Is there such thing as too much maintenance....

[logansmomma1228]

So I have been trying to get my puffer to eat a decent amount of fish but the problem I have with this is that little frozen brine shrimp floating around are a tad bit too fast for him to catch. So I have to dump quite a bit in there so he can eat some. I have been keeping an eye on parameters and ammonia is now about .25. Been doing water changes every other day and vacuuming the gravel with them. Could I kill the good bacteria off if I vacuum the gravel this often? That is the only way I can think of to keep the shrimp from rotting and causing a spike.

I am planning on trying out some ghost shrimp and/or a snail or two for my little guy, because they won't cause this if he doesn't eat them.

 

[BigJim]

Try turning off your filter when feeding and feed smaller amounts. Stopping the flow for a few minutes won't hurt anything and your puffer should be able to catch food more easily.

I don't think you'll kill your bacteria populations with frequent water changes. I've heard of people cycling with fish doing two PWCs a day and their tanks still cycled. I'd say the extra food is probably causing the spikes.

 

[Crepe]

I fed my puffer blood worms. You should try that. You can get the hikari frozen ones for pretty cheap. Just take some sweezers and hold one worm still in the water column and see if he will take it.

Try turning off the filter and just putting some brine shrimp on the decor and see if he will go for it.