The Puffer Forum

I posted this in an existing thread but now started a new one to hopefully get some more responses.

I have had my figure 8 puffer for 2 weeks and he does nothing but pace up and down the glass. I usually have to chase him away from his spot on the glass with my hand before he will notice I dropped food in the tank (then he happily eats). The only time he doesn't pace is when he is eating. I feed him pond snails, black worms, and frozen krill. He is in a 30 gallon tank.

He was pacing in a couple of spots which I filled in with decor and he would just find a new spot to pace. I have taped colored paper up outside of the glass to see if that would stop him from pacing (thinking maybe he was confused by the glass) and that did nothing. I don't think it is water quality as ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate have been a constant 0. I am filtering an aquaclear 70 on the 30g tank. The ph is between 8.0 and 8.5. I haven't tested hardness.

The only thing I can think to try now is to add an additional puffer. His current tankmates are 3 BBGs and 3 ghost shrimp which he ignores.

Here is a picture of my tank. Any suggestions are appreciated.

what kind of light do you have on the tank? Our ceylons don't like bright lights. Also, a background would help too. It will make them feel more secure.

pacing for a while is not uncommon -- my first figure 8 paced for a good month straight -- like spoot said, a background will help a lot

i have heard stories about adding another figure 8 to stop pacing, but there are a lot of risks -- one, if they are not the same size, the larger one will pick on the smaller, also, you would need to quarantine the new arrival for a few weeks. if you do end up adding another, make sure you rearrange your decor, this way the first fig 8 will be less territorial -- you also might want to set up a divider to get them used to each others presence

My GSP paced uncontrollably for a while when I first got him. Now I have a big stone that he likes to rest and play in and the pacing stopped.

Maybe play with the SG a bit, there's a good bit of wiggle room with F8 sg, maybe something a bit higher or lower would suit him better.

I was thinking SG... what is he in at the moment??
I have to admit several of my puffs have exhibited this behaviour for a little while.... if he can't see anyone does he still do this (yes I know you if you can't see him how are you meant to tell.... maybe a webcam or something??)
One of my F8s will constantly pace up and down the glass if he can see me but doesn't bother if he can't see me (or if anyone else walks into the room to be honest!!)

I bought a background and and will put it on tonight. I am not sure about the lighting - it came with some packaged deal at the LFS. It has twin 36" tubes that say they are "daylight", but I don't see a wattage printed on them. I could take out one of the tubes. I have the lights on a timer and they are on for about 13 hours a day. He still seems to pace when the lights are off. He will go under the fake driftwood to sleep, but he doesn't seem to sleep very much. Other than that, I haven't seen him exploring the decor, except to snag food I drop in there.

I feel fairly certain that he is pacing when I am not there because he will already be in his spot when I first walk into the room. Also, he is in my bedroom so when I wake up I will see him pacing from my bed.

I think the SG is at about 1.004 as of last night. It was about 1.002 when I first put him in. I am having trouble getting an accurate reading though.. I have a refractometer on order so I should be able to get a clearer understanding. Do you think the salt is causing the problem? The LFS had them in freshwater.

I am starting to wonder if some of the insecurity is just from the fact that he is trapped in an aquarium. Do you guys have figure 8s that just cruise around happily exploring the tank?

The LFS had about 12 figure 8s in a 20g with no decor. They weren't pacing.. which makes me think that adding a puffer might help.. although all of them had pretty chewed up fins. I guess if they are busy trying to keep from getting eaten they don't have time to pace .

Anyway, I am quite frustrated. It seemed that keeping a puffer would be quite entertaining, but it is pretty nerve racking to me to see him pacing all day.

i'd wait it out -- he should chill out after a while -- but with a 30 gal tank, i would also be tempted to add another fig 8 -- with that much space to cruise they should be able to avoid each other if need be --

bottom line, his pacing should get better with time -- they have been though a lot --

my name is mike wrote:i'd wait it out -- he should chill out after a while -- but with a 30 gal tank, i would also be tempted to add another fig 8 -- with that much space to cruise they should be able to avoid each other if need be --

bottom line, his pacing should get better with time -- they have been though a lot --

I went and got one of his old tankmates so now I have two. I did not quarantine him. So far, the new one is pacing but he also does some exploring and he does not pace as feverishly.

It is is weird because both times I went to the LFS I picked out the one that seemed to be the most comfortable, poking around in the gravel, etc. When I got my first F8 he had only arrived at the shop the previous day. I don't see why he would be comfortable there but not in the new tank - the LFS tank had no decor but tons of other F8s. It seems like it has to be something with the water.

Maybe they are not getting along well with the salt?

My 2 F8's pace at mealtimes in anticipation or for a while after a water change, I only started adding the salt 2 weeks ago, so bringing up slowly. I put it down to the water levels, but neither pace at night ,when the light is off they just drift about near the bottom, till morning when the light goes back on.
The 3 bumble bee gobi's are so much more active in brackish water, they even try to steal food from the F8's now, so maybe it suits them much better.
One did pace quite a lot for about 2 weeks, just need time to settle i suppose.

jax wrote: The 3 bumble bee gobi's are so much more active in brackish water, they even try to steal food from the F8's now, so maybe it suits them much better.

Heh my BBG's have been in brackish since I got them, but they hid for about a week after the F8 went in the tank. they still drop the worm they are eating out of their mouth and dart if the puffer looks their direction though

my BBGs are also pretty brave and will fight for scraps with the fig 8 -- this has happened less since i started target feeding with a turkey baster

I don't believe SG changes the situation, because I got mine today. When he was added in the tank, he started to hunt for snails... when he wasn't able to find any snail, I got him pacing... I running a freshwater tank at the moment, just waiting plants to get strong enough to face the low end salinity, and I'll begin to add some sea salt to rise th SG.

So, my F8 is in freshwater and pacing too... =(
It's not funny

Beautifully decorated tank--I'd love to live in there!

I love the tree that you have in the tank. It is amazing.