Need ideas to get GSPs to properly share food.

[studmaster]

Hey everyone, I need to call on your experience to get my 3 GSP's to get their share of the food at feeding times.

I have 3 GSP's, the first one I bought locally and he had a bit of a head start growing on the other two. The other two I had to drive a couple hours away to get them (just in case it helps to know they might be from a different supplier). At the point of introduction my first puffer (Zephyr) was about 25% bigger than the other two. Zephyr has a REALLY healthy appetite....okay, lets call him a pig. He will eat and eat and eat. He also likes to hog all the food. I thought that the other two would soon catch up to him, but after 5 months they don't seem to have grown much and now Zephyr must be at least 200-300% bigger than the other two. Its because he eats so much and hogs all the food. It seems like my other two puffers haven't grown at all.

Now I need to figure out a way to allow the other two smaller puffers to get more of the food. Other than physically separating the tank at feeding time, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the food more evenly distributed? At first I was feeding large freeze dried krill and Zephyr was almost swallowing the darn things whole. Now I'm thinking that if I feed them smaller food, like bloodworms, the other two smaller puffers would be able to keep up a bit more.

Any thoughts?

[StormySkiez]

Glad to hear you found some healthy puffers . What size tank are yours in? I have two gsp's in a 55g tank that have had issues at feeding time. The larger one is more aggresive (to the point of biting the other gsp) but slower to get the food at feeding time because he focuses in on the other puffer instead of eating. I started to hand feed shrimp or mussel both at the same time to stop fighting at feeding time. This I would guess would be close to impossible for you to do w/ 3 gsp's. Other methods I have used and does work well is I have used a net to keep the gsp's apart at feeding time. They swim away from the net then I feed the one I want to feed while making sure to keep the other puffer away w/ the net. I never have had a problem feeding since I have used both of these methods.

The size tank and amount of decor to break up the lines of sight will play a big role in feeding time for your gsp's. Keep in mind gsp's grow very slow. Mine have grown about 1/2 inch in a year.

[sparks42]

i put some bloodworms in a tiny bit of water and let it thaw for 5 minutes, then dump it in the tank. both my gsps will go after all the little bloodworms in the tank floating around individually. this way they dont have to fight over them. also sometimes i feed krill or mealworm or shrimp, and i cut 2 little pieces, that way they each have 1 piece to focus on. its been working well so far.

[studmaster]

Glad to hear you found some healthy puffers . What size tank are yours in? I have two gsp's in a 55g tank that have had issues at feeding time. The larger one is more aggresive (to the point of biting the other gsp) but slower to get the food at feeding time because he focuses in on the other puffer instead of eating. I started to hand feed shrimp or mussel both at the same time to stop fighting at feeding time. This I would guess would be close to impossible for you to do w/ 3 gsp's. Other methods I have used and does work well is I have used a net to keep the gsp's apart at feeding time. They swim away from the net then I feed the one I want to feed while making sure to keep the other puffer away w/ the net. I never have had a problem feeding since I have used both of these methods.

The size tank and amount of decor to break up the lines of sight will play a big role in feeding time for your gsp's. Keep in mind gsp's grow very slow. Mine have grown about 1/2 inch in a year.

Thanks, my 3 GSP's are in a 50g....not perfect, but until they get a bit bigger that's there home for now. The two small ones are only 1.5inches or maybe a bit bigger. So you say they only grow 1/2 a year? Well Zephyr must be some kind of freak of nature as he has grown at least an inch in about 7 months. The other two don't seem to be growing much at all, unless I'm just comparing them to the big guy. My main worries about using a net is that I don't want to stress them out in any way...I know stress is a big killer in fish. I think I will cut back the feeding and try some smaller food that separates more so all three can eat.

[studmaster]

i put some bloodworms in a tiny bit of water and let it thaw for 5 minutes, then dump it in the tank. both my gsps will go after all the little bloodworms in the tank floating around individually. this way they dont have to fight over them. also sometimes i feed krill or mealworm or shrimp, and i cut 2 little pieces, that way they each have 1 piece to focus on. its been working well so far.

That's a pretty good idea, I think I'll do that so Zephyr can't be a big pig anymore. Thanks!

[StormySkiez]

Well to be exact mine have grown 1/2 inch in 10 months. I don't know why mine are growing so slow but I thought it was pretty normal for a gsp. Your gsp is growing like lightning! I think I read it takes about 3 years to grow to full size? I forget. There is thread here about gsp/puffer growth somewhere. I'm kind of glad mine are growing slow because I'm wondering how hard it is going to be to hand feed six inch puffers. Or what it's going to be like when I stick my hand in the tank to clean. I've never had large fish.

On the net thing my gsp's are not stressed by it. I don't put them in the net. I guide one or the other to another part of the tank to feed. It's a sort of getting them to mind and not fight at feeding or not feed to much to the point of the other fish not getting their share. Spreading the food out will work as long as one of them is not a pig and so fast to get most of the food. I think I have one very aggressive puffer on my hands so I have to be very careful at feeding time. I hope to never see him bite his tank mate again.

[studmaster]

Well to be exact mine have grown 1/2 inch in 10 months. I don't know why mine are growing so slow but I thought it was pretty normal for a gsp. Your gsp is growing like lightning! I think I read it takes about 3 years to grow to full size? I forget. There is thread here about gsp/puffer growth somewhere. I'm kind of glad mine are growing slow because I'm wondering how hard it is going to be to hand feed six inch puffers. Or what it's going to be like when I stick my hand in the tank to clean. I've never had large fish.

On the net thing my gsp's are not stressed by it. I don't put them in the net. I guide one or the other to another part of the tank to feed. It's a sort of getting them to mind and not fight at feeding or not feed to much to the point of the other fish not getting their share. Spreading the food out will work as long as one of them is not a pig and so fast to get most of the food. I think I have one very aggressive puffer on my hands so I have to be very careful at feeding time. I hope to never see him bite his tank mate again.

Luckily when the puffers get big, they also get a big slower than the other smaller puffers (at least in my case). I don't know if they bite each other ever, but they give little warning nips. I have never seen any actual injuries from it. My puffers are pretty good at choping through freeze dried krill and snails, so I don't really want to put my hand in the tank for very long, if at all. Hopefully by feeding smaller food that is more evenly dispersed that will allow everyone to get their fair share.

[SeeingGreen]

The blood worm thing has always worked well for me, but i actually drop it in frozen. My larger puff like to attack the frozen part, while the other one takes care of all the ones floating around the tank. both end up eating approximately equally because as one shakes the frozen block, more free floaters.


Also, they do the same thing over the brine shrimp with spirulana (spelling)

And i don't know if it is the case or not, but they are maintaining fairly short teeth, and i keep thinking that the slightly harder frozen food is helpful for that ( not grossly beneficial, but maybe somewhat)

[sparks42]

here's Chomper and the no name little gsp sharing some bloodworms.... sorry for the reflection i know its hard to see
http://www.youtube.com/v/JNd1kbbUNBk IT WORKS NOW !!!

this is so you can see how they each pick at their own individual bloodworms

[studmaster]

here's Chomper and the no name little gsp sharing some bloodworms.... sorry for the reflection i know its hard to see
http://www.youtube.com/v/JNd1kbbUNBk

hmm, can't get to the video, I've found all your other ones on youtube, but not the one with bloodworms. Can you try finding the link again?

thanks.