Spotted Green Puffer

[AdamHorton]

I used to have a 10G tank with two spotted green puffers. I lost one of them while I was on vacation last week, and I've been watching the other one a little more closely recently. I've seen some things and I think they're normal, but I wanted to make sure.

First, I notice him resting on the rocks or on the decorations and not moving a lot. I think this is normal, but once I saw him resting in an awkward place, face down into the rocks. This was right after I had cleaned the tank so he was a little stressed at the time. Also, after he's done resting, I notice the parts of his belly where he was sitting on are a little darker for a while. Is this all normal?

Second, when we had two puffers, I noticed he ate a lot more than he does now. Could this be because now he's not competing with anyone else for food? He still gets excited and eats, he just stops sooner now (actually he wouldn't stop at all before, he would steal food from the other one). He gets frozen bloodworms and occasionally he gets small pond snails, though he hasn't gotten many recently -- I should start "overfeeding" my snail bowl again. Should I be worried that he's eating less?

 

[fishboy444]

this is to small a tank for a GSP.1 needs at least a 30 gallon tank.A figure 8 puffer is good.

 

[exodon king]

As mentioned, your puffer will eventually outgrow the tank. It will be ok for now though. Just a heads up that they will potentially grow to be 6".

With that out of the way. Your puffer sounds normal. As long as it still swims around, resting on the ground now and again is not bad.
As far as feeding, you should try supplementing with other foods. My GSP (who btw, is in a much smaller tank than yours) also eats MP, freeze dried shrimp and krill, and picks at my arowanas food sticks. If you change up the diet a little, you may notice a change in eating behavior.

 

[AdamHorton]

I'm ready to increase the tank size as necessary for him, but while he's small it's easier for me to keep him in a 10G tank...

My LFS told me that bloodworms and snails were the only thing they would eat... I found out somewhere that they would also eat live ghost shrimp (?)

...what is MP?

 

[exodon king]

MP = Market Prawns. (aka jumbo shrimp or 51/50 if your a chef. Lol) its the big shrimp you buy at the seafood counter of the grocery store. Uncooked of course.

They will eat live foods as well as the other stuff I listed. I generally do not use live feeders for any of my fish, but sometimes its necessary for puffers. The shells of snails and crayfish will keep their beaks in check.
Ghost shrimp will easily be accepted by your puffer. I also throw in the occasional crayfish.