GSP is still small in size

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celbrise
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GSP is still small in size

Post by celbrise »

I have had my GSP for at least 1 year at most 2. however it is still small. it's been in a big tank by itself since i got it 53gals to be exact. it has grown slightly bigger maybe about half an inch maybe less since then. i typically feed it once a day, temp is definetly fine. i feed what it would typically eat/be fed but not always hard foods since they are really expensive and hard to find live in my state since they are eaten as a food source by humans.

i obviously don't expect it to be the full 6 inches but i am worried im doing something wrong. is this typical in this species that it grows really slow or am i doing something wrong?
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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by Pufferpunk »

Can you post what you generally feed this guy? You can certainly buy human grade crustaceans (shrimp, oysters, clams, etc) & feed it to him. Also, are you soaking his foods in any vitamins?
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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by RTR »

More information on water parameters, filtration, temperature, upkeep, and specific foods used would be helpful.
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Pufferpunk
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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by Pufferpunk »

sunken belly
Postby celbrise on Fri Mar 14, 2014 9:31 pm

my puffer has a sunken belly. it's been like this for a while now. when i got it it had a round belly. recently since i started feeding less hard foods due to lack of supply it has had this issue. i started feeding a mix of hard and soft food( freeze dried blood worms) recently and feeding more often but it seems that everytime it has pooped out the food it has the sunken belly look rather then a round belly look. it's poop is brown and does not have the string of pearls so it isn't parasites.

if you must know it is a green spotted puffer; in a 53 gal tank alone recently upgraded it's filtration system this december, temp is fine.

could it just be the food or is it something else?
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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celbrise
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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by celbrise »

parameters i have not tested in a while sadly i have neglected the tank for a few months will be checking on that with some cheap strips tomorrow after moving the tank to my new room.

food- before neglecting the tank; shrimp with shell on raw and frozen, clams and mussles half shell smashed up with a hammer shell and all and mixed then freezed, octopuss cooked ( boiled no sauce ), scallops, ramshorn snails and some neirate snails as well i believe.

neglecting tank; blood worms mainly, and once in a while ramshorn snails.

and the blood worms are freeze dried and it states on the bottle "soaked in vitamins" have been skipping out of good food due to lack of money will be buying better food this weekend/up comming week. and as for the previous post sunken belly someone said it was IP i will treat for IP just to be safe
celbrise
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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by celbrise »

just bought some fresh shrimp shell on; feeding is going great belly is staying fat atm. will update perameters later today
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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by RTR »

Fish never stop growing, but growth is most rapid prior to sexual maturity. Once sexual maturity is achieved, growth slows markedly. That translates into captive fish growing rapidly while young, or stated another way, being stunted permanently if in too small a tank and/or being poorly handled while immature. If you want full wild size fish, they need good handling in largish tanks while they are still young.

Do you know approximately how old your fish is? Or more realistically, how long it has been in captivity?
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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by Myaj »

While I don't consider myself an expert in anything, I like to think I have a decent idea of what I'm doing with GSP's.

I've had one now for nearly 3 years, in a full marine 60 gallon tank (established and running long before he went in). HE HAS NEVER GROWN. He's still only maybe an inch long. His belly is always sunken, unless its right after a meal. He's been dewormed several times, with no results. His colors are excellent, he's active. I try to give him a good mix of foods but I don't have a ton of access to snails so he gets his teeth trimmed occasionally as they don't wear down that well. I really just don't know what to do, other than maybe set up a brackish tank and get him out of the full marine.

Sometimes you do just want to bang your head against the tank...
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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by RTR »

Small wild caught fish are not necessarily young fish. They may already be stunted. Or they may have been traded in to a LFS and were stunted in captivity. My first GSPs certainly were severely stunted. I did not know any better (almost 50 years ago). Their color and activity were full normal, but they certainly never grew more than a fraction of an inch. I kept them almost ten years, then traded them off to a coworker who kept them a number of years before he relocated and we lost contact. I would not suggest anyone follow my handling of those fish, but they seemed healthy and active and alert, just severely stunted by lack of space. Stunting is not always a death sentence, but it is also certainly not the best care available.

I want all of my fish to equal or exceed their wild size, and to have long lives. But I also breed fish for the hobby, and I know captive breeding shortens the lives of the parents. That is a trade-off, and it allows me to give back to the hobby "replacements" for some of the fish I have killed or damaged in the past from ignorance.

FWIW, YMMV
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celbrise
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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by celbrise »

when i got mine at the LFS it was healthy looking fat and white belly and pretty small. kept in 10gal for maybe 1 week at max then had to seperate because it was very aggressive and killed the rest of my fish sooner then i'd imagined. been in a 53gal since for idk 2-3 years at the most. kept it in brackish water 1.008 since it was so small now it's in full fresh water. i think it is the lack of feeding because i used to only feed once a day. if anything i might just wait and see in another year and see the results
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My Puffers: Filbert, the 12" T lineatus
Punkster, the 4" red T miurus
Mongo, the 4" A modestus
2 T biocellatus
C valentini
C coranata
C papuan
Also kept:
lorteti
DPs
suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles
Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by Pufferpunk »

Yes but you don't know the conditions the lil guy encountered before it got to your lFS. It could have been in a crowded holding tank for too long.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...

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Re: GSP is still small in size

Post by RTR »

+1 to Pufferpunk's comment above.

I would suspect that it is post-puberty by now in any case and will not likely grow quickly. If you can provide the fish with a good diet there is no reason it cannot still have a long healthy life. I don't think that any mature puffer requires daily feeding, but the diet must be suitable for the fish. As it is still small, and is likely to remain so, can you set a good snail-breeding tank (FW) with either ramshorn or common pond snails? Snails, when from reasonably maintained tanks, are quite nutritious and easy to produce. Your fish is small enough for snails to still be practical food -which "normal"-sized GSPs rarely are. If well cared for, the fish's activity should be quite enough for it to still be an active and engaging pet.
Where's the fish? - Neptune
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