my F8 seems bored

[pdubbu]

Well I am taking my second crack at a F8 in brackish water, my other F8 perished after I wasn't being careful enough around water changes, etc...

So "Lumpy" was pretty energetic for the first week or so, he was exploring every nook and cranny of the tank, playing in the stream of the power-head, etc..

The last few days he seems to be swimming around the tank without my effort or energy, almost like he's bored. So I moved things around in my tank, although he's only been in it for about a week. So today he kind of loafed around the tank, he sat on the bottom on the sand in the little rock cave I have set up, hid in the plants, floated around my heater, and the filter outlet.

When I sit in front of the tank to watch him or try to find where he is hiding he comes out. But otherwise he'd stay hidden or in one of the spots I mentioned above.

This leads me to believe that he's bored....so
1. is he bored?
2. if he is what can I do or what should I do?
3. can I get him a tank mate? (my tank is a 20 Gal)

Any help and advice would be helpful and give me some idea's/insight.

Thanks!

[Boxermom]

What are the water parameters? How long has the tank been set up? How did you cycle it?

[pdubbu]

The tank parameters are:

20 Gal tank
2213 eheim filter
aqua clear power head (with a sponge filter and aeration hose attached)
jaeger heater

1.004 gravity
79-80º F
5-10 mg/l nitrate
0-0.1 mg/l ammonia
7.7 ph

I've been feeding him the odd snail, froze brine shrimp, and a little emerald entree.

[Boxermom]

Nice tank. I would say definitely more decor of the plant variety, taller ones. They like it very heavily decorated so they can explore a lot, IMO. I think there's too much open space for him. I would not recommend any tankmates, not in that size tank.

[Boxermom]

Oh, not sure what you mean by emerald entree, but the snails are good. Brine shrimp should only be an occasional treat, its like potato chips, not nutritious enough to be used as a staple.

[pdubbu]

Thank you very much, I will indeed get more plants to give him more hiding, etc...

As far as what I feed him, here is the frozen pack that I have for him that the guy at the LPS recommended.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/FrozenFood/ ... etail.aspx

If this isn't a good idea, do you have any other recommendations for a frozen pack like this...its super convenient and easy.

[Boxermom]

Personally, I wouldn't feed that stuff to any of my fish. Yes, the frozen packs are very convenient and easy, but not good for them. They need hard shelled items to help keep their beaks from overgrowing and those frozen packets do nothing for them. There's an article on foods on the main page of this site, including pictures. If you want to use frozen foods, shell-on shrimp, frozen mysis shrimp and frozen bloodworms are good. But it'll need a good bit of snails to help its teeth, too.

I also wouldn't listen to the LPS guy. They usually don't know much about most fish, and rarely know the proper care required for puffers.