The Puffer Forum

Hey all -

Quick question that I can't find the answer to. I bought a package of frozen bloodworm cubes, the frozen cubes end up being maybe 1/2" to 3/4" each side. I typically thaw these and it looks to be...maybe 40-50 medium sized bloodworms. How much of this is appropriate daily for a juvenile (about 1.5" length) to be fed?

Doing research, I've seen everything from 2-3 worms, to 1/2 of a cube. That's quite the range IMO.

Thanks!

Each fish is different feed untill it has a rounded belly but not extended. Once you have a gauge of how much of a cude this is you can start cutting that amount off a frozen cube.

Be sure to thaw in vitamin water & drain, before feeding out. What other foods are you offering?

Interesting. So, even though each GSP is basically the same size, they aren't consistent in amount of food needed? I've never heard of an animal being this way...makes it real hard to gauge.

As for other food, I've been breeding pond snails and given him those. But that has been it at the moment...the bloodworms are gut-loaded w/ vitamins...the aquarium person told me to just thaw and serve. Do I still need to thaw in vitamin water? I had been letting it thaw overnight in a container in the fridge and use a spoon to pull out about 1/4 of the cube.

This is the product I was using, at the suggestion of the Living Art Aquarium:
http://www.hikariusa.com/diets/jumbo-blood-worms/

As far a the variance you could take a group of people roughly the same size and weight. All will be able to eat different amounts. This would be no different for any other animal. Additionally your gsp grows it will need more food to be full. If you notice its belly not getting as rounded after feeding that would be your cue to increase the amount you are feeding.

Fair enough. I guess I was thinking about more the delta between being to large...the difference seemed to be so large, it'd be like setting similar sized people down for food and not knowing whether to give them an apple or a pot roast, not the diff between 2500 and 3000 calories for instance.

I think I should probably hunt down some ghost shrimp or something for him to hunt.

Yup, I've read that a few times. It's clutch. I just have been unclear with what is considered too much.

I just got him a few live ghost shrimp for the tank...not sure he noticed them yet. 9 of them are in there...I'm sure he'll get to them at some point. Breeding snails right now...but got myself into a bit of an issue with tank setup though...I put some gravel on the bottom along with a flat piece of slate rock because I was told they'd lay eggs there...instead, they laid them on the sides of the aquarium and now I have a whole bunch in there...unsure how to clean the tank real well...they've made a mess. It's going to be a project this weekend. At least I invested in a small power filter for it, so it's not too bad...and I can do a water change...cleaning the gravel though....ugh.

I've also just recently come to grips with how expensive brackish water changes are going to be long-term. I should have just gone marine! Just getting started next week after my refractometer arrives. Going to raise SG by only .001 for a week until I get to 1.010 in about 10 weeks...depending on my starting point for SG.

This forum has been huge in helping me and steered me correct a few times.

Yes, expensive BW WC is why most of us have quickly moved our GSPs up to SW. With the biological filtration live rock offers, you can reduce your WC to 30% every 3-4 weeks, instead of 50% weekly.

Just to expand on the feeding thing: me and my best mate are the same height and roughly the same build, our exercise and work regimes are similar but I eat around twice what he does yet our builds remain the same. It's something that really confuses me. This doesn't help us with our fish keeping, basically just watch and feed slowly until the slightly rounded tummy is achieved and you will work out roughly what that particular fish requires. Puffers may be smart but they will over eat, it's a predator thing. You will soon suss what's right for your fish. I would get him upto marine conditions sooner rather than later it will save you cash in the long run

Yeah....just a shame though. I have 3 power filters....2 running at time and a bunch of other stuff just purchased. Asuming there is an article somewhere in making that transition.

Headstrng wrote:Yeah....just a shame though. I have 3 power filters....2 running at time and a bunch of other stuff just purchased. Assuming there is an article somewhere in making that transition.

I should have been more clear there...is there an article / go-to thread / resource that talks in detail about the transition of puffer from freshwater to brackish to marine? Wondering if I can continue to run 2 RealFlow 50 power filters in my 36g bowfront if I transition through brackish to marine...and if not and need to switch to canister, how to manage the transition of filter types if you don't have a 2nd place to put the fish. Can I / should I stretch it out over some time?

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