The Puffer Forum

Sorry By_a_coo, I did miss that part where you told how long they had been in there. My mistake.

It does look like a lovely tank & well set out. All I can suggest is each time you do a water change, that you move things around a little. I move all my decs. a little every week (mainly so my 2 GSPs don't start nipping at eachother), & find that they spend time exploring. I have the end of the tank nearest the window, blacked out with card (to stop the sunlight entering so much) & they never seem to pace at that end. The other end, they do sometimes, so I put a load of plants etc there. Maybe if yours have a "favourite" spot for pacing, you could break the line with some well placed decs. Good luck anyway!

You might want to try a floating plant, mine used to pace incessantly until I added some hornwort to the tank, it seems to mess with the reflections a bit and they love to hang around in it. If you have problems with pacing at the back of the tank, a background seems to put a stop to that.

bigfatfish - Moving the hardscape a little in each water change would be a PITA because I have very heavy stones, and I have cryptocorines, sagittarias and eleocharis that don't like to be moved. That's why I really did plan the decor.

speaktree - I was thinking of floating plants such as duckweeds or water lettuce (pistia sp.). I planted my hornworts among the rocks since they begin to rot if I plant them in the substrate.

Well, I think I have good news.
Today I made a water change and I raised the salinity from 2 g/L to 5 g/L (SG 1.002 at 25°C/77°F). My water parameters are:
Ammonia: zero
Nitrite: zero
Nitrate: <5ppm
pH: 7,5
KH: 8°dH/143 ppm
CO2: 8 mg/L
GH: 30°dH/535ppm
Temp: 29°C/84.2°F
SG: 1.002
Salinity: 5g/L

In the beginning they used to pace up and down the glass after feeding time. Now that I raised the salinity they were fed and then they went to take a rest instead of pacing as they used to do. After that I noticed they exploring the java moss... That was the happiest moment that I experienced!

I think there are factors that together prevents them from pacing, such as:

-Medium-low light;
-Some tall objects such as plants/rocks/woods among décor to breake up the lines of sight;
-Not overfeeding to stimulate them to explore and hunt for food;
-And the most important, proper water parameters (including the presence of salt in the water).

I realized that there’s not one unique thing that will stop them pacing the glass however a number of factors that make them feel more comfortable in the tank.

I hope they keep up that good behavior.

I really like to thank each one of you for your time and your advice.

I'm very glad to hear that your F8's are behaving better, it's always satisfying to see your puffers doing well and looking content. Hope it keeps up. You did a great job on your tank, and you're doing a great job with your puffers too!