The Puffer Forum

I've basically had my GSP for about 8 months now, and he is a healthy looking puffer (as far as i know, although I'm not knowledgeable at all when it comes to fish. I'm learning though!) with a lot of energy. There has been one thing that has concerned me though since he was first purchased, which is his belly will fluctuate between black and white, and as far as I've read in other posts, black means stress. What confuses me though is how he is white most of the time (while he is swimming and exploring) but when he is eating his belly will occasionally turn black. I have him in a 29 gallon tank, and he is reaching about 2" in size and I feed him a steady diet of shrimp, small snails, freeze dried worms, and recently started him with crickets. Now my main question is, is the black bad for him? If so, how bad? And, could the black belly be caused by what I"m feeding him or some sort of other factor? He has a few tank mates, two small neon fish about half his size, and two pluckos (one very large one that I'm currently trying to find another home for. This issue of him turning black was going on before the new large plucko came along) Also another note about the black belly, I noticed that occasionally his belly blackens while he is sleeping. Anyone have an idea why that occurs? Thanks for taking the time to read my concerns, and any advise given is deeply appreciated! Thanks again!

Lazeeyemt

Well, I had a GSP once that was like that: very expressive with his belly. None of the others I've had have been that way, though. I have a fluviatilis that is very much like what you describe; when just cruising around, pacing the glass, or whatever, his belly is snow white. But when he sees me and comes over to the side of the tank and starts begging, you can watch his belly turn dark before your eyes...I read somewhere in this site about "hunting mode" so I figure that's what's going on.

I think different GSP's react in different ways. When I first got my GSP, I had a pair of them. One of them used to get a really dark belly when resting, the other didn't. Both of them had clear white bellies when they started moving around. The only other time they ever got dark was when I did water changes and they got scared. Now I only have one GSP. He does not get a dark belly when resting, but develops dark lines at the corner of his mouth, where the green meets the white. That goes away when he starts swimming around. It comes back occasionally when he is eating...but normally not. The only time he really gets dark is still during water changes, and is visibly scared...curled tail and such. He is getting better with them though. I try a little positive reinforcement, after each water change I feed him a tiny bit. He spends less time being scared after water changes now.

My Pistachio gets the black line by his mouth too. We call it Pistachio's mustachio lol

mine gets a gray belly when he eats, but ive notice its when hes "stalking" his prey. he does this mostly for snails and live cherry shrimp. but he will do this when hes looking for leftover goodies in his gravel after i finish feeding him (mysis shrimp, blood worms, etc). he gets really dark when hes eating a clam out of the shell. i think its not stress during feeding, but more excitement/concentration about food.

With the neons & pleco in there, what's your SG? Please find them another home quickly, so they do not suffer from the salt (neither will appreciate ANY amount) & so you can get the GSP into the high salt levels required for this species.