The Puffer Forum

because you know your puffs won't talk to you for a while?

You know how you do water changes..and then once in awhile you really take everything out to get a good vacuum??

My turgidus puffer hate me for days afterwords..I just finished their tank and they are all facing away from me showing me only their butts...they even swam out backwards to get their shrimp..

They make me feel so guilty..

None of our fish mind it thankfully. The female ram and female irrubesco both attack the siphon tube but beyond that they aren't phased.

I almost enjoy it ans do the fish... I just wish I had direct plumbing so it wouldn't take all day

Bloat swims under his rock and just chills till im done. He will only move if I literally push him with the hose

You guys are lucky..

I get the evil eye and some of my green spots say stuff like, "Oh no she didn't"..yeah that's right I have gangsta green spots..

Mine don't really care. The bettas are pretty easygoing, and I'm not very invasive with my planted puffer tank - I don't want to disturb the sand, driftwood, rockwork, plants, etc. Thumbelina just hangs out behind the slate by the heater and filter intake and paces the corner till I'm done.

I mostly hate water change days because I always spill the water everywhere. Always, every single time, without fail.

LilGreen, I fell carring a bucket of water down the steps. >_< Fail

Peaches FREAKS OUT when I do it. She doesn't mind me sucking out the water but when I put water back she goes psycho. Bug does fine, I use airline tubing to fill/unfill.

Each time I clean the tank the puffers seem to not mind as much. At first they would hold these grudges against me for upto 3 days. Now they don't hold grudges anymore. 'They' being my GSPs.

My F8 follows my hands around when I am cleaning, it's cute. And when I move the plants and rocks around, he chases them Even when I have the net in the sand, picking out rocks that got in the sand, he chases the rocks in the net. Funny guy.

But yes, I HATE tank cleaning day, cuz it takes me ALLLLLLL day. But I love my puffers and I feel great when it's done and all nice and clean

I enjoy tank cleaning. I certainly would not keep so many tanks if i did not enjoy the weekly cleaning. None of my fish show any signs of disliking it either - in fact most hunter-predator puffers are pests about checking out the siphon tube constantly while it is in the tank. Almost all my fish are more active and perkier after partials than they are before, and they are more likely to spawn after a partial.

If you always spill water, you are doing something wrong. Because I have so many tanks, I do clean some every other day. That way I can keep up with more tanks pretty easily. I do admit that much of my water-moving is considered over-engineered by many folks, but I never ever spill water out in the house, and only very rarely in the tank room - where I do have a tendency to multitask when I should not.

It is not necessary to move everything out of the tank to full-depth vacuum the entire tank. That is more likely to stress the fish. Just move the objects out of the way when and as needed, then replace in approximately the same place - if you want to rearrange things, do so after the substrate has been cleaned. If individual objects need separate brushing or cleaning, do that after substrate cleaning as well, or by stopping the siphoning after the object's site is cleaned, and returning it to the tank after its cleanup.

If you do not clean frequently, that in and of itself may be the problem. If you clean frequently and well, the primary effect on the fish is pleasure at the improved water quality, which does seem to energize them.

HTH

I enjoy cleaning tanks.