The Puffer Forum

My green spotted puffer is being very odd. Well he has loadz of space to swim in and hiding places etc, but just likes to swim up and down the tank in the same place, he doesnt do it all the time, just some of the time.
The parameters for the water are all correct and his sg is 1.006.

I want to change his tank set up around to stp him from being bored, any ideas on what I can introduce?
Also does the sg need raising and whats the best way to go about that?

Thank you

what size tank is he in? What size is he? How long have you had him?

Can you give us a quick rundown of 'correct' parameters... just to rule that out...


If he's new, then this is what puffers do, they are wild fish and they suddenly find themselves in a glass box that they don't understand.. it's confusing for them.

He will settle down over time, in the mean time you need to heavily decorate your tank, so there are lots of broken lines of sight, and hiding/exploring places for him to hang out in...

at an SG of 1.006 you're going to struggle introducing more live plants, so i guess think about rock structure, fake wood (real wood rots in salt) or things like that...

try blocking off the corners with rocke/plants etc... but just create a great environment and that should help. Other than that it's just time....

Whether the Sg needs raising depends on his size.......


if you cna get hold of live river shrimp, he'll soon forget about pacing and begin hunting...

Thats so good you mentioned about the wood, I was going to put some in but it doesnt seem worth it.
He loves river shrimp but just tends to kill them all and only eat maybe one!
He is about 1" big maybe abit bigger, he does seem quite happy but how do you know when you need to raise the sg?

he's fine at 1.006 Sg at an inch long... wait til he's bigger then begin slowly raising the SG ....

he'll get to about 8 inches ling, and need a 30G tank by the time he's around 3 inches, if not sooner.