The Puffer Forum

I am just wondering, so far my GSP's have consumed 2.......I mean right away, poor shrimp hadn't had a chance to even hit the bottom.

How many times a week can you safely feed Ghost shrimp? And tiny snails from my LFS?

Can you safely feed this stuff regularly? Or should this be every few weeks?

Thanks,

Claire

Ok...you have a lot of questions to ask and get sorted!
Read the sticky on GSPs at the top of this section and take it from there.
Welcome to the world of puffers..but I gotta say, without sounding like Roy Schneider in Jaws...you're gonna need a bigger tank.
Pami.

Yes, I am going to need a larger tank I already have one but need to move the 4 occupants in it out of it and buy another a 30 gallon seeing my 55 is packed with Africans and about 16 babies that are growing.

So far so good, they are in tight quarters but will only be like this for a few weeks until I can move everyone safely.

How big are the gsp's so far? You may not have a few weeks breathing space. The sooner you know how long you've got, the better.
What SG have you got them at at the mo?
Pami.

Both of them are under an inch in size. Their tank is filtered well with an outside power filter filtering approx 90 GPH. It's also aerated and I will probably do a 10% water change weekly until I can move them.

I guess we can go back to my original question on the digestibility of ghost shrimp. Anyone know?

Greenies wrote:Both of them are under an inch in size. Their tank is filtered well with an outside power filter filtering approx 90 GPH. It's also aerated and I will probably do a 10% water change weekly until I can move them.

I guess we can go back to my original question on the digestibility of ghost shrimp. Anyone know?

How big is the tank? If it is small I would recomend a 50% water change weekly. Even though thats what you would normally do for puff tank cleanings.

On the note of the shrimp, since your GSPs are small feeding one to each of them everyday wouldn't be a bad thing. But in order to do that you gotta keep up with the puffs and remove any left overs, have a filter that can keep up with the puffs, and KEEP UP WITH WATER CHANGES!!

My new GSPs that I have seem to not eat many snails, but I stock them in the tank every few days. Pond snails IMHO seem to be good because they last in the brackish conditions unlike som nussiance snails.

You'll need to do, say, two 50% changes a week till they get in the big tank.
Now...ghost shrimp...they're ok, but puffers need more variety in their diet. They're ok to digest, but are mainly water, and so not desperately nutritious. Cockles, clams, mysis shrimp, bloodworms, blackworms.....have a look at the stickies for more ideas on food.
Bloodworms'll be a winner for small puffs, though, but, as with ghost shrimp, not every day.
Pami.

I can get blood worms and frozen mysis shrimp. Thought about that today but with the impending Tropical storm/Hurricane I decided it might be a waste to buy frozen food in the case of a power outage.

I will be buying a 29-30 gal this week and setting it up under my 55. Just need another bag of aragonite and some Instant Ocean, those little buggers should be good to go in a few days after I set it up.

I will use some aragonite from the 55 which is long established as well as a sponge out of my filters that are full of good bacteria to get the cycle going a bit faster.

Thanks for the info, so far so good they seem to be just fine.

Sorry Pami, but Ghost shrimp are not mostly water, they are high-grade and very nutritious high proteoin food. It they are not starved (i.e., gut loaded with plant-based foods at your home, preferably for several days to weeks) they are excellent nutrition, just not terribly high in crunch.

Brine shimp are mostly water, not ghost shrimp. Please help kill that malicious rumor about ghosts. ALL of the decapod shrimp are nutritious.

Hey thanks RTR for the info. I will make sure I fill em up with good stuff prior to feeding my Puffs.

As long as they are digestible in nature, they it's a go every few weeks to keep it interesting.

Agreed about the 50% BI-weekly water changes. Maybe ever 3x/week.

Yup, I can see that now. Just hope you have enough marine water prepared lol.

Tihsho wrote:Yup, I can see that now. Just hope you have enough marine water prepared lol.

They will be in a bigger tank by this weekend.

Well spank my skinny Brit butt for sustaining an evil rumour. I will never...NEVER...diss ghost shrimp again. Ever. Ever!
I have been told
Pami.