Diet
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rich03
Diet
Ok so I bought two green spotted puffers about three weeks ago. These are the coolest fish I have ever had I love them to death. But I am worried if I am feeding them correctly. About once a week I go to the store and buy some ghost shrimp for them about 8 or 9 and they are gone within 3 hours. I then started buying about a dozen rosys or gupies which they eat slowly thoughout the week. The gupies are so much cheaper than the ghost shrimp I am just wondering if they can live on mostly gupies. And if so how much should they be eating each week?? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I have two snail in the tank but they appear to be to big for the fish to suck out and eat.
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Jivenjune
- Green Spotted Puffer
- Posts: 303
- Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:30 am
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: (2) GSPs in a 60 gallon.
- Location (country): California.
Re: Diet
Welcome to the forumrich03 wrote:Ok so I bought two green spotted puffers about three weeks ago. These are the coolest fish I have ever had I love them to death. But I am worried if I am feeding them correctly. About once a week I go to the store and buy some ghost shrimp for them about 8 or 9 and they are gone within 3 hours. I then started buying about a dozen rosys or gupies which they eat slowly thoughout the week. The gupies are so much cheaper than the ghost shrimp I am just wondering if they can live on mostly gupies. And if so how much should they be eating each week?? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I have two snail in the tank but they appear to be to big for the fish to suck out and eat.
To hopefully answer your questions, here goes--I would highly recommend you top feeding them guppies for a few reasons:
1. These guppies likely have internal parasites and possibly diseases. When your GSPs consume these fish, they will likely inherit these problems.
2. While GSPs might consume other fish due to hunger issues, it has not been verified as to whether they are a true piscivore or whether they merely consume fish scales for its high nutritional value. In either case, it is probably better not to promote this behavior as GSPs will continue to grow increasingly aggressive toward tankmates and possibly each other as they become adults.
If you are feeding them ghost shrimp, gutload these shrimp before feeding them to your puffer so they gain the additional nutritional value that is lacking in ghost shrimp. To gutload ghost shrimp, simply feed them vegetables (algae wafers) before giving them your puffers.
For young GSPs, feed them six days a week thereby allowing one day for their intestinal tract to clear. Give them a varied diet. There are articles in this website's library. Check it out.
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busybones
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 738
- Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:46 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: ******
(1)T. lineatus-Fahaka~Pookie 125 gal
(1)M. turgidus- Brown Puffer~Rowdy 30 gal
(1)T.nigroviridis-GSP~ 55 gal - Location (country): USA
- Location: Kentucky
Re: Diet
You can also feed frozen bloodworms and krill most pet stores carry them. I'd try to find some smaller snails or crush up a larger one for them.
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marksrush
- Fahaka Puffer
- Posts: 856
- Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:10 pm
- Gender: Male
- My Puffers: One GSP.
- Location (country): USA
- Location: Raymore, Missouri USA
Re: Diet
Welcome to the forum!
There are some good articles on feeding in our Library: library/category/feeding/
Variety is what you want to go for, with an emphasis on foods that help keep your puffers' teeth from overgrowing. Popular puffer foods include black mussels, clams, oysters, squid, octopus, crab, shrimp, snails, gut-loaded ghost shrimp, bloodworms, mysis shrimp, crayfish, krill (in moderation), scallops (or cockles, if you live in Great Britain), and so on. Make sure that these are all raw - do not feed your fish cooked items. You should be able to find most of the above at the fresh seafood counter at your local supermarket; if you live in a rural area without access to fresh seafood, then you may try frozen - but again, just make sure that it's all raw, not cooked. Snails can be gotten at your LFS, as most stores have at least a couple of tanks with a snail problem. Ideally, you'll eventually breed your own snails, as a lot of us do, because they need to be a big part of your puffer's diet. Shoot for ramshorns or pond snails; Malaysian Trumpet snails can work, but their shells are very hard and puffers can damage their teeth trying to open one. Stay away from feeder fish, for the reasons Jivenjune lists, and also for the reason that many LFSs don't care for their feeders in the same way they care for the rest of their stock: water changes don't get done, the water gets cloudy, and who knows what kinds of diseases these conditions can cause and then be transferred to your tank.
If you are able to get fresh seafood, always freeze the items for a week to eliminate most parasites and pathogens. Make sure that the seafood person gives you only shellfish that are tightly closed - this means they're healthy and still alive. (They should do this for you anyway, since dead shellfish go bad really quickly and become inedible or make people sick and should never be sold.) Black mussels can be frozen whole, then thawed in the fridge. Larger items like clams and oysters are best dealt with once you get them home: get a hammer and bash open the shell (or better yet, use an oyster knife if you have one), take out the flesh, and lay it flat in a tupperware container or something similar, and freeze it. When you're ready to use it for food, take it out, slice off a chunk, let it thaw and then give it to your puffer. Don't throw away the shellfish's green stomach contents - let your puffers eat it, as there is a lot of good nutrition in that stuff. A great idea is to leave a good portion of the shellfish's meat attached to the shell: your puffer will scrape its teeth against the shell as it tries to get every last scrap, and thereby help keep its teeth trimmed down.
One last thing: many puffers like their veggies. You can satisfy their needs by buying some dried seaweed strips at your LFS. Tear off a 2" square, place it in a seaweed clip, and drop it to the bottom of the tank. If it's not all gone in a few hours, take the remains out. This goes for all the food items mentioned above, too - do not leave uneaten food in the tank, as it will foul your water quicker than you can imagine.
Hope this helps!
There are some good articles on feeding in our Library: library/category/feeding/
Variety is what you want to go for, with an emphasis on foods that help keep your puffers' teeth from overgrowing. Popular puffer foods include black mussels, clams, oysters, squid, octopus, crab, shrimp, snails, gut-loaded ghost shrimp, bloodworms, mysis shrimp, crayfish, krill (in moderation), scallops (or cockles, if you live in Great Britain), and so on. Make sure that these are all raw - do not feed your fish cooked items. You should be able to find most of the above at the fresh seafood counter at your local supermarket; if you live in a rural area without access to fresh seafood, then you may try frozen - but again, just make sure that it's all raw, not cooked. Snails can be gotten at your LFS, as most stores have at least a couple of tanks with a snail problem. Ideally, you'll eventually breed your own snails, as a lot of us do, because they need to be a big part of your puffer's diet. Shoot for ramshorns or pond snails; Malaysian Trumpet snails can work, but their shells are very hard and puffers can damage their teeth trying to open one. Stay away from feeder fish, for the reasons Jivenjune lists, and also for the reason that many LFSs don't care for their feeders in the same way they care for the rest of their stock: water changes don't get done, the water gets cloudy, and who knows what kinds of diseases these conditions can cause and then be transferred to your tank.
If you are able to get fresh seafood, always freeze the items for a week to eliminate most parasites and pathogens. Make sure that the seafood person gives you only shellfish that are tightly closed - this means they're healthy and still alive. (They should do this for you anyway, since dead shellfish go bad really quickly and become inedible or make people sick and should never be sold.) Black mussels can be frozen whole, then thawed in the fridge. Larger items like clams and oysters are best dealt with once you get them home: get a hammer and bash open the shell (or better yet, use an oyster knife if you have one), take out the flesh, and lay it flat in a tupperware container or something similar, and freeze it. When you're ready to use it for food, take it out, slice off a chunk, let it thaw and then give it to your puffer. Don't throw away the shellfish's green stomach contents - let your puffers eat it, as there is a lot of good nutrition in that stuff. A great idea is to leave a good portion of the shellfish's meat attached to the shell: your puffer will scrape its teeth against the shell as it tries to get every last scrap, and thereby help keep its teeth trimmed down.
One last thing: many puffers like their veggies. You can satisfy their needs by buying some dried seaweed strips at your LFS. Tear off a 2" square, place it in a seaweed clip, and drop it to the bottom of the tank. If it's not all gone in a few hours, take the remains out. This goes for all the food items mentioned above, too - do not leave uneaten food in the tank, as it will foul your water quicker than you can imagine.
Hope this helps!