The Puffer Forum

I have a group of 5 South American Puffers and their neurotic behavior is driving me crazy!! I've had plenty of puffers: Mbu, GSP, fahaka, miurius, F8, lorteti, DP's, and avocado. Apart from the energetic avocado puffers, I've never seen a more restless and neurotic fish than these SAPs. Even the avocados would slow down to smell the roses and hover a bit but these SAPs are like a bunch of kindergarten kids after eating a bowl of ice cream! They have not stopped glass surfing and are literally bouncing off the walls.

They have plenty of space, tons of plants and moss, lots of water flow from 3 filters, soft reconstituted RO water, and plenty of snails but they look like they may never settle into captivity. That's the part that makes me feel anxious every time I watch them...they look like the type of creatures that are too feral to ever domesticate or get accustomed to living in captivity. It reminds me of a documentary about folks finding out the hard way that wolves were never meant to be dogs or those orcas whose dorsal fin bends over only in captivity...just not happy. These SAPS are fat and eating well but definitely don't seem happy either.

Moreover, they don't seem to have much of a personality like other puffers I've kept. They don't come and greet you at feeding time and have no interest in anything in the tank apart from glass surfing. I'm fully prepared for their specialized diet and have no issues trimming their beaks but I was fully unprepared for this nervous energy they'd bring into my once peaceful tank. I've read plenty already on here but was wondering if this behavior ever settles down or if this is how they'll always be. If so, I'm not sure how I'll be able to handle their anxious and stressful behavior long term

Thoughts?

Yep--totally normal for these fish. Not my favorite species.

Mine took about 4 months to settle down properly,they are fine now execpt one which will occasionally get spooked and fly about the tank like A mad thing. But they will settle as long as the tank is big enough and the get enough stimulus

Pufferpunk wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2017 12:18 pm Yep--totally normal for these fish. Not my favorite species.

Agree with you PP, I never met a puffer I didn't like but these may change my mind

Nelliott wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2017 4:43 pm Mine took about 4 months to settle down properly,they are fine now execpt one which will occasionally get spooked and fly about the tank like A mad thing. But they will settle as long as the tank is big enough and the get enough stimulus

Thanks for sharing your experience as that gives me some hope. The tank is plenty big and was built around their needs in mind with Aquasoil to buffer the water, RO water system, lots of flow, plants everywhere and tons of stimulus. It is stocked full with cherry shrimp, ghost shrimp, and a variety of snails like bladder, MTS, and ramshorn. I've giving them another month to see if they settle some before deciding whether to rehome them. Am thinking a pair of red eye puffers may be better suited

BTW: can you describe how yours act now that they are settled?

They just kind of mooch about the tank most of the time swimming around the plants and wood looking for food,they also swim against the current of the filter outlet.

The length of the tank can be very important, not just the total size. I think the longer the tank they have, the better. I don't know the size of your tank, but I think they should have ones longer than 36 in. I've kept groups of SAPs in a 240 g tank, and also in a 125 g. Shooting some water current down the length of the tank is quite enjoyable for them. It can take a couple of months for them to settle in, and they will always be more active than, let's say, dwarf puffers, but I do recommend they have tanks at least 48" in length.