The Puffer Forum

Hello guys, i have a quick question.
A month or so ago, i purchased two figure eight puffers. Each one has their own tank, 20 gal each. Heavily planted with brackish tolerable plants, lots of caves and crannies for them to explore.

One, which is quite fat, is doing fine.
However, the other one, is…weird?
Whenever i go up to its tank, it'll swim in front of my face, and start shaking, or twitching. He "chases his tail" sometimes, then goes back to staring me, while swimming normally. Its just really strange to see him shake and twitch every time i go up to his tank; its like a dog that's excited for food.

Is this normal?
Water parameters read as
PH, a steady 7.0
Salinity-1.005, (Tested through a refractometer)
Water Temp=79-80 degrees fahrenheit
Ammonia/Nitrite=0
Nitrate-Under 20ppm

When i bought this one, his dorsal had a bite taken out of it, as well as a chunk taken out of his tail. It has already started to grow back however. He eats like a pig, really fond of frozen bloodworms.

So again, is his twitching normal? Or is there anything i should be aware of? Thanks!

pH is pretty low for BW. What substrate are you using? What kind of salt? What's the harness test out as?

Mine wags it's tail as well especially when hungry!!

Can we get a video.

I'll give it a go but i bet he doesn't do it for ages now!

Pufferpunk wrote:pH is pretty low for BW. What substrate are you using? What kind of salt? What's the harness test out as?

For the substrate, i have a layer of CaribSea eco complete gravel, and coral sand in various parts of the tank (in his personal cave is a "3inch deep "Pool" of sand), sand under some rocks, etc.
I use Instant ocean sea salt, and perform 25% weekly water changes. The salinity has been staying the same.
I'll assume that you mean a hardness test? The KH is somewhere around 8-12 with the liquid test kit.

Welch4 wrote:Can we get a video.

I can try to do a video, it may take some time though cause he stops shivering when he sees my phone, then darts away while giving me a grouchy/repulsed look. -.-

Iri4810 wrote:

Welch4 wrote:Can we get a video.

I can try to do a video, it may take some time though cause he stops shivering when he sees my phone, then darts away while giving me a grouchy/repulsed look. -.-

Mine does that. I think once she realizes that it's not food, she's saying:

"WHY U NO GIB NOMZ?" *goes into corner to sulk about not getting food*

Did you ever figure out if there was something wrong with the puffers? Mine do the same excited twitching thing but only when I put my face up to the tank!

cjcx3 wrote:Did you ever figure out if there was something wrong with the puffers? Mine do the same excited twitching thing but only when I put my face up to the tank!

Nah there's nothing wrong with the puffer.

If your fish looks like he is scraping against objects or the substrate or looks like he is uncomfortable then it's time to worry.