impulse buy mistake plz help

[kangster]

so i was at the LFS the other day and made a mistake of buying fish without doing a thorough research...again
i have 2 tank both planted with plenty of MTS and live worms that escaped
10G with 6 ottos and 2 red cherry shrimp (soon to have more shrimps)
20L with 9 neon tetras 1 bristlenose pleco 1 small gourami and 3 cory habrosus

the fish i mistakenly bought are dwarf puffer fish and freshwater flounder and i put them in my 20 gallon tank
i came home and found out that the "freshwater" flounder is really brackish fish and needs salt and i know that corys cannot tolerate any salt
i was wondering if ottos and shrimp can tolerate any salt and if i can have the flounder in 10 gallon with playsand
or do i have to buy another tank (small..maybe 2.5G tank) just for the flounder
or return him to the store which i hate to do...
or just leave him in the 20L and watch him suffer and die slowly...
any ideas guys?

[joy13]

The cories and ottos can't tolerate salt. A 10 gallon tank is the smallest recommended for the flounder How to keep freshwater flounders, Archirus lineatus, with pictures either you have the choice of letting the fish suffer or take him back unless you can get a 10 gallon tank. The specific gravity recommended is at 1.003 and 1.008 Oddball: "Freshwater Flounders" - or maybe Soles - Flatfish
I would do is look on craigs list for a tank.

[hbeth82]

Sorry to add to the negativity but I would say that the puffer may also be a mistake - I only know this because I was VERY tempted to get one, looked them up, then learned better. Puffers do best in brackish water, typically need at least 30 gallons, and have a nasty tendency of nibbling on tankmates. When I first became interested in them, read a post about a someone who added a puffer to his 40gal tank and after several days, looked in to see all but one of his fish huddled in a corner, fins torn off - the puffer had claimed the tank. They also have rather specific dietary requirements, something about needing 'hard' food to keep their teeth from becoming too long.

If you can return the fish, please do so, or 'donate' it to a petstore that takes adoptions (just leaving it in there to die sounds horrible). I know PetCo will let you drop off un-needed or even mildly psychotic fish, whereas PetSmart will not. Some LFS might even let you trade!

[mfdrookie516]

the puffer will eat all your snails, and probably your shrimp too... if you really wanna keep it, get a 10g tank for it only, and you'll have to feed it snails to keep its beak in shape

[BigJim]

The corys and otos do fine with some salt in the aquarium, but probably not brackish levels of salt.

Puffers can be nasty nippers and will eat the snails and shrimp.

If you've got your heart set on these fish, return them to the store and set up another tank. After the tank is cycled, get the fish again.