The Puffer Forum

Hello,
I am in the process of settling my new GSP into her new home and have run into a few questions. So if anyone can lend me some help, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much, in advance.

1) I am guessing that Pixie is about 2.5 inches including her tail. I don't know how old she is. Given her size, what would be recommended for food and feedin schedules? I read the articles on feeding, however, I'm not sure if Pixie would be considered a smaller puffer or a larger puffer yet. I wanted to try some shrimp and crab but wasn't sure if she is big enough yet. Also, given her size, should I still be feeding her daily or every other day?

2) I read somewhere that the shrimp should be fresh, uncooked shrimp. Forgive me my ignorance, please, I do not even eat any kind of fish let alone something like shrimp. Would a bag of small raw shrimp from the freezer section work? I checked Walmart and that was the only shrimp I could find that didnt say 'cooked'. Or does it need to be something fresh (as in never frozen?)? I'm just confused, lol.

3) I'm picking up some hampster tubes tomorrow to put in Pixie's tank. Is it okay to set up almost like a maze or does it have to be just short, straight lines?

Thanks again,
Tiffany

Hi, welcome to the forum

2.5 inches I would only like to guess a year to 2 years old. But it varies depending on where he has lived, if he has experienced any stunting, but I reckon its a good guess. Full grown, they get up to 6". He is big enough for shrimp and crabs. Just put a little in and once he has a nice round belly, take it out.

Frozen raw shrimp is fine, you can buy fresh and freeze it, or get the frozen stuff. Defrost it in either vitamin water, or water from the tank before feeding. So long as its raw, you are in good hands.

As for the tubes, I dont know...I just let my GSP swim through rock formations....keeps him interested....sorta.

Please read the article on GSP's in the library, should answer some questions.

At that size, one feeding per day, 6 days per week. She will need some hard-shelled foods to help keep her teeth worn down, such as oysters and clams on the half shell, snails, saltwater black mussels, crab, stuff like that. All her foods need to be uncooked, whether you buy them frozen or fresh. You might check out one of your nicer grocery stores, because often they have a fresh seafood counter where you can find these items.

Pufferforum article on feeding: library/category/feeding/

As for the tubes, you'll just have to experiment and see what she likes. If you can, stock the tank heavily with plants (plastic if you're going to ease her in to brackish water), bogwood/african root pieces, and rocks - that would probably be preferable to tubes.