Have you got a 5-6" GSP?

[RTR]

Good grief p-c, the one on the right of the pic looks huge!!! That is definitely a fully mature GSP. Any signs of any egg-dropping from either of them? From that high-angle shot, the right-hand fish has a bit extra along the sides past the dorsal fin - that is potentially female if it comes and goes periodically...

I can't see the other one well enough.

[purplecandle]

They haven't laid eggs that I know of, but it's a heavily decorated tank.

Both are big, but the One on the right has always been a bit bigger. I plan to redo the tank a bit so I'll get some better pics then with my good camera.

I can't officially measure them, but I measure them using a ruler outside the tank when they are close to the glass and the big one is passing 6. The smaller one is right at 6...he just looks a lot smaller compared to the other. I think they are different because the smaller one is much more active than the big one.

[RTR]

I use the same crude external measure, its the best we can do.

Watch the sides of the bigger fish from below the dorsal fin and rearward. If they wax and wane at one to two month intervals, the fish may be female, even if they consume the eggs before you see them. My fmale Fahaka did that routinely, but I often saw some scattered eggs. GSPs tend to be more rolly-polly than the Fafaks, but the ovaries should be similarly positioned and may show when she (if really female) is loaded. I have never necropsied a female GSP, so cannot be certain.

Those are prime GSPs, comparable to the two Pufferpunk had a while back. Very nice fish, obviously they have had equally good care. Good job!

[purplecandle]

I use the same crude external measure, its the best we can do.

Watch the sides of the bigger fish from below the dorsal fin and rearward. If they wax and wane at one to two month intervals, the fish may be female, even if they consume the eggs before you see them. My fmale Fahaka did that routinely, but I often saw some scattered eggs. GSPs tend to be more rolly-polly than the Fafaks, but the ovaries should be similarly positioned and may show when she (if really female) is loaded. I have never necropsied a female GSP, so cannot be certain.

Those are prime GSPs, comparable to the two Pufferpunk had a while back. Very nice fish, obviously they have had equally good care. Good job!

Thanks! I can't take all the credit though, they are very sturdy fish who have put up with a lot of my mistakes.

[Welch4]

Wow! Their gurth really develops as they grow!
How long did they take to reach those sizes?
@PP is the one on the right inflated or just full?
@sgtmyers88 Amazing colour on them! they look just as bright as my little 2-3" fella

Also, do they tend to chill out as they grow up?
I feel so bad for my guy when he paces the tank. :/

Mine does the same he does little circles up and down the glass even though he has plenty of room to explorer/hunt.

[BedScien]

I'm thinking it could be just an instinct to keep mobile.
Is your in full SW?

[RTR]

The active hunters are just that, active. Their normal need to search their territory for food items does not vanish in captivity. We give them current (swimming against a current is exercise, as is swimming around and through a visually complex set-up). The set-up and the current provides the exercise they would in the wild get during normal foraging over a larger area than we provide in captivity. This allows the fish to hold to the larger energy use they require in the wild. It, in the long run, keeps them trim and healthy through the much longer lives they should have in captivity. An active hunter who just hangs in the water much of the time will easily over-eat and become obese. Lurker predators have quite different activity levels. We have to set and maintain tanks tailored to the fish's wild lifestyle to be successful long-term with fish in captivity. GSPs are particularly prone to obesity in tanks. That does them no long term benefit, quite the opposite in fact.

The Pufferpedia gives good good guidelines for how the fish behaves in nature, and we try to set our tanks to provide for comparable behavior in captivity. We do not have all the data for some fish which are less common in the trade. For some puffers, we still have problems really matching wild lifestyles due to lack of data. The forum itself has to attempt to make up for these poorly-know species.

HTH

[BedScien]

clear and informative as usual, thanks RTR!

[Welch4]

I'm thinking it could be just an instinct to keep mobile.
Is your in full SW?

Very Low end brackish 1.004-1.006

[BedScien]

I'm thinking it could be just an instinct to keep mobile.
Is your in full SW?

Very Low end brackish 1.004-1.006

Also would be curious to know if they tend to pace less in higher salt water. If so, maybe pacing is to do with instinctive migration to higher salinities.

[RTR]

It could be, but that would only be likely if we had any density gradients in our tanks (we don't). How could you tell if they were trying for higher density or lower density?

My bet would be that pacing is exercise. Try more current, but still provide sheltered "rest" areas for refuge.

[Stratters]

I know he's not brackish, but I have Pig's tank set up so that there is a decent current running across the front of the tank; the two filters are set up so that there is a clockwise flow running around the tank, with plenty of hidey places. I've dropped stuff into the flow, and there are no real dead spots in the flow. Pig definitely exercises in the flow, you can see him swooping in and out of the current, and he's enjoying himself, he's happy pink Pig.

[Stratters]

Flow, flow, flow, flow; gimme some new words ffs

[hadla]

From thesaurus.com:

Synonyms: breeze, continuance, continuation, continuity, course, current, deluge, discharge, draft, draw, dribble, drift, ebb, effusion, electricity, emanation, flood, flux, gush, juice, leakage, movement, oozing, outflow, outpouring, plenty, plethora, progress, progression, river, run, sequence, series, spate, spout, spurt, stream, succession, tide, train, wind

XD rotfl

[RTR]

How many of us are inebriated today?

Stratters: That sounds ideal... I am big on circular currents also, but I ignore the fact that I am in the northern hemisphere and run current clockwise or counter-clockwise depending on which looks better in a given tank.