GSP not growing.

[Aquarist]

They're going up the center hole in the cup.

[Pufferpunk]

If they're going down the sides a lot, raise the cup. This is the adjusting I was talking about.

[Aquarist]

Success. The skimmer has begun picking up waste and I have gotten live rock for the aquarium. I have gotten some pictures for you all. But they won't upload right this second. It seems very nice, it's about 4.5 lbs but looks like it's MUCH more then that. The puffer is chewing on it as we speak. He won't stop, the second I put it in he looked at it, then just kept taking some bites. Despite a big belly, he seems very happy. The Nitrates in my tank showed no more then 5, but they looked almost non-existent at the LFS test, the SG showed 1.020, the live rock was added cured. Thanks for all the help-he's happy as can be.

Edit: Here you go. http://img820.imageshack.us/i/0131111806.jpg/ http://img607.imageshack.us/i/0131111810.jpg/ http://img411.imageshack.us/i/0131111808.jpg/

He has a full belly from chewing on it, but still continues. .
Thank you everyone!

[Pufferpunk]

He must be chomping on worms & other critters he sees on there.

[Aquarist]

Does it look healthy?

[Pufferpunk]

I can't tell. Keep an eye on your parameters.

[Aquarist]

Hi, just an update. Sorry to bump an old topic. Live rock is growing things well, protein skimmer is working great. GSP is not growing much. I've started adding some extra ghost shrimp into his diet. Despite weekly water changes, he still isn't even remotely full grown. He is not even as long as my ring finger, and I have short fingers. I try to get pictures, but he seems to be camera shy.

[xrayjeeper83]

Ghost shrimp are almost useless to add to a diet unless you are gut loading them first

[Aquarist]

Thanks Xray, they are generally full of pellets before he eats them. Do you have any idea why he is so small still?

[sevenyearnight]

Some GSP don't grow very large, despite adequate care. There are probably sub species that haven't been categorized, because there are some differences in body shape, size, and dot patterns.
Don't be too concerned, as long as he is happy and healthy, he's ok being small.

[Aquarist]

Despite his small size though, despite being a subspecies as well perhaps, isn't it at least slightly abnormal that he has the same traits and colors, patterns etc as a so called 'normal' gsp, but is VERY tiny? He has a very round belly all the time, and seems very happy. However, he has almost no length. I took a look at your GSP on your avatar, and he doesn't appear to be even 1/4th the length of your puffer

[Pufferpunk]

My mom is 4'9", my dad is 6'4". Enuf said...

[Aquarist]

Lol PP

He's about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. I guess I have to accept the fact that he's a smaller version, or perhaps I should feed him a pound of shrimp

[RTR]

If you insist on an inert filter mass (the sponge) in SW, it should be rinsed at least daily if you want to avoid generating more nitrate than your system can manage without larger water changes. In other words, your LFS does not really understand SW filtration.

In all honesty, very, very few LFS do understand current SW filtration. Shops that are basically reef shops are more likely to know how to filter SW, but many of them are not comfortable with FOWLR tanks. It is a catch-22.

[Pufferpunk]

Live rock, protein skimmer, good flow = SW filtration.