Introducing an undersized GSP into your existing community
Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2023 3:36 pm
To begin, I am a sucker for the underdog. I adopted a 1 eye betta over a year ago because I felt bad every time I saw him in the cup for over a month. He's the best betta ever... "Ghost" (he's all white with huge flowing fins).
About 2 months ago I saw a very young GSP all alone in a tank and a I'm sure you're aware it's easy to read a puffers mood. He was not loving life.
So I bought him even though he was about a 1/4 of the size of the puffers in my tank. He was about an inch; my big guy "Beast" is nearly 6 inches and "Bouncer" is about 5". "Monk" and "Slim" about 3 to 4 inches.
Once introduced he wanted to be part of the crew immediately which you can imagine didn't sit well with the crew.
I have a self sustaining tank, they have a never ending supply of live fish to eat (over 100 guppies that keep reproducing) and I regularly give them snails, live brine, live blood worms, frozen krill (they love it) and freeze dried river shrimp. Yes puffers will eat freeze dried shrimp.
They accepted "Pee Wee" rather quickly except when it came to feeding. He was struggling to catch live fish and was bullied out of food drops.
Solution: hand feeding and occasional beef heart to accelerate growth. Once the tong drops in the water he's ready and happy to say now large enough to occasionally compete for snails however considering he's a juvenile I'm not concerned about his teeth yet.
About 2 months ago I saw a very young GSP all alone in a tank and a I'm sure you're aware it's easy to read a puffers mood. He was not loving life.
So I bought him even though he was about a 1/4 of the size of the puffers in my tank. He was about an inch; my big guy "Beast" is nearly 6 inches and "Bouncer" is about 5". "Monk" and "Slim" about 3 to 4 inches.
Once introduced he wanted to be part of the crew immediately which you can imagine didn't sit well with the crew.
I have a self sustaining tank, they have a never ending supply of live fish to eat (over 100 guppies that keep reproducing) and I regularly give them snails, live brine, live blood worms, frozen krill (they love it) and freeze dried river shrimp. Yes puffers will eat freeze dried shrimp.
They accepted "Pee Wee" rather quickly except when it came to feeding. He was struggling to catch live fish and was bullied out of food drops.
Solution: hand feeding and occasional beef heart to accelerate growth. Once the tong drops in the water he's ready and happy to say now large enough to occasionally compete for snails however considering he's a juvenile I'm not concerned about his teeth yet.