The Puffer Forum

My Figure eight is very shy or maybe just doesn't like me. My tank has lots of private areas and he hangs in all of them. His favorite is a rock he rests on under a ledge. He eats just fine but will not come to me to be fed. I know he watches me (my favorite chair is next to the tank). He'll move around when I'm not looking or if the lights are off but he sticks to hiding places where he can watch me from. His tail isn't curved and he's now 'cowering' but he clearly is wary now that he has somewhere to feel secure in.

I read somewhere that most F8s (if not all) are wild caught. In the lfs he was in with a bunch of other puffers and there was no where to hide. They all came to the front of the tank when people approached, but they were also mostly underfed. I haven't wanted to force him to go hungry in order to make him come to me and food.

Anyone else experience this? Did it eventually work out ok?


Another question - will F8s eat full grown nerite snails? I can't find my 3 (although there's enough stuff in the tank that they might just be hidden).

How long have you had him?

My DP was shy like that when I first got her. It took her a couple weeks to fully relax and settle in. IIRC my F8s were like that at the beginning too. You'll have a busy little puffer greeting you at the glass soon.

Full-grown nerites are usually fine with F8s.

I've had him a couple of weeks.

Did you all keep trying to feed him at the top and if so, what enticed yours the best. Mine has been eating freeze dried krill and blood worms. I tried holding a piece of shrimp but no go with that. I'm hesitant to put in bigger chunks of stuff in case he doesn't eat it and I can't find it to retrieve it. At least the blood worms that don't get eaten just find a home in the sand and eventually the BB gobies eat them.

Hold off on the krill. Try to get some live foods such as ghost shrimp, crabs, earthworms, or crickets. If he does not eat the crabs or ghost shrimp you will at least have a cleanup crew for a little while but I would suspect they would eventually get eaten so don't get attached.

I've never had a DP or an F8 not go nuts for live blackworms.

It will take time. I gave mine cherry shrimp. Cherry shrimp will do fine in low brackish conditions. I was already breeding them in a FW tank so it was easy and I knew they were healthy and disease free.

He loves blood worms - but usually he waits till they drop to the substrate and then 'hunts' them. He likes the krill too and will come to the surface to get it as long as I've retreated.

I've found that nerites seem to only come out at night when housed with puffers.

What size is the tank and are there any other tankmates besides the nerites?

It's a 20 gal with lots of plants and decorations and he shares it with 7 BB gobies (who all have shells and are busy trying to breed). He never shows any interest in the BBs. In fact at one point he was resting near a BBs shell and the BB nipped at his tail. All he did was scoot away and look startled.

Just noticed little specks swimming around in my tank today - little bitty BB gobies which have so far escaped predation. I'd seen them breeding but never noticed any guarding activity around the breeding site. They have lots of hiding places so there's a chance of some of them making it.