The Puffer Forum

Tank setup and parameters:
1 - Ammonia: 0ppm
- Nitrite: 0ppm
- Nitrate: 10ppm
- pH: 7.8
2 - 10 gallon, GSP
3 - Feeding 6 times a week, 5 days with bloodworm, 1 day with 12 snails.
- Water change schedule: once every other day at 30%
- To clear the water of chlorine I use "Aqua Plus" Tap water Conditioner
4 - In the last week I have done 4 water changes (Including the one that just woke my fish up 5 minutes ago)
5 - Aquarium has been set up for 2 months now.
- I had to cycle it with the fish in it. (Tank has been fully cycled for a little over a month)

Ok as for the question. Every time I come home from work, which is at about 11:00pm, my fish is asleep but darker then his usual bright white and yellow color. Its not a lot darker but the top of him turns from a green/yellow to a brownish yellow. His bellies sides have a bunch of dark circles but his underside is still the normal white. As soon as we wakes up he swims around really fast and goes back to normal colors...Anyone know whats up?

I could just be paranoid but maybe he is having bad dreams thinking about his cycling experience!!!

GSP's do get little darker when they are at rest. So long as he does not turn super dark all the time, you should be fine. My guy does the same thing....He gets slightly darker, and has a line on both sides of his cheeks.

It's normal for them to go dark when sleeping. Here are a couple of pictures of my gsp when sleeping. Look in the middle of the rock in the first picture. The second picture you can see him more clearly. I think he was half asleep wondering where that flash was coming from.

It seems to be prett normal for my 2 gsp's to get darker at night.

Are you planing an upgrade in tanks soon? Your gsp needs a 30g tank. What is your SG? They also need brackish water. That will make you fish change colors during the day to. He will start stressing out and get a dark belly all the time.

Oh yeah, he has his own 55g tank being cycled right now. About another month and I will feel safe with transferring him over to his new home! the SG I do not know since I dont have a kit for it. Also it is currently FW but the 55g is set up to get him slowly used to brackish water.

Also, thanks for the replies guys! I feel much safer now!

I would deffinately go pick up a hydrometer, that is what measures your sg. Make sure to get one that starts at 1.0. They are fairly cheap and something that is a must have for BW and SW.