The Puffer Forum

I know a picture would do best here, but since I have no means of posting one currently I'll do my best to describe it. My puffer seems to have changed colors within the last two days. His belly is still a creamy white and area immediately above his head is still a very flourescent green. However the rest of his green is somewhat dull. He had to recently be moved to a new tank due to misinformation by the wonderful walmart and after getting a taste of my live glofish, he turned his nose up at freeze dried or frozen food for 24 hours. He ate well today and like I said his belly and the top of his head seem to be colored normally. Should I be concerned about the shade of the rest of his body, or is this a reaction to the tank change and the food? Other than that, he seems to be happy and healthy, swimming and exploring for most of the day until I turn off the tank lights.

Most fish coloration is affected by the environment. The obvious environmental factors include the substrate color and lighting plus the decor and the lighting (both the tube color and spectrum and the intensity, plus the background color on the tank. Water chemistry also affects color in that any shift in the test profile of the water parameters will affect the fish and its color. The time of day also has effect in relation to the light cycle of the tank. When a fish has been moved from one tank to another, it would as unusual for the fish's obvious coloration to be unchanged as for it to be the same.

Just keep an eye on the fish to learn its regular coloration shifts in the new tank and keep checking the parameters to be sure they are good, especially the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels.

HTH

My old GSP I had a few years ago was colored the exact same way; dull green with a bright, fluorescent spot on top of his head. He lived to be almost 14 years old. I have seen some GSP's that lack the fluorescent green patch, and while I'm not sure what causes/does not cause it, I don't think it's anything to worry about.

energizerfish wrote:I know a picture would do best here, but since I have no means of posting one currently I'll do my best to describe it. My puffer seems to have changed colors within the last two days. His belly is still a creamy white and area immediately above his head is still a very flourescent green. However the rest of his green is somewhat dull. He had to recently be moved to a new tank due to misinformation by the wonderful walmart and after getting a taste of my live glofish, he turned his nose up at freeze dried or frozen food for 24 hours. He ate well today and like I said his belly and the top of his head seem to be colored normally. Should I be concerned about the shade of the rest of his body, or is this a reaction to the tank change and the food? Other than that, he seems to be happy and healthy, swimming and exploring for most of the day until I turn off the tank lights.

I would think this would be a color change due to the change of environment. My two GSP's are very "moody" in that they change colors frequently. Mine often get that "dusky" appearance I think you're referring to after I've moved their rocks/decor around or after water changes, etc. I'd say very normal, but I'd keep an eye on your water param's to be sure!

Thanks for all the wonderful advice. He seems to be doing much better now. His belly is a beautiful creamy white and the rest of his body has lightened up some. He does get a little gray when I do water changes or have to fish out a piece of uneaten food. He seems to not like his tank disturbed but he seems to change back pretty quickly now. Thanks for all the tips.

My GSP has a flourescent green spot at the top of his head, however he certainly isn't dull in color of the rest of his body.

Thanks again for all the wonderful input. I've attached a picture to show his current coloration. I think he was just a dusky color because of the stress of a new tank. He seems happy and beautifully colored now. In this picture he has just eaten so his belly is full not puffed out.

Mine will turn light when they go to sleep on the light substrate...I see you have light sand

Other than that RTR mentioned the usual color change reasons....

Cute fella, but add more decor!!

He looks great to me!

If you mean dark or gray coloration on his belly and face, that is very common with GSPs. Mine gets dark spots on his face when he's hunting.

mine is about 2 inches...had him for a about a week.

his belly is greyish and has only a small bright green fluorescent spot on his head. he seems fairly happy swimming around the tank looking for snails (i have a small population of tiny pest snails i got from my LFS). Is there nothing i can do to get his belly whiter and his green around his body to be brighter?

@ Calvin - What size tank is your GSP and where did you get it? Mine did that until after I treated him for parasites. If you got it from Wal-mart or some other equally terrible place to buy fish, you may want to consider a parasite treatment. The only other thing I might recommend is making sure he is in a big enough tank and that the water is of good quality. Check ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, etc. That's as much as my limited experience can help you with. I'm sure some of the more experienced people here can jump in after this.

You covered everything I was going to say.

Exo-Terra Snails, Unshelled, 3.4 oz
http://www.amazon.com/Exo-Terra-Snails- ... 56&sr=1-68
Any opinions about feeding these to my GSP in the absence of live snails?

seeing that they're unshelled, I'd say they are pretty much useless, IMHO

EDIT - I just read that they were softened, so even more useless..lol