The Puffer Forum

I have kept GSPs in the past in brackish and freshwater and am somewhat familiar with their behavior (but obviously not with their water needs). My most recent GSP seems to have odd behavior and just want some feedback for possible causes. He seems very healthy and active, but is shy, won't eat snails, and is almost hyperactive which is very different from any I have kept before. I have kept 12 horned nerite snails in the tank with him for over a month and still have 100% accountability for the snails, with their normal appetite for snails I expected at least one to go missing. Am I using the wrong kind of snail, and if so what do you guys suggest for snails? I have tried a number of different frozen and freeze dried foods, but the only thing I have been able to get him to eat normally has been frozen bloodworms. He ate frozen shrimp yesterday, but he didn't seem very excited about it. He paces the glass 24hr hours a day, I tried to get a picture for the post but even with high shutter speed he is never in focus. He looks healthy 90% of the day, but in the early morning when I turn on the light and feed he turns blackish over his whole body, then over the next 30-45 mins fades to white extending all the way up both sides then fades back to white belly and green spotted back and looks healthy. Unlike most fish I have kept and even GSPs in the past he never meets me at the glass, in fact he goes to the back left corner of the tank anytime something approaches the tank. This may all be normal behavior for a GSP in a marine enviroment but it just doesn't seem right to me, and since this is my first time keeping them in what will be a marine enviroment I want to make sure I do it right.

Quick rundown on housing: moved him to a 55g with the nerite snails a couple weeks ago, para: ammonia 0-.25ppm, nitrate flux 0-20 ppm, nitrite flux 0-1ppm, pH 8.0-8.1, sand bottom in half and aquarium gravel in half. I will be replacing the gravel with sand and crushed coral as I can. I have the SG at 1.016 now and am slowly increasing to low marine.

You're right, Nearite snail's shell are way too hard to crunch. Give him pond or ramshorn.
Great feeding info here: library/category/feeding/

What is the best way to introduce him to a snail as food? Should I crush one for him to smell the meat, or will live chasing it be more stimulating? And will ramshorn survive in a marine tank long enough for him to see them and eat them, if not what is a good substitute to put in a SW tank for him to eat? My refugium is full SW for the macroalgae, so my hope is to stock that with live food I can add to the display tank as food for him. I have pods coming for clean-up and I thought about ghost shrimp, but i wasn't sure these would be tough enough to wear on teeth? Where do you guys get bivalves for them to eat and what species?

Crush the first snail then any future ones added will be unlikely to touch the bottom