The Puffer Forum

hey everyone im new to this forum and very new to GSPs. ive owned my gsp for about a month now and been feeding him ghost shrimps, clams, snails, dried blood worms, & frozen grills. he loves it the first time he trys it but eventually gets tired of it. i threw in a small feeder fish for him as a snack and he totally ignores it. he doesnt try to chase it down or or anything. maybe hes not hungry and i may be over feeding him? his belly isnt big or anything though. he no longer swims up to the surface to feed on blood worms anymore and swims right pass the frozen krills. what do you guys suggest i do to get his appetite back?

oh btw, i did purchase him from walmart and had him for about a month now. he was skinny and small when i first got him but now hes pretty big and fat. i know walmart keeps them in freshwater and hes been in fresh water with me for a month and i do plan on changing his set up to brackish but just not quite sure how to yet. ive read and read and yet it makes no sense to me. workers at petco told me that all i need is to add half marine water and half fresh water to the tank and have it cycle? (i know, i know, they're not the best to go to for info.) could this be a possible reason for him not eating well? maybe he needs to be move to brackish water soon? hes also not very active....

thanks in advance guys. i know im a noob!

Im not the person to go to for medical help. However you need marine salt (aquarium/table salt wont work) and a Hydro/Refractometer to measure the salinity. Check the pufferpedia im pretty sure it could tell you in more detail. Also dont raise the salinity more than .002/week or you will kill your bacteria.

Garlic is a bit of an appetite stimulant for puffers, so you could try soaking his food in garlic juice. If he is currently in FW, then as you do water changes, add marine salt to the new water. Ensure this is done slowly over a period of time - this is because the bacteria in your tank/filter are FW bacteria & any sudden change in the salinity will kill them off - so you do it slowly so that the BW bacteria have a chance to establish themselves. You will need a refractometer as said before.

Read these: library/feeding/feeders/
library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introduction-to-green-spotted-puffers/