The Puffer Forum

38 gallon tank
ammonia 0
nitrate <0
nitrite <0
ph 7.5-7.7 about

8 dwarf puffers and several otos

I bought these puffers about 6 months ago when they were fairly young. All the while living together with no problems. I figure they have a good 3-4 gallons per fish. The tank is heavily planted. Recently though they have been starting to dart around the tank frantically, every now and then some would even bite and attack each other. A few hours ago the nitrates were a little higher than normal so I did a huge water change, about 75%. They don't seem to be acting any better though. I'm thinking it's because they're getting older and more aggressive. I have more than one male in there but the females are acting just as bad. The largest male I have is perched on top of the thermometer, he's hardly the problem. They aren't really eating as much as they did a few days ago. I have he lights off now and they have been for 2 days because that seems to calm things down a bit. Any ideas? Please give me your thoughts.

I'm confused...It says your nitrAtes are "0" but you say they are "a little higher than normal". Please clairfy.

What are you feeding and how are you feeding them?

are you using liquid test kits or test strips?

ok as of now the nitrates are about 0. before I did the water change last night the nitrates were higher.

liquid tests

Please, as a favor to the data-oriented old timers here, talk to us in numbers where possible. "0" is acceptable, and means in words "not detected by this test". >0" is not meaningful unless follow by more numbers.

Your fish are maturing. Can you tell the difference in male and female? If so, how many of each? I have not had good luck with multiple males in a tank even if outnumbered by the females. males may harass females or each other. You may need to move excess males into other quarters. The harassed fish can be either sex.