DP Tank and Personality (Shy, Bored, or Both?)

[STJackson]

Hi again!

I've had my dwarf puffer over a month now (since April 26), and I'm wondering if his environment or something else is making him bored or shy/scared. I would consider it heavily planted, and it has multiple hiding spots (including a Squidward house that he seems to favor, and a cave made by the large mopani wood piece). There are also about 10 pest snails; I've never seen him go for one, but they are a thing that moves in the tank, sort of, so I thought they could be interesting.

Most of the time when I see Nugget, he's swimming around the house or below the filter, which is near the house; this is also where I put his worm dispenser. He will occasionally dart around, especially when I get close to the tank; right now, as I'm watching him from a few feet away, he seems to be just "standing" in front of the house. When I met him at the fish store, he was flaring his tail a lot, but now he seems mostly curled.

I had expected him to become more extroverted by now. Could he be bored by the lack of other fish? Is it normal for them to be skittish over a month after settling in? Could he still be scared of me, or worried about the other dwarf puffer who I returned to the LFS after he bullied this guy? Maybe he doesn't realize the other one is gone (even though it's been a month), and feels like he has to defend his territory? I've changed his 25% every day since I got him, and cleaned the filter on a couple of off days, and the water test readings have held steady at little to no ammonia (less than .25), no nitrites, no nitrates, and a pH of 8.2.

If there's any information missing here, let me know! I would appreciate any critiques about the tank setup, and insight into puffer psychology

Front view of tank:


One side view of tank (by filter):


Other side view of tank:


Close-up of mopani wood cave:


Close-up of Squidward house, Nugget's main residence:

[loginthesand]

A couple quick questions
is your water ph stable I.e. is it 8.2 from the tap? as adding water daily at a different ph causes it to fluctuate stressing fish.
Does you tank have a background black or otherwise? Not having one in the past I have found stresses fish. But that is just personal experience
As your tank is now over a month old it should be cycled and you can drop maintainance to weekly water changes. And filter cleans every other week. Keep a close eye on amonia for the next month it should remain at zero. Also have you added anything to boost the cycling in your tank e.g. stress zyme, cycle, or seachem stability is a great product.
As for being freindly towards you. At the moment it sounds as if when every he sees you ot is for a water change or other disturbance. I take it your worm dispenser is automatic, therefore he is not asociating you with food rewards. Try to change this as it is the main reason for iteraction with you the keeper.

[STJackson]

Thank you so much for replying!

I haven't yet tested the pH of the water from the tap. I add SeaChem Prime to each bucket of water before adding it to the tank (mainly because I know the water is quite chlorinated, as it used to irritate my aquatic turtle's eyes). I'll look into Stability, though--should I add that instead of, or in addition to, the Prime?

There's no background on the tank now, but I can certainly add one. Maybe I could tape some black construction paper to the sides too, if that will help; I'll just attach it at the top, though, so I can lift it up to check things out while doing maintenance etc.

About water changes: I was under the impression that "messy" fish like puffers need cleaner water; but rather than changing 50% of the water once a week (I can't remember where I got that figure now), I decided to go for 25% twice a week, because I was worried too big of a change at once would actually stress him out. Would a 25% change once a week be sufficient now?

Also some good news: Nugget is still pretty shy, but since I posted my question, I've noticed him exploring the tank more. I also tried piping a couple of bloodworms right by him in the tank this morning, and he did nibble one in front of me! I added some minnows as tank mates at the suggestion of my LFS (they'll eventually move to my turtle's tank once they get bigger); he has seemed more active since then, but it does mean I have to retire the food dispenser (really just a plastic pipette with some holes poked in it--I still had to visit the tank to squirt the worms into the dispenser). Hopefully he continues accepting them this way!

Thanks again for replying!!! If you have any ideas about my follow-up questions, or if it sounds like I'm doing anything wrong, please let me know.

[loginthesand]

Dont worry too much about ph as long as it is stable your fish will be happy i only raised it as you said you were doing daily water changes. Add stability as well as prime.
I would suggest 30-40% weekly changes, as your plants do soak up some of the nitrates.
construction paper is good I tend to spray paint my tanks as it ends up looking much cleaner than a tape on back ground.
Good to hear hes improving keep on with the feeding the more he associates you with food the friendlier he will get.