FW Puffer acclimated to SW doing just fine

I had aquired a Green Leopard Spot Puffer a few months back, and after
a bit of reading up on it, found out its really a sal****er fish. I
set out to acclimate it over a period of time from FW to SW. It has
been in 1.025/026 SG water for some time now and does not even compare
to what it looked like in FW.......Anyway everything I have heard and
been told and read says Puffers should not be placed in a reef type
tank...I placed a bunch of corals (all softie stuf, like shrooms,
zoos, leathers, xenia and GSP) in the tank as an experiient to see if
what I heard holds true with this puffer species as well and so far he
is ignoring the corals. I did pick up a few other fish to add to the
tank and have them in a bare bottom QT for now. They include a
snowflake eel of approx 6", an extremely small (1" or so) picasso
trigger, and a red/white hawkfish. I was given a neon damsel, but not
sure what I am gonna do with that fishk, but ts pretty with its
vibrant electric blue color......but its a damsel just the same a fish
I am not particularly fond of......I may throw it in the tank with the
puffer and trigger and eel etc...jury still out on that one. Where
ever I put it its still better that its intended fate by previous
owner........flushed !

So whats the consensus of the puffer etc with corals? Are they doomed
or what? I had triggers before that did not bother corals, but this is
the first puffer. Infortunately not a lot is posted or written about
them in regards to keeping them in a sal****er environment. Not really
lots on them in freshwater either....




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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

Tristan wrote:
I had aquired a Green Leopard Spot Puffer a few months back, and after
a bit of reading up on it, found out its really a sal****er fish. I
set out to acclimate it over a period of time from FW to SW. It has
been in 1.025/026 SG water for some time now and does not even compare
to what it looked like in FW..


How fast did you do it? (ie: how much salt added to how much water over
what period of time?)

I tried doing this myself TWICE, and each time puffie died after about 1
week, way before I got anywhere near 1.025.

I took up the salt .001 every other day or two. Once I got it to
1.020 I started to go with every 2 or so days.....Initially once I
attainted 1.020, I held it at 1.020 for about a week just to observe
the puffer....then proceeded to increase it .001 every couple of three
days or so.

One thing that worked out perfect for me was the small PICO sized tank
I used. Since it was just a little fellow anyhow, it was plenty big
enough for him. I ofund out that each teaspoonful of Instant Ocean
salt raised my sg up that .001 so allI had to do was scoop out a cup
or two of water, mix in a teaspoonfull of I/O and pour it back into
the PICO tank each time I increased the SG level.

Looking at that puffer now and recalling what it looked like before
its like night and day in how it looks. I thought it may have been
just the lights that wewre over it when it wa in the 29 gal FW tank,
but its definately due to it being in sal****er and feed a good mix of
marine pelleted feed, and frozen homebrew food.

Not to sound like a know-it-all, but you did use synthetic sea salt
right..Odds are you probably did. A lfs here told me it owuld not work
as they are only able to handle brackish water, but thtas not true as
they migrate to full salt water by adulthood, and only migrate back to
brackish on their way to fresh when they spawn.... They topld me they
tried a few times and failed as well, but then I found out they were
using regular aquarium salt, not synthetic sea salts.





On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:08:55 -0500, Add Homonym
wrote:

Tristan wrote:
I had aquired a Green Leopard Spot Puffer a few months back, and after
a bit of reading up on it, found out its really a sal****er fish. I
set out to acclimate it over a period of time from FW to SW. It has
been in 1.025/026 SG water for some time now and does not even compare
to what it looked like in FW..


How fast did you do it? (ie: how much salt added to how much water over
what period of time?)

I tried doing this myself TWICE, and each time puffie died after about 1
week, way before I got anywhere near 1.025.



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

They are a brackish fish. The easiest way to adapt
them to salt water, is to put them in water that is
50% sea water strength for 24 hours, and then put
them in the salt water aquarium. They may go for a
long time without causing harm to your inhabitants,
but eventually you will probably start having such
problems. They don't do well in strait fresh water.
The ideal salinity for them is around 50% seawater
strength. They will do better in your reef tank than
in strait fresh water. There is a "dwarf puffer"
that does well in strait fresh water.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


Tristan wrote on 1/30/2007 1:36 PM:
I took up the salt .001 every other day or two. Once I got it to
1.020 I started to go with every 2 or so days.....Initially once I
attainted 1.020, I held it at 1.020 for about a week just to observe
the puffer....then proceeded to increase it .001 every couple of three
days or so.

One thing that worked out perfect for me was the small PICO sized tank
I used. Since it was just a little fellow anyhow, it was plenty big
enough for him. I ofund out that each teaspoonful of Instant Ocean
salt raised my sg up that .001 so allI had to do was scoop out a cup
or two of water, mix in a teaspoonfull of I/O and pour it back into
the PICO tank each time I increased the SG level.

Looking at that puffer now and recalling what it looked like before
its like night and day in how it looks. I thought it may have been
just the lights that wewre over it when it wa in the 29 gal FW tank,
but its definately due to it being in sal****er and feed a good mix of
marine pelleted feed, and frozen homebrew food.

Not to sound like a know-it-all, but you did use synthetic sea salt
right..Odds are you probably did. A lfs here told me it owuld not work
as they are only able to handle brackish water, but thtas not true as
they migrate to full salt water by adulthood, and only migrate back to
brackish on their way to fresh when they spawn.... They topld me they
tried a few times and failed as well, but then I found out they were
using regular aquarium salt, not synthetic sea salts.





On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:08:55 -0500, Add Homonym
wrote:

Tristan wrote:
I had aquired a Green Leopard Spot Puffer a few months back, and after
a bit of reading up on it, found out its really a sal****er fish. I
set out to acclimate it over a period of time from FW to SW. It has
been in 1.025/026 SG water for some time now and does not even compare
to what it looked like in FW..


How fast did you do it? (ie: how much salt added to how much water over
what period of time?)

I tried doing this myself TWICE, and each time puffie died after about 1
week, way before I got anywhere near 1.025.



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!