Gsp Wont Eat

[Sean W.]

my GSP wont eat anything but blood worms. he ate a baby guppy fish once, when i first got him, and since then, he hasnt touched any of the other baby guppies i put in the tank. right now there are 4 guppies in the tank and he doesnt want anything to do with them. they even bump into each other and its like he says " oops excuse me " and swims away...

sometimes he will look at the guppies and kinda follow them for a few seconds but then its like he looses interest and swims another direction...
also, i have put snails in the tank, but i dont think he is eating any of those either, i havnt actually seen him eat one, but i also cant find any in the tank, but they are small and could easily hide in the rocks..
from all the videos i have seen of any puffer fish the second there is anything forgin that gets dropped in the tank they attack it, that is deffinatly not the case with my GSP...

any thoughts?

 

[retro]

Crush up the snails?
He'll need some form of shell to trim his teeth

 

[Ace Of Spades]

my GSP wont eat anything but blood worms. he ate a baby guppy fish once, when i first got him, and since then, he hasnt touched any of the other baby guppies i put in the tank. right now there are 4 guppies in the tank and he doesnt want anything to do with them. they even bump into each other and its like he says " oops excuse me " and swims away...

sometimes he will look at the guppies and kinda follow them for a few seconds but then its like he looses interest and swims another direction...
also, i have put snails in the tank, but i dont think he is eating any of those either, i havnt actually seen him eat one, but i also cant find any in the tank, but they are small and could easily hide in the rocks..
from all the videos i have seen of any puffer fish the second there is anything forgin that gets dropped in the tank they attack it, that is deffinatly not the case with my GSP...

any thoughts?

Have you got him in brackish water?
Are you feeding him guppy feeders?!!?
What size tank is it?

 

[Sean W.]

no, its not brackish water, not yet..

and I'm not sure if they are guppy feeders.. they are baby guppies...

i tried hand feeding a fish to him today, i even ( god forgive me, i felt horrible doing it ) killed one of the fish and kinda squeezed it so the blood and guts were hanging out and hung it right in front of his face, he simply doesn't want anything to do with the fish.

and i put a snail right in front of his face, he also doesn't want anything to do with the snail..so i crushed the snail and hung it in front of his face, he went up to it and looked like he took a sniff of it, investigating then swam away, it looked like he took a bite that how close he got, he put his face right up to it. then backed away.

i just don't understand

 

[Sean W.]

so, i checked the PH and ammonia levels, the PH was a tad low, but the ammonia was way off, between 4.0 and 5.0, its sopposed to be at 0.

so, i have done water changes and got it back down to 1 - 2. ill do another water change tommorow. hopfuly that will put things back in balance. and then he will eat.

 

[BobRivers]

so, i checked the PH and ammonia levels, the PH was a tad low, but the ammonia was way off, between 4.0 and 5.0, its sopposed to be at 0.

so, i have done water changes and got it back down to 1 - 2. ill do another water change tommorow. hopfuly that will put things back in balance. and then he will eat.

Sean what size is your GSP they need BW so this could be the problem right away you have to add salt. The bigger they get the more salt that is required. If its under 2 " then your SG should be 1.008 approx and then as it gets older you can increase it up but only by .002.

To start the Bw increase only.002 per week till the desired level otherwise you will kill all good bacteria.

You Ammonia is way off it has to be 0 along with nitrite even 1-2 is way to high. I suggest you do 50% water changes very day

How long has the tank been cycled?

I would also stop live feeding with guppies i don't belive it is recommended.

Concentrate on getting the tank cycled before you attempt to add salt.

 

[BecciMac1987]

Second that, your puffer NEEDS salt. Ive got two 2" GSP's in brackish tank, and they destroy any food I give them from mosquito lavae to garden slugs. But they also need perfect water conditions and create a huge amount of waste, so I have to do a 25% water change every week, and I have two Fluval 3+ filters in there too.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

Second that, your puffer NEEDS salt. Ive got two 2" GSP's in brackish tank, and they destroy any food I give them from mosquito lavae to garden slugs. But they also need perfect water conditions and create a huge amount of waste, so I have to do a 25% water change every week, and I have two Fluval 3+ filters in there too.

You didnt state your tank size either, I think a 15g is minimum for one, PH has to be quite high I think. But you shouldnt be feeding him live fish as puffers live off invertabrates and GSP's NEED brackish

 

[Esfa]

It doesnt sound like your tank is cycled...

take the puffer back to the fish shop and then read this thread:


http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/

 

[ac106]

While GSPs do require salt as they grow, a lack of salt clearly isn't the issue here.

It's that the tank isn't cycled. At all, it seems

So everyone can stop with hysterical advice about adding salt.

You need to get the tank cycled ASAP.

Option 1 is to buy some freshwater Bio-Spira.

Option 2: try to get some filter media or substrate from a cycled tank.

Either way you have to do daily or twice daily 50% water changes to get the ammonia to zero. Otherwise the puffer is toast.

Good luck and research before another purchase.

 

[Fella]

I agree 100% with AC106. Puffers are adaptable to salinities, but not toxicity. Get some biospira, and forget about feeding it live food or other fish. They certainly don't need that.

 

[Sean W.]

he died...

 

[Esfa]

he died...

rip

now cycle your tank and get a more suitable fish.