The Puffer Forum

I've had my GSP for almost a year now and he still looks the same size as when I got him, he is about 2 inches long.

He is in a 30 gallon brackish water tank I feed him daily (a mix of ghost shrimp blood worms and snails)

I check the water levels, make sure everything is good, I mean he's been a happy little guy for the past year but he hasn't grown.

I was wondering if this could be a problem, or maybe they take a lot longer to grow then I expected?

GSPs don't grow very quickly.

WHAT SG???

I think maybe you should try offering him different foods. I give mine mussels and pieces of raw jumbo shrimp, as well as bloodworms and snails, but they aren't very substantial so more as a supplement food rather than a primary.

It's true that they do grow fairly slowly ... but I would still expect to see some growth in a year's time.

what are you parameters and salinity? i would also try a little more varied diet and get some vitamins to soak his food in. i feed mine clams, shrimp and mussells from the grocery store. i freeze them the night i get them to kill anything that could be in there. frozen cubes my GSP loves are bloodworms, mysis shrimp, clams, mussells(his absolute fravorite) and squid. all soaked in Selcon Gel with the occasional crab/crayfish treat

What are your water changeing schedules and how much do you change? If your not doing enough to keep your nitrates down it might also be letting the hormomes buildup causeing stunting. That or he might be stunted already from b4 you got him? If your water changes are adequit then i would go with the later as being the culprit. Im not sure what your sg is but raising the sg can get reactions from your gsp when it comes to color and growth.

If anyone has the thread about GSP growth rates and salinity levels bookmarked could you please put a link to it. Someone started a survey on a thread and i cant find it but it could be helpfull to the OP to compare his parameters and growth rate to.

i agree, my GSP didnt really grow until the water started being a mid-high brackish. then he had a spurt of about 2 inches putting him up to like 4 inches now

The GSP in full marine thread is the very first post in this forum.. its stickied up at the top!

Thnx Myaj I was looking for a different title....... But to the OP if you take a look at that thread it will give you an idea of growth rates compared to salinity levels and such.