Can't decide, brackish or not

[Justice Bucket]

Debating whether to keep my 29gal Brackish with just the one GSP and have my 10 gallon freshwater with 3 or 4 dwarf puffers (or keep the 10 gal a neon tetra tank). Or just make the 29 gal a cichlid tank. All your advice helps though, especially the puffer expertise.

p.s. is sand a better substrate in general for brackish fish/freshwater?

[Lucy]

Love your avatar!
I moved your post to a thread of it's own. It'll get more attention this way.
Once PFP sees the title she'll definitely get you thinking puffers. lol

[Emory]

Puffers, puffers, and more puffers!

Keep the brackish!

[pinkfloydpuffer]

Of course you want puffers. Hehehe
Depends on what you want out of the puffers. GSPs definitely are more personable, and will come up to the glass whenever someone walks by. DPs don't always do that, as some are quite shy.
Cichilds is not an option lololol

[Justice Bucket]

Thanks for the help/advice. I'll move my 2 cichlids into another 30 gallon tank I have and keep my 7 neon tetras into my 10 gl. Keep the GSP alone in the 29gl brackish. I like the idea of dwarf puffers too, but I assume they'll tear up the tetras, or the cichlids would tear DP up in the other tank. I must also say that there is a really friendly tone to your responses (even though my fish techniques are questionable right now). I have been on Yahoo Ask and let's say some responses exhibited aggressive behavior.

[Blub]

Originally Posted by Justice Bucket

Thanks for the help/advice. I'll move my 2 cichlids into another 30 gallon tank I have and keep my 7 neon tetras into my 10 gl. Keep the GSP alone in the 29gl brackish. I like the idea of dwarf puffers too but I assume they'll tear up the tetras or the cichlids would tear them up.

Yes, DP's would tear the Tetras to shreds, and they might possibly attack the cichlids - which could get nasty.

[Lucy]

Originally Posted by Justice Bucket

I have been on Yahoo Ask and let's say some responses exhibited aggressive behavior.

We've found that some of the answers aren't all that accurate either. Some kind of scary. lol

We'd love to see some pics. Post some soon.

[Justice Bucket]

I'll put up some pix soon. I've moved some of the fish out of my tank. All that's left are 2GSP 1 Scat 1 Mono 1 Cichlid in the 29 gal. I'll have to move/return them pretty soon, My ammonia is up at around 1.5 Hope my Scat can hold out, he's not looking to well.

[Lucy]

Ooops. Looks like it's time to start some daily water changes to get your cycle back.

[Justice Bucket]

I've called around. One aquarium said make 20% changes every other day. Another said make 50% every week, another said every 3 days make a 25%. I made a 30% water change Wednesday with 2 capfuls of CYCLE using tapwater.

[Lucy]

Unfortunatly Cycle contains the wrong kind of bacteria. It's not self sustaining and will use up the ammonia your bacteria needs to develop naturally.
If you stop using it your tank may very well crash.

Ammonia is toxic to your fish, I'd really recommend 50% daily changes and stop using Cycle.
Prime or Stress Coat+ will detox the ammonia for 24 hrs between changes.

[Justice Bucket]

Ok. So I do a 50% change one day, the next day add Prime or stress coat+, the day after that, another 50% change and continue that pattern until the ammonia is down? I suppose I should wash my hands each time thoroughly before sticking my paws in there non?
Also I put up pix!

[Lucy]

Yep, make your your hands are clean and rinse well for any soap residue.
When your tankmis fully cycled you'll have readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite with some nitrate showing.
Hang in there, good luck.

[agabr123]

you need to add the prime or stress coat + to the new water that you add to the tank and do 50% water changes every day, not add the prime/stresscoat in between.

[Lucy]

Originally Posted by agabr123

you need to add the prime or stress coat + to the new water that you add to the tank and do 50% water changes every day, not add the prime/stresscoat in between.

Thanks, Alex, I misread the post.

[agabr123]

lol no problem, i had to read it a couple times too, i think i need to get my glasses prescription checked again!

[Justice Bucket]

I'll start that right away, I hope there wont be any weird chemical changes once I stop using CYCLE and change to PRIME and STRESS+.

[Lucy]

Well, as said above, if you've been using cycle you may be have enough benefical bacteria established to maintain the tank. Keep a real close eye on your parameters.

If you do a search on the forum for Cycle, you'll see plenty of members have tried it and just ran into all sorts of problems with it.
Have you been using it for the life of your tank?

[Justice Bucket]

I've started using it for about 2 weeks.

[Lucy]

Ok, well, just keep up the daily changes with one of the conditioners I mentioned. Keep an eye on your parameters until your cycle is complete.
It can take a while and cycling with fish is a lot of work to keep them healthy.
Have patience.

[Justice Bucket]

I have been using it for about 2 weeks

[Justice Bucket]

Update

Did the 50% water change. I moved my Scat from my (presently unhealthy tank ammonia 1.5) to my 10 gal tank (ammonia 0). Now one of my GSP is turning black and cowering under a plant. I think he got shocked by the change. I' hope he'll make it. fingers crossed.

[Lucy]

As long as the water was the same temp, salinity etc and done slowly, it shouldn't cause any adverse effects. I hope he's ok.

[Justice Bucket]

He's looking a little frazzled today but hopefully he'll pull through. The Mono is picking on him a little as well.

[pinkfloydpuffer]

Poor baby! Puffers are quite fragile fish, so the ammonia is extra hard on them Keep up those changes, and see if you can maybe add some more decor to keep them from picking on each other?

[Justice Bucket]

Ammonia shot down to 0.5 today after my 1st 50% change on Saturday (today is Monday) I did a 15% change today with stress coat+. I know you said do 50% again today but I feel I don't want to keep disturbing the fish/process. I can do another 30% right now if you think it's super dire.
pH 29 gal slightly brackish = 7.8
ph 10 gal freshwater = 7.0

I added a second filter on my 10 gal to leech bacteria off the existing one and added some more water to the tank with stress coat. I want to use that second filter for my dwarf puff in a 5 gal as mentioned earlier.

[Justice Bucket]

Also if you see my pics, I think both tanks are pretty planted. The other puffer seems chipper and bright green. I hope the other fella makes it. He's much smaller and getting quite dark in color.

[Justice Bucket]

Little puffer didn't make it. He was cute. Keeping up with water changes and the rest of the troupe looks good.

[pinkfloydpuffer]

Oh no! I'm sorry he died. A dead puffer is one of the saddest sights...

[Justice Bucket]

I know, my students and feel terrible that we botched this. It was a sad sight to take him out. They are so endearing.

We did another 30% change today with SC+ and freshwater tank too.