How to help Puffy (figure 8) not be afraid when I walk by.

[Frank the Fish Guy]

Does anyone have any advice to help Puffy (F8) not get so scared when I walk by.

He lives in a 20 gallon tank by himself. Some rocks, and fake plants. I have two filters going and an air stone. His water is brackish at 1.008 and water parameters are good. The tank is fully cycled. I have kept Puffers before.

Puffy is healthy and generally is active. He plays in the bubbles. He likes to look around the tank and seems very aware of the world outside his tank.

If I just sit in front of the tank and watch him, he is happy. Cruising around. Will go for a snail when I drop it in. But he takes a while to find it.

But when you first walk to the tank, as you are moving in front of the tank he ALWAYS panics and almost jumps out of the tank. Then when you get in front, he is OK. If you watch him from far away he just cruises around and does Puffer stuff.

I fear he will actually harm himself.

Any advice. I mean, we have to walk by.

We have only had him for about 3 weeks. I wonder if he will grow out of this?

[Pufferpunk]

Hi Frank, Welcome!
Very best way to get your puffer to be comfortable in the open is to have a TON of decor to retreat to. Be sure to approach s-l-o-w-l-y.

F8s are best kept at SG of 1.003-5, so don't wast your $$$ on $alt.

[Frank the Fish Guy]

OK thanks for that Pufferpunk. The tank is quite sparse, just a few rocks a two plants. OK I'll will put more decor in there. Thank you for that!

Yes, I think you are right. It is the SPEED of walking that startles him. Walking by very slowly is helping. But he still is worried. Then once you sit in front of him he is OK.

Thanks for the tip on salinity. He does seem to be fine at 1.008. But my bag of salt will last almost 2x longer if I start using a little less and take him down to 1.005.

[Frank the Fish Guy]

Puffer seems much braver since I moved in some big rocks into his tank! It was really quite sparse before, but now 60% of the surface has rocks.

He doesn't hide behind the rocsk. Just doesn't get as startled when we come by now.

Great tip!

[Pufferpunk]

YAY!