The Puffer Forum

Hi all. We have two green spotted puffers in a 55 gallon tank (they are each about 3 inches long) and have had the tank set up for over 4 years now. About a month ago I noticed that one of the puffers was turning a pale yellow green, definitely not the normal neon green the other is. It's been that way for about a month now, and we hadn't done anything different. I know they can be chameleon-like temporarily, and have read the other forum posts on that, but this has been going on constantly for a while now, so I'm a little worried. Other than the neon green turning a pale yellow-green, the puffer shows no signs of stress and has a pretty white belly all the time.

Is this normal? Is the puffer okay?

I have a similar setup and have noticed that a light color is usually an indication of a happy fish. What are your water parameters? If everything is ok in the tank then I wouldn't worry about it.

+1.

I think that means they are extremely happy. The LFS i got my GSP from usually has baby GSP that are almost white in color. All well taken care of.

All water paramaters are good and we just switched up their decor and did another 50% water change this weekend. (It's pacing now due to the new decor, but the pale gray-yellow-green color hasn't changed.) Has anyone else here actually experienced the color change? (Not temporary, but long term?)

Mine seems to change a little with substrate/decor colour. He goes brighter in darker surroundings and darker in very bright surroundings. When mine is upset only specific parts get darker or lighter if he is happy, but not his overall colour. Oh, and when sleeping he goes a very flat darker green and his spots start to blend in with said green.

Please post exact water readings so we can rule things out. I am sure all is ok but need these as confirmation if that makes sense lol