DPs with weird behaviour

[Puffermania]

Hi all,

i've just added 6 DPs yesterday to my cycled heavily planted 29G as shown in my previous topic viewtopic.php?f=4&t=31376 . Now, the funny thing is they kept swimming up and down the left side of the tank, as if they are curious over their reflection or something. After a long while, they will split up, go explore the plants and other parts of the tank, only to return to the same spot, meet up and do the same thing again. Is it anything to be worry about?

ps: i have not quarantine them as i don't have space for another tank. No white spots visible, NH3 NO2 and NO3 are all good, nor do they look lifeless. They are not exactly showing ferocious appetities too.

[RTR]

The fish do not see the same reflection that you see. You are looking through one pane of glass at am angle, into water and at a second pane of glass which is at a right angle to the first pane you look through. The fish are only looking at one pane of glass. The angles or refraction by the glasseses and the water provide that apparent reflection to you but not to the fish.

If the tank were large enough for you tio fit into, you would be able to tell the difference.

HTH

[bertie 83]

Probably new tank nerves, new puffers tend to pace until they settle. I have tested the reflection theory, they can't see a reflection

[Puffermania]

Thanks for the quick replies. Glad to hear that it's nothing to worry. Just wondering if there's a clean and preferred way to feed bloodworms or any food to the DPs?

[RTR]

You will have to watch/observe their behavior. Dominance issues can mean that some individuals do not get as much to eat. If that is happening, you may need to feed at two or more places in the tank.

[paws_bells]

Hey Mania, glad to know that you got your DPs already! This might be a little late to share, but my DPs did the same thing when I first introduced them to their new home as well. They skated up and down the side of the tank surface (right under the outlet of my HOB filter) for the first couple of days or so before they finally settled down. FYI, my trio started taking food roughly 6 hours after I acclimated them to their new home, but their appetites only started to really pick up on the second day onwards.

Did you get your DPs from SeaView like you planned to? If so, do watch out for IPs - I think mine had them when I brought them home.

[Puffermania]

Hi paws,

Yeah, they seem to reduce on that weird behaviour now and I did got them from Seaview. Can't go wrong at $0.80.. As for IP, how did you find out and what did you do about it? I tried soaking the bloodworms in Prazi Gold for a couple of their first few meals as a precautionary measure but nothing seems to be bothering any of the DPs so far.

[Puffermania]

Hi, just saw a dead Oto in my tank. It had an inflated belly with a obvious red mark on it. Was it an attack? I do have 6 Dps, 3 Yamatos, and 2 SAE.