it because of their potential size, their amount of waste or that puffers generally like less tank mates
even if I were to increase my filtration?
<To be straight with you, Puffers are generally not community fish. They like to "taste" other fish and can do some considerable damage to tank mates. The issue we have right now with the mollies, is their size compared to the size of the tank. Too many fish can cause stress to a Puffer, even if you have over filtration.>
Would a couple of glassfish be ok if the Mollies were decreased? I am pretty religious about my water changes of 25% weekly but have also read that 50% weekly is closer to the needed with puffers, would 2 gallons a day suffice?
<IMO, I think the F8 and the goby will be fine. As for the water changes, I would go with about 30% percent weekly. No need for doing water changes everyday.>
One last thing, what is the temperature range that is best for F8's I currently have my tank at 82F.

Green Spotted Puffer.. Too small environment: 3-23-08
Good Day!
<Hello. Yunachin here.>
I have some questions about my green spotted puffer. I should have read your site long ago, but I read other sites first...alas. I bought this little guy about a week ago and I've been keeping him in a small 1.8 gallon hexagonal tank (I know! way too small!).
<You are right. These fish need a 30 gallon minimum. I hope you plan on moving him soon.>
I put in about 1tbs per gallon (I did the math) and thought it would be fine.
<Marine salt I hope.>
I realize now that it's not and yesterday I started to notice what appeared to be molting (?) skin on him/her. They looked like little nubs and they were clear, so he/she may have had it longer than I noticed.
<Possibly burns from ammonia. Puffers put off incredible bio-loads and can suffer in their own waste quite quickly.>
Anyway, this morning, I noticed that he/she was way worse off. It looked like one of his eyes had like a contact lens over it or something.
<Definitely too much wastes. A thorough water change will help aid this.>
So, I researched more and found your site (alas, I hope it’s not too late!) and I brought out a 30 gallon with some good filters.
<Excellent!>
I have some sand that I have put in and I've also gone out and bought some aragonite...is it ok to mix the two?
<Yes that would be just fine.>
When I came back, it looked like it was too late; I thought he/she was dead. But then when I looked back, I noticed that the little guy had moved from one end of the tank to the other (still in the 1.8 gallon!!).
<Probably very uncomfortable. The move to the new tank should be okay.>
I am filling the big tank now and plan to put salt in it (I bought the hydrometer...to measure salinity) and I hope I am not too late.
<Depending on how high you are making the specific gravity, you are going to have to acclimate him into the salinity. Just dropping him in will make him very sick. Check out this link: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimat.htm; >
My brother is bringing me some fish de-stress from his house...is that okay to use?
<Don’t use any other chemicals as it will to make the situation any better and puffers are very sensitive to medications.>
I can only hope I am not too late! What is this sickness that my puffer has and what causes it? How can I fix it? Thanks in advance!
<This is caused by a very small environment, too much food in, not enough water out, etc. Get him into the 30 gallon as soon as possible and make sure to do frequent water changes until he gets himself back to normal. I would do at least 20% every week. Read more on the Green Spotted Puffer in the Brackish Section of the site here. Good Luck. –Yunachin>

Green Spotted Puffer Sickness Re: 3-26-08
Thank you for your reply!
<You’re welcome. Sorry I haven’t replied faster, I have been a tad ill.>
I did a water change the same day I emailed you after reading some more on the site. The puffer is still alive, but I've run into problems with the 30 gallon tank. Today, I am acclimating him to the tank. To answer your question, yes, I used marine salt.
<Good to know.>
I've run brackish tanks before, just never any puffers and not to 100% success. The puffer looks worse today, but still showing interest in food. I will be acclimating the puffer through most of the day, very slowly. I'm not sure what salinity the tank is at now, the hydrometer I bought is telling me there is NO salt in the water, yet I can see the salt "waves" in the water and I can see that some has dried along the top.
<Hmm..I would consider getting a refractometer. They are more accurate than hydrometers, just make sure they are cleaned properly after each use.>
Anyways, this is just to thank you for your help. I hope the little guy pulls through, I am doing my best to ensure that. I don't think the puffer can wait any longer, the tank is still kind of milky looking from the aragonite but I figure that the 30 gallon is better than a 1.8 gallon, so I will slowly acclimate and hope for the best. Thanks again, sorry for the rambling...it is Monday morning.
<I understand. Is this tank a cycled tank? Is there any media in there from the old tank? Filter? Substrate? If the tank has not gone through a cycle then your little puffer will not be strong enough to make it through the spike and everything you do will be in vain. There is an article on fishless cycling at www.thepufferforum.com ; it will help you cycle the tank much faster but you will not be able to keep your puffer in the tank at the same time. I wish you good luck for you and your puffer. Keep me posted if you will. –Yunachin>

Halfbeak advice – 03/18/08
Hello!
<Ave!>
About six weeks ago, I found two pairs of halfbeaks at a chain pet store. They were labeled 'Celebes Halfbeaks'. I was surprised to see them there, and asked a clerk to bag them up for me. The clerk made me promise to put them in a brackish tank. I was pretty sure that they were not brackish fish, since I recently finished reading Neale's new book, "Brackish-Water Fishes." (Great book!)
<Thanks!>
But, since they were in brackish water at the store, I put them into a quarantine tank with brackish water.
<Ah, not ideal for most Nomorhamphus species. So far as I know, only Nomorhamphus erhardt lives in brackish water; all the others are soft/acid water beasties. That said, one store near me has a female Nomorhamphus liemi in its display brackish tank and has done so for a long time. So like a lot of "peripheral freshwater fish" (i.e., freshwater fish from marine families) they likely have significant salt tolerance.>
They did fine, grew a little, and time passed and I never got around to acclimating them to fresh water. Last week, I wanted the quarantine tank, so I moved them into one of my brackish display tanks. I noticed at the time that one of the females was quite fat. Just now as I was feeding them, I noticed baby halfbeaks in the tank! They are quite large, about 1 cm or more long. I saw four or five of them, and they
are very lively.
<Indeed they are! And wonderfully easy to rear. The tricky bit is getting the mothers through pregnancy; once the babies are delivered, life gets a lot easier.>
My question is, are these Nomorhamphus liemi? I looked through Baensch's Aquarium Atlas 1 through 3, and they look more like N. liemi than any of the other halfbeaks.
<The give-away is the shape of the beak: Nomorhamphus liemi has a beak that curls, like a little beard, under the jaw.>
My picture doesn't show it well, but the male's pelvic fins are yellow. I want to make sure before I do acclimate them to fresh water. If they are reproducing, they are not exactly unhappy where they are, and I want to keep them happy!
<I'd leave them where they are for now. With halfbeaks, what seems to matter most of all is water chemistry stability, and if adding a little marine salt mix gives them that, I don't think they care all that much.>
Thank you for your time,
<You may care to peruse my "halfbeak breeding diary" at my web site, here:
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/halfbeakbreeding.html
>
Susan
<Good luck! Neale.>

Brackish tank and GSPs 03/15/2008
Hi all, I've been reading your site for a long time now for help with setting up a proper home for the green spotted puffers that my wife had to have. I recently set up a new 29 gallon tank for the little fish, one is less than 2 inches and the other is about one inch, juveniles I think.
<These are indeed juveniles. Adults get much larger, a chunky 12-15 cm/5-6" depending on the species.>
When I set up the tank I cycled it with freshwater BioSpira because I already had the GSPs in a freshwater 15 gallon tank awaiting their new home, so waiting for it to cycle naturally wasn't going to work. The tank cycled fine and I added the GSPs with the intention of raising the SG slowly, the recommended .002 amount.
<Very good.>
I wasn't sure on the math so I thought I had guessed low at a half a cup of marine salt mixed into five gallons of R/O with an old Seio powerhead and a heater during a ten gallon water change.
<Guessing isn't really viable here. I have a little freeware Mac/Windows application called Brack Calc that will help. It converts specific gravity into salinity and weight of salt per unit volume of water, factoring in temperature as well.
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquaria/brackcalc.html
For an aquarium at SG 1.005 for example, you need about 9 grammes of salt per litre (about 1.2 oz per US gal). That's a fine salinity for the first year. After this year is up, you'll likely want to raise the salinity to about SG 1.010, and that translates as 15.5 g/l (about 2 oz per US gal). Weighing the salt will give you a much more accurate salinity than eyeballing, but you'll still need to use a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity. Even a basic $5 glass hydrometer is adequate, though more expensive plastic swing-arm ones are easier to use, and even more expensive refractometers are arguably more accurate (and definitely more fun!).>
When I checked the SG it didn't even register, so the next week I added a cup of marine salt the same way during another ten gallon water change. I didn't check the SG until a few days later thinking I should let it cycle through the filter a few times, and I found out that the SG had jumped up to something like 1.008.
<Well within the tolerances of the fish, but likely stressing the filter bacteria and certainly killing the plants.>
Now I have an insane algae bloom that is taking over the whole tank and is covering the plants and rocks and even the Fluorite substrate. I am thinking that I crashed the tank possibly by killing a lot of the freshwater bacteria in the tank and the BioWheel of the Emperor 280 filter that I am using. Would this jump in SG be enough to crash the tank in this way?
<Yes; I'd quickly go down to SG 1.003-1.005 and hope for the best!>
I only have two test kits currently, for phosphate and nitrate, and both tests showed fine results, phosphate at .25 and nitrate at 20 ppm.
<Neither of these test kits is critical, so they're odd choices. The two ESSENTIAL test kits are nitrite and pH. Nitrite tells you if the filter is working (if there's nitrite present, it's not); and pH tells you if the water chemistry is stable (if it is rapidly dropping, then it's not). Both are early warning indicators of bigger problems.>
I changed out five gallons of the tank water and replaced it with five gallons of freshwater, but of course the damage has been done, and the SG is close to 1.004. Originally I thought I could do this tank as a planted mid range brackish with plants that can survive in brackish water, so I have Java Fern, Java Moss, Babies Breath, and two other types of plants that I am spacing on the name of.
<Okay, the Gypsophila should be taken out STAT! It's not an aquatic plant, and its death and decay will promote algae and kill water quality. Both the fern and the moss can tolerate significant salinity, Java fern in particular occurring naturally in brackish water. Still, I'd tend to keep plants only while the SG was below 1.005; above that, you're better off with rocks and plastic plants. Trust me on this.>
I used Fluorite substrate and I have some bowl rock for caves and a few pieces of driftwood. Now that I have been reading more and more on brackish tanks and GSPs in general I am thinking that this tank is in no way going to work for the fish in the long term. The driftwood I know is a problem now, and eventually I will have to scrap the plants anyway to get the SG up enough.
<Indeed. Bogwood lowers pH as it decays, so should be used carefully. If you have a high carbonate hardness (that's the "KH" scale test kit) the effect will be trivial. But many aquarists simply don't use bogwood, and instead opt for ceramic/plastic wood instead.>
I am thinking about abandoning it and starting over with crushed coral as a substrate (which I was talked out of doing in the first place by my LFS, which is why I went to Fluorite and plants...) and a lot of rocks and fake mangrove root decorations.
<In a brackish water aquarium, there's simply no point spending money on plants or plant-friendly substrates UNLESS you intend to keep the specific gravity very low, SG 1.003-1.005. This is a fine salinity for many brackish water species including gobies, glassfish, figure-8 puffers, livebearers and more. But if you're keeping mid- to high-end brackish water fish, you need to think more along MARINE lines than freshwater. Use granite, slate and other rocks to create a nice complex "reef". Decorate with shells and barnacle clumps. I like using silicone and oyster shells to create oyster reefs just like the ones you see in harbours. Ceramic/plastic tree roots can be used to create mangrove forests, and plastic plants (especially the big 3' long ones) are really good for this too. But skip the live plants.>
I know eventually I will need to upgrade to at least a 55 gallon tank to keep both fish in, so I wonder if I could wait awhile, raising the SG in the tank to low end brackish (1.004 - 1.008) so I can keep the planted tank the way it is for awhile?
<This is fine.>
At what point (size, age) do GSPs need to be in high end brackish/marine?
<Tetraodon fluviatilis and Tetraodon nigroviridis NEVER "need" marine conditions. They certainly do well in marine conditions, but don't imagine it is essential. Provided you keep the carbonate hardness high (using crushed coral, oyster sand, etc.) and the nitrates low (lots of water changes, and perhaps a protein skimmer once SG reaches 1.010) you can maintain them indefinitely at mid brackish conditions.>
I am wondering how long I can keep the planted tank until I by the new tank to switch to something that can go to full marine eventually.
<I'd recommend moving the GSPs to mid- to high-salinity conditions once they get about 8-10 cm in length.>
I am also worried about the GSPs being bored in the tank, even with all the plants and rocks and driftwood they seem to be a bit bored already.
<Puffers do benefit from interaction. Try feeding them with "difficult" foods like unshelled prawns, so they have to work for their dinner. Train them to become hand tame; use forceps (they bite!) to feed them. Offer small amounts through the day, so they get to interact with you regularly. Add lots of plastic plants and rocks that go up the tank, not just along the bottom. If you watch puffers in the wild, they swim up and down objects very systematically, looking for prey. They don't need much open swimming space, but they do need lots of "stuff" to swim around, so really fill the tank with all kinds of stuff!>
I originally thought that there was no way I would want to have my GSPs in full marine, but I am starting to think that it would be so much easier to maintain, as I already have a large reef tank and the know how to take care of a marine system. A skimmer and live rock eventually would be much easier for me to take care of, and the plants I have will eventually die if I do raise the SG to something that the GSPs will appreciate.
<Skimmers work from SG 1.010, but as you say, live rock needs marine. And this is indeed the big advantage to keeping this species in marine conditions. On the other hand, balance the costs, particularly all the extra salt, carefully: brackish water fish are much more fussed about water quality than water chemistry.>
What would you suggest as far as scrapping the planted tank, and what suggestions do you have for a new tank as far as decorations and things so my fish don't get bored? Thanks a lot, the site is great.
<Do read here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/gspsart.htm
That's about as good a summary on these fish as you'll find anywhere on the Web!
Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Brackish tank and GSPs
Thanks for the quick response, all the info you gave me was very helpful in making my decision as to what to do with my puffers. I changed five more gallons of water today (I only had 5 gallons of R/O at the house) and tomorrow I will do a massive water change, 50-80% possibly.
<Why do you need to use RO water? Plain vanilla tap water with a decent dechlorinator should be fine.>
I was hoping to get the water close to fresh again and use freshwater BioSpira again to jump start the bacteria, would you advise this?
<Depends what you want to do. If you want plants, then yes, lower the SG to around 1.002 or 1.003. The BioSpira will work fine.>
Also, I wanted to mention that the common name I used before, 'Baby's Breath', was completely wrong, I must have been thinking of something else. What I was referring to was actually Moneywort (Bacopa monnieri), so no need to worry.
<Ah yes, this plant is brackish tolerant. But it isn't easy to grow: needs huge amounts of light otherwise it looks really unhappy (long stems, small leaves) and then dies. Nothing less than 3 watts of light per gallon.>
I researched brackish adaptable plants for a month before I purchased anything. The test kits I used were the only ones I had at the time, and they were purchased for my reef tank originally, I know they didn't really have anything to do with my question but I thought I'd throw out all the info I had. I will buy some more test kits tomorrow. Another quick question on this topic, I noticed that the smaller puffer has become quite aggressive to the other bigger puffer ever since I crashed the tank, chasing the nipping at his fins.
<Unfortunately quite common with this species.>
I was reading another question here that was being handled by Pufferpunk that was in the same vein as mine. Someone had an uncycled tank with two GSPs in it and the smaller one was being aggressive to the bigger one, and she mentioned that nitrite stress from having no bacteria might be contributing to the fishes sudden aggressiveness, would you agree with this as the case?

I have had both fish for at least four or five months together and they have always gotten along fine, almost always glue to the gill exploring everywhere together.
<This simply isn't a social species. Males likely guard nests, so as the fish mature, they become more intolerant of other members of the species. This contrasts with sociable puffers such as South American Puffers that don't guard their eggs and consequently don't mind (actually, want) tankmates of their own species.>
Tomorrow I was planning on moving the filters and the water into a 15 gallon tank, and add the fish for holding. Then I was going to remove all the Fluorite substrate, and all the plants and bog wood. Then I was going to add crushed coral for a substrate, add more bowl rock in an upward direction, find new plastic decorations, and add the puffers and BioSpira again to cycle the tank. Is there anything I am missing in my plan?
<Wouldn't bother. At a low salinity, if you want plants, you need a standard substrate. Plants won't grow in coral sand or river sand; they need nutrient rich substrates of some type. Rely on the marine salt mix to maintain the pH and KH where you want it, plus possibly the addition of calcareous media to the filter. Once you decide to "upgrade" to a medium salinity system a year down the line, then you may as well move the puffers to a bigger aquarium, and use this (by now full of happy plants!) aquarium for guppies or whatever.>
Thanks again for the quick and great advice.
<Cheers, Neale.>

Sick Dragon Goby - please help! 3-11-08
Hi Guys!
I desperately need help with my new Dragon Goby.
<Ah, before we get started, do make sure you have this fish in a proper brackish water aquarium; their lifespan in freshwater aquaria is poor.>
I was at Pet Smart the other day to buy some small fish for our freshwater tank when I saw their new addition: Dragon Gobies!
<Uh oh.>
So I asked the sales associate (who on previous occasions had proven to be quite knowledgeable when it came to freshwater setups) whether or not this little guy would make a good addition to my tank. He assured me that the Goby should get along famously with his new tank mates and
that the setup I had would be perfect.

So I bought one and took him home.
<Never a good idea BEFORE you've read up on a fish. This is absolutely crucial when we're talking about oddball fish because so many of them have "issues" that need to be accommodated. That's why they're oddballs and not common community fish -- because they're DIFFERENT to regular community fish!>
Our tank is 110 Gallons, fresh/brackish water.
<No such hybrid; that's like being both pregnant and not pregnant at the same time. You either have a freshwater tank or a brackish water tank. Yes, some freshwater fish do well in brackish water (e.g., Guppies) but that doesn't mean that you can set a tank up that is acceptable to both brackish and freshwater fish at the same time.>
We have a cichlid substrate in the bottom, so the PH is a steady 8.0.
<You mean coral sand? Good; that's fine for this fish.>
The filter is well established and our ammonia is nonexistent, as is the Nitrite level. We don't have a heater in the tank, but the temperature never falls below 70F.
<Nope, you need a heater. Doesn't work this way. Gobioides broussonnetii shouldn't be kept below 72F/22C, and most other brackish water fish are from the tropics, and will be stressed when the water temperature stays below 77F/25C for any length of time.>
Everything is natural - slate backdrop, substrate floor, tree roots and live plants... and recently plenty of algae.
<Algae is good: Gobioides broussonnetii is partly an algae-eater, and uses its sharp teeth to scrape green algae from rocks.>
The inhabitants are: 6 African and South American Cichlids in varying sizes from 3-5 inches in size, a small group of Platys and a handful of mini crabs, all of which get along great.
<Most of these cichlids are likely salt-intolerant, so long term this is going to work. The Platies will do fine at SG 1.005, the minimum specific gravity for Gobioides broussonnetii maintenance. Acclimate them slowly though, because they aren't really brackish water fish, merely salt-tolerant by dint of their evolutionary history. Cichlids are a mixed bag: some species occur in brackish and even marine environments, but many get stressed by prolonged exposure to brackish water. 'Malawi Bloat' is a fatal disease associated with the excessive use of sodium chloride in tanks containing Mbuna and other Malawian fish.>
We feed the fish color bites, which they love (all other food winds up decaying - they don't even touch it).
<Long term Gobioides broussonnetii needs a mixed diet with lots of algae; I recommend Plec-type algae wafers. Frozen (not freeze-dried) worm foods such as bloodworms are also important. Live brine shrimp are a favourite. Colour-enhancing fish foods are NOT a staple food, especially for your African cichlids that need green foods to do well. You're dicing with death here, because once cichlids become constipated they become very vulnerable to bacterial infections.>
When we put Leroy (yes, they all have names) into the tank, he seemed quite happy and none of the other fish were bothering him.

He eats the small snails that hang out on the glass and the plants - I've never seen him go after the regular fish food.
<Indeed not.>
However, within a couple of days, he started showing small gashes in his fins.
<Likely Finrot or Fungus, perhaps caused by attacks by the Cichlids; I have seen Mbuna for example shred the fins on Polypterus, a fish of similar size and shape to Gobioides broussonnetii. Moreover, if your Cichlids are not getting a balanced diet (and they're not) they will be opportunistically trying out anything.>
We thought that maybe one of the other fish had started picking on him...but to this day, I've never seen any of the other fish acting aggressively towards him.
<I've never seen a house get broken into by thieves -- but I'm told it happens!>
The Cichlids fight amongst themselves, but seem to regard neither Leryo nor the Platies as competition and completely ignore them.
<Not convinced...>
Leroy's fins have deteriorated badly - they look ragged and in some places have all but disappeared. Yesterday, I saw that he had something that looked like an open wound under his left side fin which is sticking out a bit too.
<Finrot and/or Fungus. In any case you MUST do two things, stat! First, raise the salinity of the aquarium to at least SG 1.005. That is about 25% seawater, 9 grammes of marine salt mix per litre (about 1.2 ounces per US gallon). This will obviously stress/kill the cichlids, so the cichlids or the Goby will have to go. Your choice which. But doing neither will result in the death of one or other type of fish. Secondly, you treat with a combo Finrot/Fungus medication such as Maracyn or eSHa 2000.>
I've already tried running a full treatment of Melafix through the tank, but to no avail (I couldn't get to the filters to take the carbon out - but since it wasn't a necessity, I hope that didn't affect the outcome of the treatment too much).
<Two things here: One, you MUST remove the carbon. This isn't negotiable. Carbon removes medication. Simple as that. You can add as much medication as you want, but if the carbon is in the filter, you'll achieve precisely nothing. Secondly, Melafix doesn't work. It's cheap and "new age" and I suppose that's why people buy it. But it doesn't work very well either.>
Two of our other fish have ragged fins, but not nearly as bad as Leroy's ( plus they're the two that get picked on by the bigger fish, so a bit of wear is to be expected I think).
<Definitely serious. Treat the tank at once.>
Leroy's still swimming around and active, but it's very painful seeing a great fish like him deteriorating and not knowing what to do about it.
<I suspect you know exactly what to do, you've just chosen not to, for reasons that passeth all understanding. This fish is dying because you bought it without thinking whether you could house it properly.>
All his symptoms point to a bacterial infection, but since I couldn't find too much about Dragon Gobies, I decided to do more research and found your site.
<Oh, there's plenty about these fish out there. Articles on this site, my book, the Aqualog book, and most decent aquarium atlases have this fish too.>
Last night, we've started running a treatment of Tetracycline in the tank - complete with filter change and removing of the carbon.
<Thank the gods!>
I'm stopping by the store on my way home to buy the remaining 3 courses for the treatment.
From what I read in your other advise on Dragon Gobies, I'm not sure whether that might be too harsh of a treatment.. but it's the best I could come up with.
<Certainly better than what you've been doing up until now, but let me make this crystal clear: without BRACKISH WATER, this fish has little to no chance of survival in the long term. And adding a "teaspoon of salt per gallon" or whatever doesn't make water brackish; go measure out 1.2 ounces of MARINE SALT MIX (e.g., Instant Ocean or whatever, not "aquarium salt") and you'll see how much you need to add PER GALLON.>
Is there anything I can do to help him heal without compromising the other fish in the tank?
<Nothing. Nix. Nada. Nyet. Non.>
Thank you in advance for your help!
Yours,
Nina
<Good luck, Neale.>

Re: HELP HELP HELP continued!
New Tank/High pH 3/7/08
Last night I moved my green spotted puffer from the 10 gallon tank where he was a little stressed but otherwise acting normally (eating, exploring, etc.), to a new 55 gallon tank. I treated the water with Prime before putting it in the tank and I'm using crushed coral/live sand as a substrate.
<Live sand? It can’t be live at that low SG. Did it come in a bag? Nothing live in a bag of sand.>
I moved all of his stuff from his old tank into the new tank (including the substrate, plants, deco, and filter, which I set up alongside the main filter for the tank). Last night he appeared to be doing well and I went to bed, content that I had done right by him.
<:o)>
This morning I came down to see my buddy and he did not look like himself at all! He's weak, barely able to swim, just getting swept along with the current. I did some tests and nitrite is 0, ammonia is .25, nitrate is 10 and pH is a whopping 8.8.
<WOW! That’s odd…>
I have NO idea how the pH got so high... my tap water doesn't run that high and I'm utterly baffled. I rinsed all of the new items I placed in the tank (obviously not the old tank stuff because I was trying to preserve the bacteria). I quickly pulled him out, as he was barely showing any signs of life and I put him in a small quarantine tank that I'd set up for the new mollies that he was going to live with.
He's swimming lilting to one side and he already got wedged between the filter and the tank wall once (that's how weak he is).
<Probably pH shock—that’s quite a jump for the lil guy.>
I put some pH down into the tank in the hopes that it would help, but honestly, I hear that stuff is total junk.
<Temporary fix. Causes pH swing which is just as bad.>
In my efforts to save him I'm afraid I've doomed him! What do I do?? AHHH!
Micah
<I’m combining your 2 emails.>
While the green spotted puffer was in the molly tank I added some pH down and brought the pH to a much less disturbing 7.6. nitrIte is still 0, nitrAte is still 10 and ammonia is .25. Tank temperature is about 80.
After the mollies started getting a little too bold (some of them even pecking at his head, to no response from him), I decided keeping him in there just wasn't a viable option. I retested the tank water (see above results) and crossed my fingers that it was safe to put him in.
<Generally, a steady pH of 8 us recommended for brackish fish, so that’s what you need to aim for. Emphasis on “steady”.>
My poor guy is just being swept with the current of the tank and bashed into everything in his way (tank walls, plants, decor...)
<What is causing such a strong current? Just the 2 filters? Shut the new one down for now if that’s too much & put a sponge on the end of the intake, to prevent him from getting stuck.>
I called a few LFS and one of them mentioned that the pH spike might be related to the crushed coral I'm using as a substrate but I've never heard of such a thing.
<It should raise the pH to 8. Put some in a cup & test it in there with some tap water, treated with Prime.>
I'm in a state of absolute panic...what have I done???
<I don’t know a lot about chemistry. My guess would be the substrate. I don’t know what you bought. Since this seems to be an emergency, you are welcome to YIM me at Pufferpunk. I’ll try to help the best I can. ~PP>

Fiddler crab not moving, feared dead. 3/6/08
Greetings Crew!
I have a brackish tank with 4 Fiddler crabs (3 until yesterday, when I rescued another from PetSmart) I have had 2 of the crabs, a female and male, for longer than a year with everything ok. However, I woke up this morning to find the older female back-down with legs in the air...er, water, and not moving. I got her out, moved her around, tried to provoke a response, but nothing. I don't want to get rid of her for fear she may be molting, but if she is dead and I leave her in she will foul the tank. She has been this way for over 12 hours. Thanks for your help.
Phillip
<Hello Phillip. Sounds as if she is dead. Even when moulting, crabs have mobile mouthparts and gills. So if nothing is moving at all on your crab, she's probably dead. There's some reports that Iodine is a critical supplement that needs to be added to aquaria for crustaceans to do well in the long term. It's an inexpensive addition you can buy from any store catering for marine aquarists. Certainly worth a shot to see if that improves things with the remaining crabs. Do also bear in mind that Uca species only live for about 18 months in the wild, so anything beyond that in the aquarium is a bonus. Cheers, Neale.>

Violet Goby... sys. mostly... 3/2/08
Hi,
I purchased a "dragon goby" at PetSmart last night and was told he is a predatory freshwater fish. A quick Google search revealed this was completely incorrect.
<Indeed. Neither predatory nor a freshwater fish. Brackish water fish that eats plankton, algae and small worms would be closer to the mark.>
As we were driving home the front suspension of our car broke and apparently it's a miracle we got home without the car failing, so my husband won't drive any where. My question is can/should I *temporarily* put him in a tank with table salt?
<Adding a small amount of salt (ideally rock salt or kosher salt) to the tune of about 6 grammes per litre would be quite helpful as a stop-gap. If your water is soft rather than hard, then raising the hardness through the use of a Malawi salt mix would also help. One recipe follows, but you'll find others online.
Per 5 gallons/20 litres
1 teaspoon baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
1 tablespoon Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate)
1 teaspoon marine salt mix (sodium chloride + trace elements)
>
I know this is not the same and not advised but would it be better than freshwater?
<In the very short term, yes.>
Currently, he doesn't look so good. He's more pink than grayish and has been swimming somewhat sideways. Thank you,
Kate
<Hope this helps. But please do focus on rehoming in a slightly brackish (SG 1.005) aquarium, perhaps alongside guppies and mollies, knight gobies, etc. Cheers, Neale.>

Green Spotted Puffer Mom Seeks Answers on Tank Size/Cycling 3/2/08
Hey guys, me again.
<Hey, Micah>
So, I'm utterly baffled. I was keeping my two juvenile (under 2") green spotted puffers in a 10 gallon tank. I tried to instant-cycle the tank with Bio-Spira but I think I messed it up by pouring it directly into the tank instead of into the filter.
<If kept properly refrigerated from it’s manufacturing to your tank, either way should work. The problem is, I’ve seen some shops keeping it out on their shelf & even at some warehouses, leaving it out in cases for weeks, unrefrigerated. Unfortunately, I am hearing of more & more cases of Bio-Spira not working & I blame it on that.>
As such, the levels in the tank are higher than I'd like to be but I do daily 20% water changes to keep the levels down while I wait for the aquarium to finish cycling.
<20% may not be enough in an overstocked/uncycled system. Please post exact, most recent ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH, whenever posting a question about this.>
While the tank is freshwater, I have 1/2 tsp of freshwater aquarium salt for every gallon in there.
<I would not suggest adding any salt at all, until the tank is totally cycled & parameters steady, for at least a week. Then you may use marine salt to raise the specific gravity, no more than .002/week. Less is fine too. You need to measure it with a hydrometer or refractometer.>
The puffers are the only ones in the tank obviously and I thought that one was harassing the other (the slightly smaller one harassing the slightly larger one).
<Very possible with puffers in too small a tank & not enough décor, blocking their lines of sight.>
Nothing too intense but I did notice what looked like a
nip on the end of his tail. The two puffers were very different in color--one the bright green with black spots and white belly that I see in all the online pictures (though he does have the beginnings of
dark grey stress lines at the sides of his mouth) and the other so dark green that he was almost brown, though his belly was still a nice white.
I thought maybe it was best to separate the two fish, so with my currently limited budget, I bought a 10 gallon tank, put three gallons of water from his old tank into the new one and treated the water new water, added salt and set it up with a heater and power filter (hoping that it would provide enough aeration).
<There is nothing you have added that will cycle that tank. Even using water from a fully established tank has none of the beneficial bacteria needed to cycle your tank. It lives on surfaces; like the substrate, filtration media, plants, etc. Maybe a divider to keep the aggression down, until you can fishless cycle a much larger tank for them?>
I scooped the darker-looking puffer out with a 3 cup measuring cup (never again will I let anyone use a net around my puffers) and put him into the new tank.
<Great job, not using a net!>
I fed him a ghost shrimp but he didn't seem interested in the other ones after he ate that one. I've noticed his appetite hasn't been very good lately, which is particularly evident in comparison to his fat buddy. About 30 minutes later I stopped by his tank and found him floating on the roots of an unanchored java fern, looking so dark brown he barely had spots (but oddly, still with a white belly). I
panicked and removed him back to his former cramped quarters, and he
perked up substantially, though he's still fairly listless and not
nearly as brightly colored as his friend.
<The fact that he perked up immediately after moving into another tank, is a sign that there is something wrong with the water in his tank.>
I feed them a decently varied diet...cooked shrimp,
<Raw is much more nutritious.>
small pond snails, thawed blood worms and pellets (though only the brightly colored one will actually eat the pellets...the listless dark one spits them out and loses interest quickly) and I generally try not to feed them too much (never more than once per day and I always take out whatever they haven't eaten that I can find).
<Lots of other good suggestions for feeding here & an article on how to get a picky puffer to eat: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/category/feeding/ >
I don't know what's wrong with my puff...I know that he (okay, gender could be either, but I think of it as a him) is stressed but I just don't know how to unstress him. The other fish doesn't antagonize him extensively and he seems to be happier around him than alone. Could he be constipated? I can't find anything that seems like it would describe the problem...
<If he was constipated, he would be bloated & not pooping.>
Any ideas?
The best I can do is as I suggested before. These puffers need a minimum of a 30g cycled tank together, for now or try to find a place that can take one of them but you’ll eventually need a 30g for one adult. You now have 2 uncycled tanks & neither puffer will fare well in them together. ~PP>
Micah

Re: green spotted puffer mom seeks answers... 3/2/08
Thanks Pufferpunk,
<I’m trying…>
In a last ditch attempt, last night I switched the filter cartridge from one of my established tanks to the puffer tank in the hopes that a "seeded" cartridge might make a bit of difference.
<It should help.>
This morning I tested the water again and using the API Freshwater test kit, my results are as follows:
The pH reading is 7.4, Nitrite is 5.0 (good. lord.), Ammonia is .25 (not great but better than it was) and Nitrate is 10 (below 20, at least...). Temperature remains steady at 78 degrees Fahrenheit.
<Just not enough bacteria in that filter to support 2 messy puffers.>
What percentage water change would you suggest on a daily basis while the tank finishes cycling?

I'm deducing from the fact that the ammonia levels are dropping that one of the two kinds (I get nitrosomer and Nitrobacter confused) of bacteria are beginning to establish themselves but the second kind has yet to really make a dent.
I wish I had an available fully cycled tank to put them into but I fear disastrous consequences of putting them in my molly/dwarf Gourami tank (20 gallons, with 3 balloon body mollies, 3 Danios, and 5 dwarf Gouramis) or my guppy/Hatchetfish tank (10 gallons, 3 guppies, 2 Hatchetfish and 2 Otos)...
<Can you possibly rearrange the fish so the puffers can go into the 20g alone?>
The harassment does appear to have been all in my head and I think it's just the water conditions that are troubling the one puffer.
<Possibly… ammonia/nitrite isn’t fun for a puffer to live in.>
They do have several broken lines of sight, with 2 decent sized hole-riddled faux vases that I've seen them play in and around and a solid
amount of live plant cover (4 java ferns, some water sprite and some micro sword grass--the first and last being plants that originate in brackish waters), so right now I'm more focused on how to best fix my water problems.
Is the answer water changes, water changes and more water changes?
<LOL, have you seen my signature somewhere?>
I'm happy to do 90% water changes every day if you think it'll help...
<Do as much as you can possibly do (even 2x/day, if necessary), to keep the ammonia & nitrite as close to 0 as possible at all times. Feed sparingly. ~PP>
-Micah

Re: Green Spotted Puffer Mom Seeks Answers 3/5/08
Hey Pufferpunk...just an update.
<Micah>
With consistent water changes, I've gotten the ammonia to somewhere between 0 and .25 (my color match doesn't distinguish any further) and nitrite down to .50.
<That will do it!>
I'm not feeding them, though there are a couple of ghost shrimp wandering around the tank in case they do decide to eat (they've been there since Saturday).
<Unless the ghost shrimp have eaten (gut-loaded), they are basically not nutritious--mostly water.>
In a few days (i.e. Wednesday) I'll be getting the larger tank. Should I try to cycle it first or move the puffers into the new tank right away?

I'm trying, really. I'm sure my constant queries are tiring, but I do appreciate all the help you've given.
<What gets tiring, are the countless letters after folks' puffers are already dead. What is refreshing, is people that send letters of research, before purchasing. Not actually a scolding to you, just something good to do next time. ~PP>
-Micah

Green Spotted Puffer Mom Learns, Finally. 3/6/08
Hey Pufferpunk!
<Micah>
Some good news and some sad news. I came home today with a 55 gallon tank (complete with hood and fluorescent light), ready to move my guys into their new home. Sadly, the puffer that hadn't been flourishing passed away between when I left for school this morning and when I came home from my LFS.
<Awww... sorry for your loss. The single puffer will be thrilled with his nice big home.>
On the up side, his compadre is still doing fairly well. I can tell by his coloring that he's still a little stressed but he's swimming around and exploring, as per usual. Nitrite and ammonia levels are down to .25 or less. I'll be transferring him to his new home, along with the substrate, plants and decor from his current tank, tonight. In addition, I'll be adding a large bag of crushed coral to the substrate.
<Sounds good.>
The filter I have on his current tank is for 20 gallons or less, so I don't know about transferring that to the larger tank (I bought a Penguin bio-wheel designed for 55 gallon tanks)...would you recommend transferring the BioWheel from his old tank to help with the bacteria development in the new one? It appears that the bio-wheels are similarly sized...
<I'd hang both filters on the tank for at least a month. Puffers need a lot of filtration anyway.>
Is there anything I'm missing that I should run out and get? I bought some instant ocean and Prime (the former obviously being for once the bacteria colonies get themselves established so that I can start killing them off and increasing the salinity). I did pick up a hydrometer. And I heard that puffers like playing in bubble walls, so
I picked up one of those, as well (attached to an air pump, obviously). You've been so wonderful, coaching me through this. I can't thank you enough. In the future, I'll limit species occupying my small tanks to guppies and other bitsy fish.
<Good luck to you & I hope your puffer lives a happy, healthy, long life! ~PP>
Best, Micah

Fishless Cycling 02/29/2008
Greetings -
<<Hello, Andrew this evening>>
I've been doing a ton of researching regarding "fishless" cycling. I wish to set-up a brackish tank for a Green Spotted Puffer (I've done my fair share
of research for these guys, too!).
<<Sounds great>>
I've just a few questions to clear up my understanding of doing this right:
1 - In my readings, I understand what "cycling a tank" means (establishing bacterial colonies that converts Ammonia to Nitrites to Nitrates). I do
understand at the very start of new tank Ammonia levels will skyrocket, then suddenly plummet as the Nitrites take hold. Does that mean once the Ammonia and Nitrite levels are at 0, and Nitrates are up, the cycle is complete?
<<Near enough yes. Once the ammonia and nitrite have gone back to zero, the nitrates will drop to around about 10ppm. When it stays at this level, with constant readings, then your cycle is complete>>
2 - I don't like the idea of using pure Ammonia, since I've read many things going wrong with others' tanks due to overdoing the Ammonia, resulting in a delay of the cycling process even further. However, I've read quite a few articles regarding the "shrimp" method. Taking a piece of shrimp and tying it in a pantyhose stocking, dropping it in the tank and letting it rot (as the source of Ammonia). Does it seem valid to you? Or dropping a few flakes a day seem more reasonable?
<<Yes, i always recommend this route to cycle an aquarium. Remove the carcass when the ammonia reaches 4 - 5ppm >>
3 - Also, in terms of cycling a "brackish" tank - should I be adding the marine salt at the very start, or when the cycle has completed? What are the
pros and cons of doing so?
<<Yes, you need to set the specific gravity right from the start>>
4 - Last, but not least. In regards to a cycle WITH fish, I understand the importance of doing water changes to keep the Ammonia / Nitrite levels down as to not harm the fish. However, in a cycle WITHOUT fish, should one just let the bacteria colonize and NOT do water changes? Or should water changes be a routine in cycling the tank?
<<When running a fishless cycle, there is no need to carry out a water change until the cycle has completed. As i mentioned in point 1, above, when you reading are at Ammonia, nitrate zero and nitrate about 10ppm and like this for a week, cycle id complete, and now its time to carry out a good 50% water change to replenish the tank. Then your all set to "slowly" start to stock the tank>>
I appreciate your time in reading / responding to my questions.
Happy fish keeping, Emily
<<Hope the above helps Emily, any more questions, just ask away. Thanks for the questions. A Nixon>>

Oddball tankmates... GSP, brackish, Danios... What? 2/27/08
Hello,
I have a green puffer, Sailfin molly, and a small Danio in a 7 gallon bowed out tank.
<Please tell me this is a joke. PLEASE!>
The green puffer is still a baby and will be moved to a larger tank when he starts to get bigger (about a year or so from what I've heard).
<Not just a larger tank (at least 120 l/30 gal) but also a brackish water one maintained around SG 1.010.>
The Danio kept harassing the puffer until I decided to section him off for about a week.
<Doesn't work this way. Danios aren't smart enough to learn you're cross with them. All the Danio knows is that he is a schooling fish that spends his life scrabbling with his school-mates to establish a position in the pecking order. Kept by himself he is bored out of his mind because all his natural behaviours are being frustrated. This is not on the table for discussion: Danios are schooling fish that need to be kept in groups of at least 6 specimens and in tanks at least 60 cm/2' long so they have room for swimming. Anything else is animal cruelty, willful or otherwise.>
When I released him, he seemed to want to school with the puffer instead. He doesn't bother the molly, and if he does, the molly can handle it.
<Again, Mollies are not suitable for a 7 gallon tank. Even a tank three times that size would be borderline.>
I dumped some freshwater salt into the tank to get rid of the ich because the general cure did very little.
<"Dumping" salt isn't the way forward here. Have you asked why the fish are getting Ick?>
I also have been treating with Melafix to help with the ich repair the puffer's fin damage from when I first bought him at Wal-Mart.
<Long term, outside of brackish water, this pufferfish will not stay healthy.>
Is it odd that the Danio wants to school with the puffer?
<Absolutely typical when Danios are kept incorrectly.>
Also, I heard that mollies can handle marine like conditions. So when I start to increase the salinity, will the molly be ok?
<Both the Molly and the Pufferfish will do perfectly well in brackish or even marine conditions. I'd aim for SG 1.005 while they are young, and once the Puffer is upwards of 8-10 cm, gradually raise the specific gravity over the next few weeks to SG 1.010. Obviously the Danio cannot be kept in such conditions.>
It appears that my tank is a bit small considering the fish I have,
<Never a truer word spoken!>
until I get a bigger tank, if the water parameters don't stay within a healthy range, can I add more oxygen and a stronger filter, on top of making more water changes until I can get a new tank?
<Good money after bad. There is no way you can redeem this aquarium, it is simply too small.>
(I already have a bubble stone and a pretty powerful filter meant for a 5 to 10 gallon tank).
<Neither here nor there.>
The puffer starting swimming around frantically and swimming near the surface when I fed him some flakes this morning.
<Flakes are not the right food for this fish. Long term you will cause constipation and overgrown teeth. Lots of articles here at WWM about puffers: read them!>
I tried burping him, but no air came out (he bit me the first time though), he seems to have recovered, but I'm not sure what made him do that in the first place.
<Does happen. Try to avoid though, because sometimes puffers swallow air, cannot expel it, and eventually float so long their gills dry out and the fish dies.>
I found something that works if you don't have a net. Small bubble wrap can be used to "section off" the tank to watch a fish more closely. I think all of the reflections in it chill out the fish.
<Fish don't "chill". They are either happy or terrified. Not much in between. A fish confronted by thousands of reflections of itself is unlikely to be happy.>
It worked wonders when I rubbed the stomach of the puffer, he didn't bite this time.
<Very good. Anyway, I'm sure you are very fond of these fish and I can sense you want to do the best for them, which is great. But right now you are not even close to having a balanced, viable aquarium. Green Spotted Puffers are not reliable community fish, and often end up being kept alone. The Molly is potentially viable in a community with the Danio, though I usually recommend Mollies be kept in slight salty water, and ideally a brackish water aquarium. Danios must be kept in tanks that are long (I'd honestly recommend a 20 gallon tank) and in groups of 6 or more. Do sit down and read about these fish, and then plan your fishkeeping accordingly. Cheers, Neale.>

Green Spotted Puffer Questions, sys. mostly 2/24/08
Hi guys!
<Hey Micah, Pufferpunk here.>
Once again, I wanted to thank Merritt for his amazing advice. I added a thin layer (maybe a centimeter thick) of regular gravel on top of the fluorite to keep the dust out of the water column. It's made quite a difference (though, perfectionist that I am, it does still bug me that the water is a little dusty.
<Glad to hear that is working out for you. I'm sure Merritt will read this.>
Well, yesterday (after letting my tank run for about a week with a tiny amount of bacteria introduced from an established tank),
<Sorry to say, that bacteria will probably have been dead in 24 hours, without any food source (ammonia).>
my local fish store finally got some Marineland Bio-Spira in stock, so I went to the store and picked up the Bio-Spira and two puffers. Neither of them is longer than my thumb, so I'm guesstimating them at 2" or less.
<What species?>
One of them seems quite content and is swimming about, investigating. The other, I can't tell if he's sleeping or what. Sometimes he'll swim around but often he just lies on the bottom.
<Did you observe his behavior in the store? I always try to pick puffers that are actively buzzing around & greet me at the glass. It's also good to ask the shop to feed them so you can be sure they are eating well.>
When I come over and press my face near the glass, he'll perk up (I imagine he gets excited because he thinks I'm about to feed him) but before too long he goes back to lying on the bottom. I'm just a little worried because his buddy (no signs of aggression yet, fingers crossed...I tried to get two approximately the same size) is substantially more active.
<If you buy them as juveniles at the same time, there is a good chance they will get along through adulthood, bearing they have a large enough tank with lots of broken lines of sight. Puffers are sensitive fish & they do not take to being moved easily into a new environment. He may just be sulking & need time to get used to his new surrounding. How big is the tank? 2 2" puffers should be in a minimum of a 30g tank.>
Am I worrying for nothing? They both seem to be eating fine (last night I gleefully fed them some of the stupid pesky common pond snails that have been breeding like mad in my guppy tank). Really my concern is that their color seems off. The one is a darkish brown-green (think olive) with a neon green patch on the top of his head, with
large spots all over. The other is much less spotted, very dark brown-green (much more brown than green). Both of their tummies are white as white can be, but I do worry about that dark coloring...
<It’s really hard to tell without knowing the species. I’m guessing, green spotted puffer (Tetraodon nigroviridis)?>
Tonight they happily ate thawed blood worms just until I could see their bellies were nice and rounded. I also have some small "Cichlid Gold" pellets recommended by the guys at my fish