The Puffer Forum

I've been having a hard time getting my new 1" GSP's to eat lately. So I bought a few Ghost Shrimp to see if that would encourage my GSPs to eat more, and they gobbled them up like they were going to hibernate for the winter or something. I was so happy, so I bought 10 more so that they could grab a snack anytime they want and put them all in the tank. Well that must have been a mistake because last night before I went to bed I looked and there were 3 of them hanging out in the same sleeping cave as one of my GSP's. They all seem to be friends now and the GSP's won't eat them anymore. Now I have to find some other way of getting them to eat. At least the Ghost Shrimp will do a good job of cleaning up the leftovers since I took my pleco out of there.

Just so you know, plecos don't eat leftovers just algae.
Some people consider it a good thing when puffers don't eat shrimp! It is really fun to watch them chase the ghosties around.
Have you read the feeding article in the library? Theres some tips in there to get puffers to eat.

crazedpuffer wrote:Just so you know, plecos don't eat leftovers just algae.

Psst...yes they do. Have you ever tried a pleco in a discus tank? I promise you, they will never take an algae again in their lives! But don't take this as an idea to continue keeping the pleco with the puffer. 1. it's possible the puffer will harm the pleco (yes, I've tried it. The puffer goes for the only vulnerable part of the pleco: the belly). 2. GSPs is a brackish water species, and plecos don't like salt in the water. No suckermouth (or mostly no South-American catfishes) likes salt in the water, and will die pretty quickly.

As you've kept a pleco with the GSP, does that mean you are keeping it in fresh water, or have you changed to brackish water after you removed the pleco?

crazedpuffer wrote:Just so you know, plecos don't eat leftovers just algae.
Some people consider it a good thing when puffers don't eat shrimp! It is really fun to watch them chase the ghosties around.
Have you read the feeding article in the library? Theres some tips in there to get puffers to eat.

Well I've had a few different plecos over the years and they have always pretty much ate anything they could get their mouths on. Extra food, vegetables, dead fish...you name it. I have read the article in the library many times, and through the forums as well and I still don't have much luck getting them to eat. They used to gobble up mussel, then they got bored, then it was ghost shrimp, then they get bored of that. I'm about 2 weeks away from having my snail farm mature enough to give them some of those.

The ghost shrimp don't bother me at all, I actually like the fact that if the GSP's get hungry enough, they have something there. And it's great that they survive well in brackish water, because I took my pleco out, and they do clean things up a bit.

Troender wrote:

crazedpuffer wrote:Just so you know, plecos don't eat leftovers just algae.

Psst...yes they do. Have you ever tried a pleco in a discus tank? I promise you, they will never take an algae again in their lives! But don't take this as an idea to continue keeping the pleco with the puffer. 1. it's possible the puffer will harm the pleco (yes, I've tried it. The puffer goes for the only vulnerable part of the pleco: the belly). 2. GSPs is a brackish water species, and plecos don't like salt in the water. No suckermouth (or mostly no South-American catfishes) likes salt in the water, and will die pretty quickly.

As you've kept a pleco with the GSP, does that mean you are keeping it in fresh water, or have you changed to brackish water after you removed the pleco?

I had my pleco in 1.005 water for a couple weeks and before that he was in probably in about 1.002 with a bunch of mollies for his whole life. He seemed to be really healthy in the 1.005 tank....I kept a close eye on him. Some people say there are brackish water plecos, some people say there aren't. Mine seemed to do fine, but I didn't want to raise the salt level any higher with him in there, so now he's in mainly freshwater (1.001-1.002) tank again.

To sum things up, the pleco lived in 1.002 for a couple years....then I slowly raised the SG to 1.005, and introduced the GSP's (only 1" or so) into the tank with him (3" or so). They got along fine....but I realized I had to increase the SG eventually so I took him out and now he's back to 1.001-1.002ish.

There are species of plecos that are strictly meat-eaters.

You'll probably find the shrimp disappear over time. They can be really fast, and spring backwards when they're being hunted. You may find your puffs are just not quite fast enough yet...

Troender wrote:

crazedpuffer wrote:Just so you know, plecos don't eat leftovers just algae.

Psst...yes they do. Have you ever tried a pleco in a discus tank? I promise you, they will never take an algae again in their lives! But don't take this as an idea to continue keeping the pleco with the puffer. 1. it's possible the puffer will harm the pleco (yes, I've tried it. The puffer goes for the only vulnerable part of the pleco: the belly). 2. GSPs is a brackish water species, and plecos don't like salt in the water. No suckermouth (or mostly no South-American catfishes) likes salt in the water, and will die pretty quickly.

As you've kept a pleco with the GSP, does that mean you are keeping it in fresh water, or have you changed to brackish water after you removed the pleco?

Thats awesome! Every pleco I ever owned only at just algae

mine eats goldfish pellets, i've seen him munchin on a dying goldfish once... it was gross!

pufferpunk, didn't i read somewhere else that you said that ghost shrimps are about 80% water... so you want to vary the diet to get some actual nutrients in there?

she did say that, but too gut load them first... and vary the diet.
I just saw a ghost shrimp in my puffs tank. he's been in there two (possibly longer) weeks too!

Well at least one of my GSP's still likes to nibble on the Ghost Shrimp......just when they thought it was safe to venture out.....SNAP! He didn't suffer long.

Now I just have to convince my other GSP to stop playing house with the other Ghost Shrimps.

Ghost shrimp are friends! Awwww.....

yeah i think the two little shrimpies are still in my tank, kirby didnt even seem to notice them!

Mine occasionally get treated to half a dozen cherry shrimp, it's not the cost that bothers me, but the fact I have to spend 20 minutes convincing the store where I get them that they are not for food, and that I am going to keep them
It's probably time I set up a little 20 litre cube for breeding my own shrimp...

Cool story. I didn't know shrimp were brackish. I shall now go and get some to live with my puffer