STUPID PUFFERS!!!!!!!!! (its funny)

[inkyjenn]

*has a heart attack and dies*

the bottom of my tank has thin slabs of slate on it that overlap. it makes it really nice for vacuuming up excess food and waste. it also makes for great places for snails to hide.

i got home about 20 minutes ago and the puffs were fine. swimming around being puffs. i went into my bedroom to unwind a bit before making dinner. then i remembered my bf took a bunch of pics of our pleco (in a different tank) and figured id go get the camera and unload the photos. i glanced at the puffer tank on my way past.

DOT WAS BENT ALMOST DOUBLE PRETTY MUCH ON THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK WITH A GRAY BELLY. she/he was sitting so still. im flipping out wondering what to do (the tank is going through a mini cycle, so ive been REALLY paranoid about the puffs behavior). and then a snail crawled out from under the plate dot was eyeballing. dot promptly crunched the snail. i guess dot was hunting. but i swear to god i need a fresh pair of underwear.

[SeeingGreen]

do you have tank pictures, your puff looks very green, where mine are kinda olive... I am curious about the substrate aside from the slate, size of the tank, and i guess decor.

Also, do you have lights on them? I dont right now and am trying to figure out how everyone elses stuff looks sooo great.

[yunachin]

Be careful with slate as puffers have been known to impale themselves on sharp edges. As long as they are covered you are good to go.

[inkyjenn]

actually, the tank is bare bottom aside from the slate; nothing is permanently afixed. this way i can move the slate around and vacuum food up underneath everything. currently, both of my puffers are in a 30 gallon. im in the process of building a stand and canopy and filter for the 60 gallon i just picked up. yes i have lights in my tank. i also happen to have a pretty decent camera. its a 5 megapixel sony with a good carl zeiss lens. its also got a white balance feature that equalizes the tones so light doesnt tint your whole image. to take good pictures of fishtanks, you need to have your tank be the only or primary light source. turn off all the room lights and make it as dark as possible in the room, leaving your tank lights on. then its sit and wait and take a lot of pictures. i take tons and throw tons away, but every now and then i get something worthwhile.

thanks for the advice on the slate. if i see some with a jagged or sharp edge, i will take out and either dremel the edge or just leave it out

[SeeingGreen]

Ahh, it is the camera and the method that makes the difference glad to hear that. Thank you.

[inkyjenn]

you can take good pictures even with a relatively crummy or simple camera. the trick is to be patient and take LOTS of pictures. im talking dozens to get a couple of good ones. i have no clue how many i deleted tonight to get like 4 decent ones of my puffs.

[inkyjenn]

im REALLY REALLY REALLY glad this forum is here.

i found one of my puffers (spot) curled up again. started to panick AGAIN. especially since it didnt move for several minutes. so i sat down and started looking up gsp behavior. by the time i looked back up, the puffer was swimming around again fine, like nothing had even happened. i think he was sleeping.

[Content2Swell]

..started to panick AGAIN..

We marvel that they have the behaviors to let us know when something is wrong, unlike most other fish that just float up one day, and then we have a heart attack when we see them doing it. I sometimes think it broaches another thread's question of whether or not puffers can communicate: Mebbe they just have a dark sense of humor?

[inkyjenn]

i would not doubt that puffers like to mess with their owners. it gets them the attention they want...

[inkyjenn]

and they scared me again!

spot looked like he had some sort of wound on his head. while trying to figure out if it was a fungus or bacteria or wound or something, it slowly flaked off. it was either a bit of leaf or some debris stuck to his head.

i really want to yell at them even though i know it wont do a darn bit of good

[Nick]

If it makes you spend more time in front of the tank(an activity they connect with feeding and thus want to encourage) they'll probably just do it more

[inkyjenn]

it is really hard to not feed them. i have to consciously think about it every time i go sit in front of the tank

[Nick]

I keep some live blackworms around for my dwarf puffers, so if my GSP do something I like, I toss them a couple... it's not enough food to actually mean much, but it keeps me and food closely connected in their puffery minds.

[inkyjenn]

*you will love me. ill make you love me*

hahahahahahaahahaah

[crazedpuffer]

and they scared me again!

spot looked like he had some sort of wound on his head. while trying to figure out if it was a fungus or bacteria or wound or something, it slowly flaked off. it was either a bit of leaf or some debris stuck to his head.

i really want to yell at them even though i know it wont do a darn bit of good

One time I thought Shelby had ich.... It was sand grains on her. Another time her belly was brownish, I thought she was sick or stressed and was about to do a W/C..... it was debris stuff from where she had slept. I did a water change yesterday, and didn't test the salt (I did 5 gallons before I was done, so it could have changed quite a lot) and today I go to check on her, and she didn't move at all for like a minute, I couldn't even see her gills moving, right when I was about to go to put my hand near her to see if she was alive, she swam up to me all happy. I definitely think all puffers like to scare people.