weird habits

[wesb219]

My gsp for some reason spends alot of time in the corner of his tank swimming up and down up and down dunno if he sees his reflection and follows it or what some times he plays in the bubbles and wonders around his tank just wondered if anyone has any idea why he would swim up and down in the corner so much

[Pufferpunk]

Can you post a pic of your tank?

[sbc580]

My GSP does the same thing...swimming up and down repeatedly. I've tried adding fake plants from him to hide behind, but that didn't do anything so I took them out.
I have no idea what he is doing either.

[I.Puff.Too]

It's most likely boredom. How big is the tank? Maybe add some nice rock structure for him to investigate, and things he can hunt such as snails and fiddler crabs.

[purplecandle]

Yeah post a pic of the tank and size of the tank.

They cannot see their reflection from inside the tank. In fact they can see 20ft outside the tank and they consider that their territory.

[sbc580]

I hate to thread jack, but I don't want to create another thread for the same issue.

Here is my tank:

[defool89]

Add some fake sw algae... What's it called ...correct me if I'm wrong macro algae plants? In those corners, maybe some more rock work in the front ... It's all just boredom...that or it sees outside the tank and it still thinks its swimming lol

[I.Puff.Too]

Rearrange the rock structure into different patterns with different nooks and crannies and different holes if possible; give him the sense of 'new'.
+1 on the Macro

It's definitely boredom though.

[sbc580]

I am going to put some corals for the right corner, where he usually swims up and down the window.
I'll check out the fake plants for now, since corals take a while to grow.

I rearranged the live rock a few months ago and absolutely hated it. I couldn't get anything to stay in one place and everything kept falling over. It probably took close to an hour to set it up the way it is now. How do you guys rearrange your tank? Use superglue?

[littlec]

You can use aquarium safe silicone to glue stuff together but you have to let it dry for a few days. Maybe you could take a few rocks out at a time to glue them and then put them back in and take out a few more. I noticed my puffer using the filter out-take to swim in constantly so I added a small 10 gallon power head. Now he swims in both. I think he likes the current. Maybe yours would like a small current. Maybe make the water blow towards his favorite up and down swim spot.

[defool89]

yea theirs aquarium glue you can buy... you can make your rocks look like a sculpture, defying the laws of physics. And if I were you, I would start with a frag of a coral that's cheap... some puffs may be murderous little bastards that spare nothing.

[sbc580]

I already put one frag in, and used superglue gel to glue it to the rocks. Seems to be fine for now, my GSP hasn't noticed it. This first frag was a test, to see if it could be done. He seems to be a pretty relaxed gsp, he has left my starfish and hermit crabs alone, but ate the 3 turbo snails I had within 48 hours.

I have plenty of flow. There are 2 power heads on the left side, one 125 gph, and one 240 gph. The power head on the right is another 125 gph. I am going to try pointing the 240 gph powerhead to the right corner, I'll see how that works out.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I'll work on making the tank more exciting.

[I.Puff.Too]

Often times what is appealing to us is not as appealing to the fish. Such a shame.

[Pufferpunk]

Which coral?

[sbc580]

Right now it is just a small Button Polyp.



I am going to try adding a leather coral this weekend, see if it gets eaten.