The Puffer Forum

I got my F8 puffer, Otto, a couple days ago and while staying up throughout the wee hours until around 4am in my office, where the tank is located, I noticed that Otto was just hovering in the same spot almost vertical against the glass. I read other people's experiences with puffers sleeping and they all seem to sleep resting on a surface instead of hovering. I also keep a few fancy goldfish have one that sleeps hovering, another that sleeps on the bottom in a corner, and the other does both. I hope that this hovering is actually him sleeping, but it scares me that it's not since his fins, other than his tail, are fluttering as usual.



Also, if anyone has advice on how to make the top half of the tank as fun as the bottom, I would love it! The bottom has two hollowy "logs", and two caves, along with various fake plants.

F8's require brackish water. Please read the articles in the library here for this species. When puffers sleep they typically rest near a surface not always the bottom. Mine likes to rest it's stomach against my mag float that is near the top of the tank. I have not heard of or seen a puffer sleeping vertically as the picture shows. If you can post a full rundown of your tank it would aid us providing recommendations. Water parameters, ammonia ,nitrite ,nitrate ,specific gravity (salinity). Tank size, filtration, flow, maintenance schedule, additives, tank inhabitants, feeding schedule.

Welch4 wrote:F8's require brackish water. Please read the articles in the library here for this species. When puffers sleep they typically rest near a surface not always the bottom. Mine likes to rest it's stomach against my mag float that is near the top of the tank. I have not heard of or seen a puffer sleeping vertically as the picture shows. If you can post a full rundown of your tank it would aid us providing recommendations. Water parameters, ammonia ,nitrite ,nitrate ,specific gravity (salinity). Tank size, filtration, flow, maintenance schedule, additives, tank inhabitants, feeding schedule.

I've got him in brackish (using Instant Ocean marine salt premixed in a bucket), 1.004, after drip acclimating from the 1.002-1.003 he was in at the pet store. I've read the F8 articles a while ago when I first began cycling my tank. I did find him resting at the bottom near the entrance of one of the hollow logs when I got home from work tonight. I measured the gravity with a hydrometer, but I have a refractometer coming in next week.

This 15 gallon tank was cycled using Tetra Safe Start and liquid ammonia, dosing at no more than 2ppm a day. This cycled pretty quickly (2.5 weeks) since I added in some cycled biomax (ceramic rings) from my cycled 55 gallon. I checked the levels using the API Freshwater Master Kit almost a full week after I thought it was cycled to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Currently, ammonia and nitrites are 0 and nitrates at 5ppm. Since my filter does only 100GPH, I do 50%+ water changes using a siphon twice a week and use Seachem Prime to dechlorinate. I also dosed a tiny bit (like a few drops of each) of Melafix and Pimafix just for the first day. Otto is alone in the tank and it's at around 80F. He gets a couple snails a day and I have frozen bloodworms in my freezer as treats for later. There is also a airstone in the tank since warmer water needs to have an oxygen boost.

I'm gonna see if adding more decorations to the top half of the tank stops him form vertically hovering. I think I can get my hands on one of those "tank terraces" that are basically a "second floor" and a floating log they have for bettas at a pet store.

^ ^^^ Great work on the cycling of your tank!

I measured the gravity with a hydrometer, but I have a refractometer coming in next week.

Be sure to get calibration solution for this or it's no better than a hydrometer.

i shouldn't post that late at night. I though you kept ottos and goldfish in with your f8, completely read that wrong.

I shall continue to demonstrate my status as Forever Noob when it comes to aquaria.

My latest dumb question, spurred by this thread - what is a 'tank terrace'? o.O

TOPuffers wrote:I shall continue to demonstrate my status as Forever Noob when it comes to aquaria.

My latest dumb question, spurred by this thread - what is a 'tank terrace'? o.O

It's not a dumb question. (: It's what this shelf thing is branded as to make it sound fancier. You can see it below. It's actually a really cheap piece of plastic and there were so many sharp parts that I spent a good 15 minutes sanding it all down. I also got a betta leaf "hammock" and a betta floating log since they're a good size for Otto. I still have to use aquarium silicone to stick a suction cup on the log so it doesn't move around. Otto has been settling in really well. Very minimal up and downs. I spent my night separating out MTS from a few mixed bags of "feeder" snails I got from my LPS and my hands have absorbed stinky snail water. ):



I've taken out the heater since Hawaii temperature stays warm enough so the heater was basically doing nothing but wasting electricity and an outlet.

Ozzie will do this if it is dark outside and the tank light is still on or the room light is on and the tank light is off. I think the bright light is bothering him. If I switch from white to blue LEDs on the tank light and turn the room light off he stops doing it and resumes normal behavior (either swimming around or sleeping normally).

I originally thought he was freaked out because it was his new tank (first night) ... but once I turned the light to blue and turned off the room light his behavior normalized. If my son comes in after dark and turns the light back to white lights he will swim around for a few minutes and then he will go back to head up tail down by the glass like yours is in the picture. I scold my child, turn the lights to blue and within a few seconds he is back to normal.