The Puffer Forum

Over the last few days Annabelle started to go nuts. She swims around the tank comes all the way to the right hand corner, takes a spin and "BAM" slams into the glass so hard you can hear her teeth hit the glass. I kept hearing this pecking noise and started to listen closely. That's when I realized it was her. I could actually hear her from the next room over the tv. I'm not sure if she's doing it because she can see Elvis or if it's a new attention getter that she learned. Has anyone seen this in their puffer before?


Tank: 6' 120 gallon
amm. 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
heavily planted.
ph 7.4

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Maybe it's the full moon?

Thats interesting.

She looks fairly relaxed in the video. I thought she'd look disoriented. Maybe you're right and it is just for attention.

She's still doing it! Last night when this started I turned off her lights and she went under her log (to bed). I'm thinking about turning out the lights again, and send her back to bed.

In this video you can see her route. lol.
She starts from under her log, swims across the tank, dives through the plants, sit's straight up under the powerhead, circles around it and comes out through the plants in the back. Then straight to the glass "BAM", take a little spin and "BAM". Then she goes back across the tank, over her log, under her log, takes a break and starts over. She does this every 20-30 minutes. She's driving me nuts~~~~~~:hyper:

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Id be a little worried about the combination of the waters weight and her hitting the glass that you might get a crack.

I wonder if you changed a few things around in her tank if she might stop the behavior for a while?

Ya know, considering everything else that goes into a tank (hundreds of pounds of water, substrate, driftwood), I dunno if a couple smacks from Annabelle will really do damage.

Bored maybe? Maybe shes telling you she wants some entertainment?

That tank is beautifully decorated for a fahaka. Any new adiditons to the tank or the room?

My Turgdis was doing something similar for a while. Figured out he was catching his reflection on the glass if he came from a certain direction and charged, hit the glass, then puffed up! I introduced stump in to break up that vision line.

I haven't added anything new to the tank in a very long time. The plants have really grown. I did take three logs out about 3 weeks ago. Annabelle's getting so big, I took the logs out to give her more room. That's the only change. She only does it late in the afternoon. I can even sit right in front of the tank and she still does it. Normally she's a pretty shy puffer but the last few days she's gotten agressive to her glass wall. I can't figure out what the heck she's doing that for.
Elvis' tank is right next to hers. I moved his rock last weekend to block his view of her. He was charging the side glass and making a huge wave, I came home to wet carpet a few days a week. Even with glass tops the wave would pop the glass up and splash on the floor. Maybe she's mad at me because she can't flirt with Elvis anymore.
On a normal day she sleeps about 20 hours a day. The last few days she's been very active. After the full moon is gone I'll let you know if she goes back to normal.

Silly questions but have the light conditions in the room changed? As the sun moves it could be lighting different parts of the room than it did earlier in the year and she may be getting glare/reflection from that??? I don't know, just a thought.
She's a beautiful puffer and the tank looks well decorated!

Double check the tank's temp, higher temps increase metabolism making the fish more active.

Paris does this sometimes, we've never quite figured it out. She's a lot smaller than Annabell though!!

No windows in the room so the light conditions are the same. Great question.

I'll check the temp when I get home.