Little puffer beds?

[BedScien]

Just an experience I had regarding substrate that might be worth considering . I'll try to omit personal conclusions so you can draw your own.

My first tank had a gravel substrate. My figure 8s would hover above it when resting at night.
I have now changed over to a sand substrate and the first morning I noticed that the figure 8s were resting fairly motionless in little nooks in the sand (with their belly ON the substrate). I looked for signs of ill health but didn't find anything obvious. They quickly became active just as any morning.

I had only seen something close to this behavior twice before -
1. One of the figure 8s had curled up on the gravel substrate. I did a water change. The fish seemed to return to be active very quickly. (while or immediately after i performed the water change)

2. One of the figure 8s had curled up against a decoration. The decoration is a rock wall, the fish was against a slightly sloped area at the edge of it. I performed the same action as in '1.' with the same result.

[GSP32]

I am no expert whatsoever but I have seen pictures here of puffers laying in the substrate. I also read when I was setting up my tanks to use sand because some puffers like to bury themselves in it I would love to see a picture, must be so cute

[Pufferman]

Thanks a lot, lol. Now I need to buy some more sand.

[BedScien]

I'll try and get some pictures up soon
Lol, no need to rush (as far as I know), my puffers did generally seem OK hovering. Don't make the same mistake I did - Rinse the sand with water a few times first. I used kids play sand but when I put it in the new tank, the water went brown :S fortunately without the puffers in it

The sand has also proved useful so far in that left over food seems more inclined to stay on top of it rather than getting caught like it did in the gravel substrate, so it's easier to net up left over bits of food/shell if there is any. Also, stirring the sand seems to bring some crap up and I found that a lot easier than churning through the gravel with a siphon. It's early days though, so we'll see if any problems come up.

[Queen Lucy]

My GSP sleeps in little indentations she makes in the sand-curls up like a dog. I never saw her do this when I used gravel for substrate

[hadla]

Why does it only seem to be gsps who sleep like that?? They are so cute!!! A dp would be adorable if it slept curled up!!!!

[G S P Freak]

Why does it only seem to be gsps who sleep like that?? They are so cute!!! A dp would be adorable if it slept curled up!!!!

My DP curls his tail up when he sleeps, just like a little puffer-ball! It's hilarious. If my camera didn't suck, I'd try to take some pics =/. He's also very shy too, particularly of cameras.

[rickyny]

I can never catch my puffer sleeping, he must have night vision because he sees me in the dark and comes up to greet me.

[Infinity8]

Feather does that too! if i happen to shine my phone into his tank at night (it's right by my bed) he wants to investigate immediately. He never seems to sleep!

[RTR]

Be cautious in drawing conclusions without full data. All puffers are not alike. They have specific needs or preferences depending on the particular species and on the particular individual.

Only some species bury themselves. Those that do so may not if the substrate is not to their liking. Some substrates are too sharp apparently for comfort. Gravel can more easily be too sharp for Fahakas, but not necessarily so. Some sand can be sharp as well. Generalizing on grain size alone without specifying the exact material is IMHO, quite risky. Gravel is a size range, not a specific material. Ditto for sand - that too is a size range, not a specific material. If you hand wash and stirred gravel or sand, you will find out how sharp it it is or is not. The puffers obviously can and do tell the same evaluation of the material which is their substrate.

Only 2 the 3 Fahakas which I have kept ever buried themselves, and only while young/immature. The one which turned out to be female never did, but she always slept in a cave. My DPs never even rested on the substrate. They took refuge for naps and sleeping in bushy vascular plants or Java Moss clumps. GSPs would rest against partial shelters, but their night's sleep tended to be in caves. F-8s tended to behave similarly. The mature Fahakas seemed to prefer at least partial caves/shelters, but also slept in clumps of Crinums. My single Palembang's puffer slept and rested in or on top of caves. That was a really cool fish, but the most inactive fish I have ever had - even staking prey was v_e_r_y s_l_0_w. Folks told me often that the funny-looking fish was dead. He was just almost inert. SAPs on the other hand are perpetual motion machines. Actally, F-8s are pretty hyper as well. Puffers are not a huge family but have huge variations with that family.

[hadla]

Why does it only seem to be gsps who sleep like that?? They are so cute!!! A dp would be adorable if it slept curled up!!!!

My DP curls his tail up when he sleeps, just like a little puffer-ball! It's hilarious. If my camera didn't suck, I'd try to take some pics =/. He's also very shy too, particularly of cameras.

Awwww that sounds so cute!!!