Dog Faced Behavior Questions & Concerns
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:02 pm
Hi puffer forum,
I'm a new dog face puffer owner and have some questions on what is "normal" behavior and what I should be worried about. I ask because I'm brand new to keeping an aquarium and still in the learning phase. The dog face puffer was given to me as a gift so I've been trying to learn as much as I can.. Here are the tank details:
29 gal saltwater cycled for 5 weeks using FritxZyme nitrifying bacteria.
Currently:
Ammonia between 0-0.25ppm (employee at aquarium told me its closer to 0 and should be good. This reading hasn't changed since before the fish went in.)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20ppm (this reading seems to have risen slightly in the last week. before it was around 5-10ppm.)
Ph: 8.0
Temp: 78 degrees
So the puffer went in the tank and was a little shy for the first day, but became really friendly and active shortly after. He kept up pretty active behavior for the first week and a half and had no problem eating. I noticed he became spotted while sleeping and I assumed this is normal.
After being in the tank for 1.5 weeks, I preformed a 25% water change using RO salt water mix from the aquarium store. I noticed I had lost a lot of water due to evaporation so I topped off with about 1.5 gallons of tap water treated with Nova Aqua water conditioner.
Following the water change, the puffer seemed really happy to have clean water and was super active for the next day. But since then (in the past 3 days) he's become very dormant and hiding behind rocks mostly. He's also been displaying some strange behavior like darting across the tank at an extreme speed and pecking at the glass. I thought maybe he was confused by his reflection in the glass, but now I'm becoming a little concerned that he keeps hiding and his spots are present.
I've been feeding him every other day- frozen krill and clams on the half shell. Currently no trouble eating.
Any guidance is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I'm a new dog face puffer owner and have some questions on what is "normal" behavior and what I should be worried about. I ask because I'm brand new to keeping an aquarium and still in the learning phase. The dog face puffer was given to me as a gift so I've been trying to learn as much as I can.. Here are the tank details:
29 gal saltwater cycled for 5 weeks using FritxZyme nitrifying bacteria.
Currently:
Ammonia between 0-0.25ppm (employee at aquarium told me its closer to 0 and should be good. This reading hasn't changed since before the fish went in.)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20ppm (this reading seems to have risen slightly in the last week. before it was around 5-10ppm.)
Ph: 8.0
Temp: 78 degrees
So the puffer went in the tank and was a little shy for the first day, but became really friendly and active shortly after. He kept up pretty active behavior for the first week and a half and had no problem eating. I noticed he became spotted while sleeping and I assumed this is normal.
After being in the tank for 1.5 weeks, I preformed a 25% water change using RO salt water mix from the aquarium store. I noticed I had lost a lot of water due to evaporation so I topped off with about 1.5 gallons of tap water treated with Nova Aqua water conditioner.
Following the water change, the puffer seemed really happy to have clean water and was super active for the next day. But since then (in the past 3 days) he's become very dormant and hiding behind rocks mostly. He's also been displaying some strange behavior like darting across the tank at an extreme speed and pecking at the glass. I thought maybe he was confused by his reflection in the glass, but now I'm becoming a little concerned that he keeps hiding and his spots are present.
I've been feeding him every other day- frozen krill and clams on the half shell. Currently no trouble eating.
Any guidance is greatly appreciated. Thanks!