The Puffer Forum

I have a GSP in a 20 gal. tank with 2 caves and a larger log with fake plants around it, and several large strings of live sea weed yet all my puffer wants to do is swim up and down the glass! Is she bored? or is that her idea of fun? Is there more i need to do to catch her intrest? Any info would be helpful!

Welcome!

Look here for info on your GSP-
library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/
and
ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/T_Nigroviridis/

I have kept GSPs in tall tanks and they will swim all around, but I think they were happier when I moved them to longer tanks-

Plus your tank will be to small for your GSP

I think that swimming up and down is a sign of being bored, but it is also a form of exercise, and they can see several feet outside of the tank-so sometimes they are looking outside of your tank:)

They do like intricate decor along with swimming room-so I am sure if you get a bigger tank your puff will be much happier-

However, GSPs are known for swimming up and down the glass, so you may see them do that no matter what you do, but a bigger tank, more decor, more active feeding time, and more attention form owner can reduce that behavior

Just my experience!!!

Ok thank you very much! I'll try to track down some more interesting decor and see if that helps any. I just dont want her bored out of her mind

Also, just in case-

If your puff is stressed because of water conditions-the behavior may happen and having tank mates can be bad as well

Are you sure your tank is healthy and there are no tankmates?

I find decorations as tall as the tank itself are good boredom blockers, as they can't do a "fly over" and view the whole tank - those independently moving eyes see way more than you imagine. Going full marine solved all my GSP boredom problems - 'pods living in the live rock and sand make sure there is always something edible to investigate, without being enough actual food that they can overfeed on them as is possible with snails.

i agree with Nick, with full marine conditions my GSP's glass pacing seemed to diminish a lot and he has more to hunt for and look around at. my GSP seems to rather take a nap than glass surf, its very rare that he paces the glass anymore. now my neon puffer/spotted sharpnose puffer is a different story! lol that seems to be all he wants to do regardless of what i do and put in there

My GSP stopped pacing after he had been in his tank for three months. I have a lot of caves/rockwork. He spends a LOT of time in there. I am sure he loves it. I wish I saw him more. But he's right up at the glass whenever he thinks there is a chance of a snailstorm.

W

My baby puffers were doing the exact same thing. Unfortunately here in Mexico it is very hard to find reliable information about GSPs, but searching through forums like this one I found out that more decoration and breaking lines of sight will fix it. I placed a large rock in the center of my tank and fake plants around it, spacing them out so they could swim between them. I also placed a piece of wood that is flat on the top but about four inches in diameter. Now they have taken to sleeping inside a hole in the rock or behind the piece of wood. They are also exploring the tank a lot more and haven't seemed to get bored. I also recommend that you change the decor around at least once a week, you can do this when you do water changes. Another thing that helps is having them in their environment. When I bought my puffers the owner of the aquarium shop gave me all sorts of wrong information. He said they were dwarf puffers and were not aggressive, he also said they were FW and would eat regular fish food. As you probably know by now this is all WRONG. I found out the hard way when my mollie and three fancy guppies disappeared from the tank. I also found their behavior far more erratic when they were in FW. They seemed stressed, swimming up and down the tank constantly and their colors were very dull. Since buying a bigger tank for them and placing the decoration as I did they are much happier and relaxed. Adding marine salt mix to the water also helped A LOT.

I dont think that pacing the tank is necessarly a bad thing. Especially with a Gsp. In my exp they are just a very active fish and like interacting with their owner. Far more then almost any other fish that I have seen.

I personally think some of them are predisposed to it more than others and are going to do it regardless of what the decoration is like. But as we all know, no two puffers are exactly alike and there's always an exception to the rule.
I think it's a good idea though to change the tank around with water changes, gives the puffer a different outlook on things.

Wow so many replies! Thanks everyone for the help! I'm making a trip to the local pet store tomorrow in the hopes of finding some taller decorations and I am slowly raising the salt level in the tank. Thanks again everyone!

Thanks for informing us about this topic. I just got a figure 8 puffer, and he has been pacing the glass a lot, too. My tank isn't terribly well decorated yet, it has a big plant and some smooth rocks, but I don't have a cave. I think I'll get him one. My puffer is about 2 inches long, and the store sold him in freshwater. I know this is a little off-topic, but should I start adding salt yet?