Spoiled, Difficult CheliFish....

[PufferPuck30]

**sigh**

Happy Holidays, all! I'm back with yet more questions....

Firstly, the important stuff:

20 gal tank containing one stubborn GSP, (appx. 2.25" in length), 1 red clawed crab, 9 small and 3 largish sized ghost shrimp.

pH = 8.2
Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = ~30ppm
SG = 1.007
Salinity = 12 ppt

Weekly water changes = ~40 - 50% with Amquel+ & NovAqua+

Feeding = an exercise in futility, lately.

Okay....he USED to gobble up blood worms like crazy. In addition to which, he was very, VERY fond of ramshorn snails.

I've added the following to his diet:

Mussels (hand fed, as I can't find any small enough for him to maul on his own)
Shrimp (also hand fed: frozen, raw, tail-on. Found in grocers frozen seafood section)
Chopped Squid (frozen, Ocean Nutrition brand)
"Marine Cuisine" (frozen, San Francisco Bay brand)
Plankton (frozen, San Francisco Bay brand)
Mysis (frozen, San Francisco Bay brand)
Ghost Shrimp (live)

Here's the rub....

He won't eat anything that's not hand fed to him. He'll attach the shrimp and eat that, but not with the gusto you'd expect. Almost as if he gets "bored" with it. Same goes for the mussel.

He ignores the blood worms. Can't even be bothered to look at the plankton or chopped squid, and is completely turned off by the Marine Cuisine. He'll "nibble" on the mysis, but that's all. And it's usually a BARE nibble, too.

When I dropped the red-clawed crab into the tank, (roughly 2 weeks ago...???), Cheli chased it all the way to the bottom. A battle ensued. The crab lost a leg before scuttling off into hiding among the rocks. He doesn't come out into the open these days, at least not while I'm around/awake.

As for the ghost shrimp? Cheli follows them around, stalking them, going all "silent and still", and allowing his color to change to blend into his surroundings. He'll lay on the substrate eyeballing the shrimp, literally. He watches like a hawk. He also "stalks" them, very, verrrrrry slowly.

He won't eat them, though. Again....at least not while I'm around/awake. I have noticed that I've had to restock the ghost shrimp twice, though, so they're going somewhere.

**shrug**

He seems healthy enough, if a little "sleepy", (spends more time "napping" than he has in the past - of course that could be because he's accustomed to his new home...all settled in, as it were), he's not skinny, his tummy's never anything less than slightly rounded, and his color's good.

I tried the blood worms today. Nope. He wasn't interested. Luckily, the ghost shrimp have made quick work of those. I then tried the chopped squid. Nope. Nothin' doin'. I had to net that out of the tank. So I went with the sure thing. Six ramshorn snails, dropped in one at a time. Not ONE of them made it to the bottom of the tank. And now he's a happy little fish.

Am I worried over nothing? Perhaps I'm feeding him too often?

I HAVE noticed that since the crab was introduced, he spends an AWFUL lot of time "lurking", "stalking", poking his nose around in the plants and into nooks and crevices in the rocks.

I'm going to pick up his new home today. I'm hesitant to set it up and re-locate him if he's "sick". I don't want to stress him, and I definitely don't want to "infect" the new tank.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Pufferpunk]

How often are you feeding him? Certainly poffering him a great variety! Try soaking his food in garlic. Probably time to raise his SG to about 1.012 or so.

[PufferPuck30]

How often are you feeding him? Certainly poffering him a great variety! Try soaking his food in garlic. Probably time to raise his SG to about 1.012 or so.

Good evening, PP. Thank you for your response.

I'm currently feeding him twice a day. Half portion of food before work in the morning, the remaining half portion at night. I usually skip either Sunday or Monday, depending upon his demeanor on those given days.

I went to pick up his new home this afternoon. He'll be moving from the 20gal to a brand new 37gal probably as early as the day after Christmas. I was planning to set the new tank up at 1.01 and acclimate him thereto, without compromising the biological filter of the 20gal by raising the SG by too much, too quickly.

I'm planning to move a Figure 8 puffer into the 20gal as soon as I've got the 37gal all set up and Cheli is happily adjusted. I wanted to keep it empty for a short while in case, (heavens forfend), things should go South with the bigger tank. I figure I can do a quick switcheroo back into the 20gal if necessary until I stablize the 37gal.

I want to get the tank set up, get everything in place, make sure the SG is stable, fine tune any aquascaping issues, etc., and leave it to "season" for a day or three before I move Cheli in. I've got enough Bio-Spira, (Marine forumla....I made sure of that....) to instantly cycle a 50gal tank, so I think I should be okay there.

Perhaps he'll get his appetite back once he's got more room to roam.

Any other advice you can offer for setting up the new tank?

The tank came with an Eclipse hood. I was thinking I might need additional filtration.....

[Pufferpunk]

Personally, I'd just move everything (substrate, decor, filtration) over to the larger tank. It will be totally cycled that way. You can add extra substrate, decor, filtration to that. I'm not sure that SW B-S will work well at a SG that low. It's right at the SG where Marineland has said they aren't too sure about which to use, FW or SW.

[manutius]

I think thatfeeding him twice aday is a littel excessive, cutting down to once every other day might be better

[zombiefetus]

I feed my GSP every three days and he does great. I think twice a day is a lot for a puffer, definately try cutting back on the food.