The Puffer Forum

Hello, I’m new to the forum!

A quick intro to everything;

I’m a huge puffer fan and I just got a Green Spotted Puffer! I have a 20 gallon brackish tank that I currently keep them in! The salinity is currently at 1.007, and the tank is filtered by an Oase Filtosmart 60 and a Tidal 35. Heats at about 78 Fahrenheit.The tank has been cycled for months. It has stonework with multiple areas for the puffer to hide under and relax out of the light. It’s located in my living room area, the only area it could go. They’re currently about 2.5 inches long.

Now onto the issue.

So I’ve had them for two weeks. Their name is Titan! Their behavior was fine at first but they’ve slowly become more shy and curl up their tail all the time. Their coloration is usually dark, yet the belly stays white? I know that their colors are part of their mood so I dunno if Titan is upset or not. They eat their food just fine, a mixture of snails, bloodworms, brine shrimp and krill. However always without fail partway through their feeding Titan gets skittish. And like stops eating? There was one day where Titan was so startled by something happening to them that they just hid for most of the day. No loud noises no nothing, Titan just curled up, darkened up and went to hide. They did this also after a water change which I expected.

I know they’re wild caught and the store I bought from definitely didn’t medicate them. So I’m treating them currently with Maracyn, Ich X and ParaCleanse, acting like they’ve never been treated before. They’re still kinda behaving the same way, but there have been a few times that Titan has come up to the glass to greet me. But they’re far and few between as they’d rather shy away and hide peeking out from under the rock.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is that is there anything I’m doing wrong? Do I need to do better by Titan? Is there another step I can take to help my sweet baby Titan out? I’ve only had them for two weeks but the bits of personality peeking through are amazing and I want the best for this puffer. I do know I gotta upgrade my tank eventually to at least 30 gallons plus full saltwater and I have all the steps prepared for that. But I know there’s something I’m missing and I need to help my baby.


Does anyone have advice?

Hi & welcome!
I'm confused--do you only have 1 fish? You named Titan but they refer to it as "they".
What are they exact water parameters? Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/pH?
That substrate is pretty deep. Are you stirring it before water changes? It looks to me that the way you have this tank decorated, the puffer will only use the bottom portion of the tank, as the upper open part would leave the fish too exposed, so maybe you can add some taller plants or stand up some of those stones, to make taller caves.

Yeah I only have Titan but I’ve been using gender neutral terms given I’ll never know gender.

I tested ammonia and nitrites two days ago and it was 0 on both but I haven’t test nitrates. pH is something I forgot to test recently but if I had to hazard a guess prolly around 7.6?

Stirring it? I do suck at it with a siphon if that’s what you mean. And I had actually bought some new stone to build more caves but was waiting to set it up after I did their water change. Taller caves do make sense

LOL, just pick a gender, the fish won't mind!
I would definitely be interested in nitrate. Also, pH should be steady, around 8. Aragonite sand substrate would take care of that. Are you using marine salt?

library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

I’ll do a water test here soon. Mind you I haven’t done Titan’s water change this week yet.

Yeah I have aragonite planned for the 30 gallon I’m buying as soon as the dollar per gallon sale hits. And yes I’m using instant ocean brand.

EDIT:

I also just did a water test. Apparently my pH is much higher than I thought at 8.4. Guess there’s a bit too much crushed coral in there. My Nitrates are reading at 5.0 ppm. I’m also using the freshwater api test kit

8.4 is fine. Are you using the high-end pH kit?

Yes I used the high pH test kit