The Puffer Forum

ok, everywhere iv'e read says milk-spotted puffers are ment to burrow in my substrate, when i first got him i had a coloured gravel in the tank and an undergravel filter, and i figured that the gravel was to big for him to burrow in and the under gravel filter could also be making it hard for him to burrow, so i brough some silver sand, and a new more suitable filter that turned the tank around 250 times per hr, not realising when i replaced the old with the new that it would start a cycle over again, anyway ive passed that problem, tank is cycled again, but ive notice my puffer still wont burrow in the sand, infact ive never seen my puffer rest ever, in the past 2 months he hasnt taken anytime to relax at all, he's always swimming attacking his reflection in the glass, he has plenty of rock and coral formations in his tank he shouldnt be bored, he hates the light, for the first 2 minutes of having the light on he begs me for food but when he realises he's not being fed his colour dulls and he swims around the tank looking like he's sulking

anyway is there a reason as to why he wont burrow or rest? and is there a reason for his behaviour when a light comes on?

There's not much you can do about his lack of burrowing behavior, outside of providing him sand and an open place to dig into it. As for everything else, if your water parameters are excellent and there's nothing stressing him, just let him do his thing - and don't worry about his reaction to your lighting, it's not at all uncommon from what I've read. Lots of puffers are like that.

He may just be the weird one. Mine don't act like normal F8s either, but there's nothing wrong with them.