Hoping I do not have a reason to be worried...

[Adria]

One of my 3 gsp's has been acting odd for the last day or so. All 3 are small...2 being around 1 inch, the other (the one acting strange) is a bit bigger at 1 & a half inches. This morning I got up to turn on their lights & as normal the puffs all swam up to greet me except the larger one who is laying on the bottom curled up in a ball. Last night, it was in the same spot but not curled up & he/she came out to eat bloodworms with the rest of them. Currently, his/her belly is white and from what I can see none of the puffs have battle wounds.

So in short (sorry I tend to ramble...), what does it mean when a puff rests on the floor of the tank & curls his/her tail in - making him/herself look like a ball?

[RTR]

Tank size?

Water parameters?

Equipment and setup?

Foods?

Belly profiles?

[Pufferpunk]

She sounds like me... slow to wake.

[xrayjeeper83]

ya if its a AM only thing, I think your puff is just lazy and slow to get up

[jus85411]

wait til you get freaked out by seeing them bump into things while trying to wake up and get coordinated. i thought mine was dying, then two minutes later it was bright and white belly swimming normally and all happy. this doesnt happen anymore usually other lights are turned on before his so he has time to realize its time to wake up before getting disturbed

[Adria]

It's been an unusually week so THANK YOU for the responses. They have been acting more normal. We just moved all of our tanks...again. Seriously, it's been every 3 to 4 months that we have to move them. Ahh! Anyway, the gsp's might still have been stressed from the move...though they were moved almost 2 weeks ago.

However to answer RTR's questions:
tank size: 55 gallon
equipment/set up: 2 sponge filters rated for an 80 gallon tank, lots of fake plants, 3 caves, also 2 (I think) knight gobies
foods: thawed frozen shrimp, blood worms, live ghost shrimp
belly profiles: the gsp in question had a white belly...all of them currently do.
Sorry I do not know what the water parameters are...the test kit is around here somewhere - I just have no idea where, must be in a box that I have yet to unpack!

[jus85411]

at adult size the recommended tank size for GSP are 30gallons each + any additional fish. so hopefully shortly you have plans to upgrade to at least a 90. the curling in a ball could be a stress thing because they are high brackish/marine puffers and thrive at higher salinities. or it could just be the puff sleeping. i havent seen my GSP curl since he was small and in freshwater. now when he sleeps he just gets his dark colors and sits on the sand or on a rock. mainly i think curling is a water quality problem but has also been related to sleeping.

be careful moving tanks. when you do this how do you do it? do you empty the tanks completely? half way? my roommate had a 45 gallon tank that he wanted to move when we shifted the living room around. i suggested getting all fish, decor and water out but leaving the gravel in. he said "thats too much, i think it will be ok to just empty it about halfway and drag the stand with the tank on top" i questioned him again but he was dead set on doing half as much work as he really needed to do. we slid the tank and stand over to where he wanted, seemed like it was flawlessly. WRONG!! next day there was water on the floor so there was a small leak somewhere. after getting a new tank from craigslist, doing an emergency cycle with his filter and some media from mine when it was FW we saw that one pane of glass somehow shifted in the process and was not flush anymore with the other sides about 3/4 of the way up the tank. needless to say he learned his lesson and admitted he should have listed to me

[JRC3]

Do you know the model of the sponge filters? How long where the sponge filters not in use during the move? Where they out of the water for any amount of time and were they rinsed out in chlorinated tap water?

Can you take some of your water to a pet store and have it tested?

[RTR]

Second JRC#'s comments.

The food will need more crunch soon,

The tank is fine for a starter, but should be upgraded to a significantly larger one ASAP if you plan to keep all 3 GSPs - a 55 is not big enough to house even 2 adults. Ask PP about that. There are pictures here of her 2 adults in a 55. These are not small fish biologically. Think of them as half-sized Oscars. they are similarly messy and high-mass, high bioload fish, fairly fast and strong.

HTH

[Adria]

RTR, I'm aware of their tank size requirements when they are adults...they are far from adults now. Very small, it sometimes takes me a few minutes to find the 3rd puffer in the tank. I plan on upgrading the size of their tank when the get a bit bigger. And when I was listing the foods I forgot to list snails...I feed them small snails we breed about once a week. Should it be more often than that?

Moving tanks is a pain in the butt but we do it your was jus85411, we took all of the decor and fish out & put them in a large plastic tote with water from their tank. We left the majority of the sand in the tank while moving it. I don't know the type of sponge filter but they were not rinsed in chlorinated water and they were moved in a bucket containing water so the bacteria wouldn't die.

Oh! And they're not in freshwater, they are in brackish...though I'd have to ask my boyfriend what the salinity is.

[JRC3]

Moving the filters may have thrown your tank into a cycle. Best bet to know for sure would be to find your test kit or take some of your water in for testing. Btw, I looked and the Hydro-Songe IV is rated for 80g and that might be what you have. It looks like you can even stack additional sponge elements on it if need be.

Good luck

[RTR]

I do understand your situation, but few hobbyists ever realize that the the almost routine practice of "moving the fish to a larger tank when they need it" is an almost certain technique for guaranteeing that the fish will never reach full adult size, as they would have done if house properly while they are small.

Fish never stop growing - it lasts throughout their lives. BUT, the majority of captive fish grow most rapidly and best while sexually immature. Post-puberty, growth slows markedly, and after full maturity it is glacially slow, almost undetectable. Fish are quite sensitive to hormones released into the water by others, especially conspecifics. Those communication chemicals can directly and adversely affect growth of all but the dominant fish.

My personal experience has taught me that if I want fish to reach full adult size (equal to or somewhat larger than that observed from the wild), they need to be in the largest possible water volume as soon as possible, especially when more than one fishis being kept in the same water. We just do not know nearly enough about the long-term implications of stunting. Since captives in good conditions live many times the lifespan of their wild kin, it is important to us. All that we do know is that plenty of space (water) early is important in adult size, and any slowdown in early growth is permanent. That information, like much optimum care info, is largely ignored in the hobby, even though fish breeders have known it for decades.

HTH

[Adria]

RTR, I won't even begin to try to argue your point. Mostly because I agree with it. However, I do believe that they are ok in their current tank for a little while. They are very, very small. And like I said before, I do plan on getting them a larger tank...but it won't be for a little while b/c a) they're very small & b) we just moved...thus, we're very broke!

If my tank is cycling again, despite all of our efforts to keep things with bacteria on them (decor, substrate, filters) in water and we moved this tank and got it set up again in a matter of 4 hours, wouldn't the puffers be showing signs of distress?

[JRC3]

...If my tank is cycling again, despite all of our efforts to keep things with bacteria on them (decor, substrate, filters) in water and we moved this tank and got it set up again in a matter of 4 hours, wouldn't the puffers be showing signs of distress?

There is one very simple, easy way to find out. Test the water. It is basic fish keeping...If there is anything that causes concern, you test your water. And something has caused concern or you wouldn't have started this thread.

And I hope testing the water is a waste of time and everything is A-OK.

Good luck.

[Adria]

Thanks! I will test the water...yesterday was spent looking for the test kit we have...no luck of course. Looks like it's off to a pet store I go!