The Puffer Forum

ive noticed over the passed few weeks that dumpy my GSP is really panicky when anyone is in the room where his tank is. hes in a quiet room almost by himself (theres a rabbit cage in there and the cats wander in yet he hasnt really noticed them). my roomate and i are not loud people at all and when i do go to feed him i walk up slowly.
sometimes hes really good and doesnt have a problem with us other times he gets real sketchy beings swimming all over the place and breathing real fast. almost like trying to get out of the tank. now, i first took into consideration that its a new enviroment, hes pretty stressed from being shipped from place to place before i purchased him then shipped AGAIN to my aquarium. so i let it go thinking he would relax after awhile. he did for a bit but now its even worse then before. nothing seems to be wrong with the ppms, the tank gets cleaned between 50%-80% water changes every couple days...no less then 3 times a week, no more either. his fins look great. color too, until he panics then he obviously goes darker. he eats every 2 to 3 days. round belly. although right now he hasnt really eaten anything but some blood worms because hes too nervous, it seems. hes in a 30g with tons of decor, yet enough room to stretch his fins and i do rearrange it to make it different for him so he wont get bored.
is there anything im missing? is there anything else i can do for him? or should/need to do? im kinda stumped

It could be the abundance of water changes. Also puffers can be scared of certain colors or patterns. So next time he acts sketchy look at what you are wearing, he could be scared of the color.

What's the reason for so many large WC?

while i dont have a GSP, my figure 8 really hates it when i change the water and he stays mad for a while after --- with all the water changes, you could have associated yourself with tank maintenence and not with food --- once a week should be fine for water changes and this might help switch the association balance

well i was doing water changes once a week and then my LFS who is normally really good said i should be doing more....their info is normally right (i ask the sam question on here and it matches to what they say) except this one time....so i will cut down on it then...

also i did notice when i wear bright colors he freaks. so next time natural colors. thanks everyone

maybe a larger tank? i think they say 30g is the minimum for a GSP.....and Dumpy is pretty big!!