Help they didnt tell me what to feed my new GSP

[skyreep1]

okay sorry, ive instructed my neighbor to feed him blood worms, but i dont think she can do the water changes so tommorow im going to do a 75% water change before i leave.

She also knows to add the seachem and prime

i have been all over the internet and heard many people say that seachem works great

any other suggestions for things my neighbor should do?

feed bloodworms
add seachem
add prime

is that all?

do i need to get her to unplug the filter before she feeds so it doesnt suck up the blood worms?

[Pufferpunk]

If she does a good job of NOT overfeeding, there shouldn't be too many bloodworms left over to get sucked up. Are they live or frozen?

[Agnate]

** EDIT: Alrighty, if you've already started feeding bloodworms and he's eating those, just go with that and ignore my flake feeding suggestions.

If he's eating the flake food, just feed him that until you get back from the beach. By the sounds of it, the lady at the store gave you mostly correct information (maybe not all, but I'm sure she explained a lot of stuff that just isn't posted here). It's best not to change too many things when you're not going to be there to make sure that he's getting enough food and not being overfed. Flakes are much easier for others to use, and if he's already eating them, just keep with that until you're back.

Here are my questions:
- How much marine salt are you adding to the tank (I believe it was a 10 gallon tank, yes?)
- Do you have a hydrometer to measure the salinity (level of salt)? (a reading of the salinity level is more accurate than the number of cups of salt used, which is why I'm asking)
- If you have a hydrometer, what is the SG (specific gravity) of your tank water?

The reason I'm asking is, if you've already added in marine salt and made it a marine (or close to marine) tank, you can make your life a lot easier and just buy a few pieces of live rock. Live rock in a marine tank contains all of the beneficial bacteria you would need to have a properly cycled tank. It's a bit pricey (usually between $3 to $10 per lbs), but you wouldn't need all that much (5 to 10 lbs would do it). You have to check your salinity before you get the live rock, though, or it'll only make things worse.

Either way, though, if you're using Prime and attempting to build the biofilter, things should be fine as-is while you're gone to da beach. Assuming the puffer has a white belly, is still eating, doesn't look exhausted/have laboured breathing, and isn't growing any sorts of fungus, you probably picked a healthy tough one.


As for feeding bloodworms, I bought myself a little feeding cone (it's plastic and has a suction cup). I pull out a frozen cube of bloodworms, get a small plastic container (preferably one that hasn't been washed with soap ever), scoop out some of the tank water, then throw the cube into the container and let it thaw completely (usually 10-15 minutes or something). Then I use a turkey baster or plastic syringe (the non-needle ones) and suck up all the bloodworms and put them into the feeding cone (the cone is inside the tank already). Alternatively, you could just squirt them into the tank itself, but make sure you only squirt a little bit at a time so that you don't fill the tank with uneaten bloodworms.


Any chance we can get a picture of the puff before you leave? Pictures are much easier to analyze.