The Puffer Forum

Hey PPL's wassup?
Hope everyone had a great holiday. I've had my 3 GSP's in their home for about 4 months and are growing slow but seem healthy and active. I've tried not feeding them much maybe a 1/8 ounce every other day. Remember I have 3 GSP so that seems light to me. They did get 5 ghost shrimp on Xmas though. Also they get fed the normal foods like Snails,Shrimp(dry/frozen),Clams,Bloodworms(dry/frozen),Mysis Shrimp and sometimes live redworms. They haven't been fed in 4 days and still seem fat infact they always seem fat lately. Parimeters are perfect SG at 1.012 temp at 79 degrees. Just wondering if this is normal digestion they always seem hungry too. Also they aren't showing signs of any parasites. One occasionally window surfs. Two showing exceptional color and the lil baby more grey but very vibrate in the morning hours or when the light is off. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Would they be fine if I dont feed them for a week?

They can go for a week without eating without a problem. It's perfectly normal for them to still have bellies after not eating for a few days.

I give mine every 3 a 4 days some food, and they are always fat

What's wrong with a fat puffer? Seriously, they should have nicely rounded bellies, if they are flat or sunken in, that's usually a bad thing. Puffers are, for the most part, pretty "round" fish.

How young are these guys? Younger puffers eat more often than adults, and as they get older and closer to full grown size (6" or so) you'll probably only need to feed them every 3 days or so, but each fish is different.

Can you post a picture? Sometimes these guys do get flat out obese.. but people have more problems with them being skinny than fat in general

and this B4 feeding I like them FAT

My 2 F8s always look fat, they are not adults and I don't feed them everyday... just 3-4 times a week. I wonder if they are ok since they always look like PolishPuff's F8s.

Mine are a tad bigger and much rounder than those in the pic I think I'll wait a week to see if they slim down a bit I may have gave them too much on Xmas bc I knew I'd be gone a few days. I'll try to up load pics buts it always says too big for site and I'm not computer savvy soo..... I can't figure out how to resize them. Are those GSP in the pics they look great Id like to see more pics of your guys puffers and their tanks so I can get some fresh ideas for decorating. What sg you keep em at etc.

Are they swimming normally? they might of inhale some air.

Yea they're swimming fine.

I do agree that most GSPs should be well rounded, but if they retain a beer gut like those pictured in this thread a day or two after eating, to me they are too fat. Those pictured look to me to be young, and I don't object to some gut fat in immature puffers. After they are mature - say over 2-3 years old - I'd lik them to look a bit trimmer - still round-bodied, but no prominent bellies. That is over-feeding. Some but not extreme belly fat is ok to me in young fish, not so much in mature fish. Egg-lade females will look fat, but it is not the same profile - the fat look is farther back on the body, with an almost pear-shaped cross-section there. That look tends to come and go after they they dump the eggs.

If your adult GSPs (or F-8s or any other hunter-predator puffer) are always fat, I would reduce the feeding quantity or increase the interval or both, and perhaps boost the current a bit. None of my long-lived puffers had beer gutted, all were still rounded though. I do subscribe to the old adage of "a lean horse for a long race". That applies to humans, dogs,cats, and fish as well.

HTH

I agree. I don't think they should look like they have swallowed a marble - cute as it may be. Mine have a slightly rounded appearance to their tummies, which gets a little large when fed.
& I hope they are about right!

RTR always used to give me a hard time about my GSP's waistlines...

I like that shot of PP's GSPs - the lower fish is not bad, comparable to bigfatfish 's GSP pictured earlier in the thread. The upper fish in PP's pic looks too fat unless it was fed in the last few hours.. I will admit, it can be more difficult to control feding when they are co-housed - one always dominats, at least a bit. But I would likely have tried to slim them down just a bit. Those were fully mature puffers, not juveniles at all, and really nice looking fish - excellent color and apparently fully compatable.

Yep--you're right about the dominant fatty. Same thing in my duo F8 tank.