Another dreaded impulse buyer

[jbrat]

Hello, I tried to post this on a thread about the green spotted puffer but the thread was to old to reply too, so I thought would try here.
I have had a saltwater aquarium for 10+ years. It is full of mushroom coral, and several other soft corals. So when my son saw these poor little puffers and said but mom they are the cutest fish ever I agreed! My SW tank is fish free because my last 10+yr old damsel died recently and A pet store that carries sw fish is over an hour away and thought I would sell the tank rather than restock it with fish. But now look what I agreed too, "2 of the cutest fish ever!" Any way,, how long should it take me to get them acclimated so I can put them in my SW tank they were in fw? AND how low can I take my tanks salinity, with out harming the corals (mushrooms, cabbage leathers kenya trees.)? Will they be okay in a bowl with a air hose as they acclimate? Can't add them to my FW tank the frog will eat them. I really didn't think this purchase thru, but they have just as good of a chance with me as they do at Walmart. Thanks

 

[lindenthaler.9]

For acclimation I would do a very long drip acclimation. Probably a couple of hours. As adults they're full marine but I don't know how tolerant they are of it that young.
That said I know several people who have their small GSPs in full SW, but it was raised over weeks.
I drip acclimated mine in a 10 gallon, but a bowl would probably be fine as well. When you transfer them over use a container, not a net. Nets are very stressful on puffers and you don't want them to go through anymore stress.
What size is the tank? That 2" puffer will get 6" and has a minimum requirement of 30G each. Also, be sure to treat them for parasites. If you do that and they survive the acclimation I'm sure they'll have a much better chance.

 

[jbrat]

Thank you for the reply! I have a 55 gal. I'm still acclimating them, adding alittle water from the tank a few times a day and adding plain water to the tank to bring the salinity down some. Hoping they do well, they are cute. I hope they don't end up being destructive Thanks again

 

[lindenthaler.9]

Good luck with your new puffers!
Also you might want to look into setting up a separate tank for snails, and provide lots of hard shelled food to keep the tooth they have down.

 

[jbrat]

Thanks for the tips So far they are doing well.They are still acclimating to sw but doing ok with it. hoping to lower the salinity in the tank and be able to release them into the tank soon.

 

[lindenthaler.9]

It's great to hear that. I'm sure they'll do fine once they're released.
My lfs has some really nice Dragon gobies in right now and I'm very much considering getting one. They would have to be acclimated over to my high end brackish tank from FW, which has been my only concern. They're not nearly as sensitive as puffers though so I might get a small tank ready for the drip acclimation.

 

[jbrat]

Update

After more than a week of acclimating, the puffers are finally free to swim the tank. Its been 2 days and so far so good. Thanks again