The Puffer Forum

A little history:
Our puffer is a GSP. It's about 2". We moved him from the 55gal salt tank b/c he was killing his neighbors! When we bought him we were told that he'd be very peaceful. I thought ALL puffers ate crustaceans and anything else meaty! But I was assured that this type was peaceful. We was told to feed him brine. I swear that pet store tells us to feed everything just brine. We stopped going there! We havent found any snails small enough for him to eat so we've been feeding him fozen & live brine, regular shrimp, scallop bits, & live crawfish. He is in a 10 gal salt tank for now (which we'd originally bought as a quarantine/snail breeding tank). Because he is still small we assumed he'd be happy in the small tank.

We have noticed that the puffer kind of spazzes out sometimes when we go near the tank. He darts and jumps up out of the water and it sounds like he sometimes hits the lid! Or he'll dart and sometimes hit the glass or floor! I'm afraid he's going to hurt himself! Is he scared by us or is this like a "hello"??? He didnt always do this and he is still calm at other times when we come near. When he isnt swimming around during the day he is sitting on the bottom hiding behind a piece of wood (the floor is bare, I read you dont need substrate). Are we doing okay or is he trying to tell us something?!?

To begin with, you may want to put the GSP in a larger tank just so it will have more room, plus a GSP in a 30 gallon will suffice as a good size tank for when it becomes an adult.

Where did you read you 'can' have a bare bottom tank? It is better to have substrate cause it will house bacteria to help break down nitrites and ammonia. So it is a very good idea to ADD substrate to the tank!

On the not of it bolting around, maybe you scared it? Some people just happen to get a skittish puff, plus being moved into a smaller home or just a new home over all can freak out a puff.

My puff (gsp) gets freaked out from time to time when someone goes near his tank; he flits and you hear a splash. He especially does it when my little sister goes near his tank for some reason.
I notice he is less skittish when the water quality is real good, but he still does it every now and again. Mine's in a 25g brackish. I'd say the behaviour is normal.

Thanks for the input Tihsho. I was getting info on the gsp from many different sites, so I'm not certain where I read about having a bare tank bottom, but I'll take some sand from the larger tank & put it in the puffer's tank.

If you have good filtration, which is a very high priority with a puffer, a substate for bacterial colonization is in fact a very trivial concern. The supplemental contribution to KH/pH support by an aragonite or crushed coral is much more significant than any bacterial colonization present. Of far great concern is a setup where the puffer will feel "at home" and secure. If the tank setup is not visually complex, and there are no "refuges" (largish caves, overhangs or plant thickets where the critter can rest/nap/sleep) and if the tank bottom is bare and therefore reflective of light and shadows, the fish will definitely be more skittish than in a suitably furnished home.

I do agree that the fish should be moved to larger tank as soon as possible.

The fish did in fact eat meat, did it not? Brine shrimp, live or frozen, is not an adequate diet for any puffer.

Agreed with RTR (of course)... in fact there's a significant faction in the SW hobby (the Berlin method) that refuses to use any substrate, as it traps detritus. Of course the live rock and skimmer carry the weight of filtration - so not a direct comparison.

One of my GSPs used to spazz out regularly, hitting his head everywhere. He went through "phases" of being moody. At one point he would spend the majority of his time sleeping (wedged into nooks in the rock). It got worse (and very distressing for me) when he had to be coaxed to eat.

I QTed him and treated for internal parasites, which did nothing (except he seemed to calm down for a while afterwards, probably the change of scenery). I stepped up water changes (although No2/NH3 were undetectable), increased circulation, increased the salinity (was doing so anyway), and changed my halide bulb (It was supposed to be 20,000K, but said 20k/UV on the side, which worried me... changed it for a less blue bulb, wih no "UV". I also got a better handle on maintaining a stable and balanced alkalinity (using RO/DI water, this was a new challenge for me).

Now he is practically the happiest puff of the three (touch wood) - he has been "normal" for many months.
Whether it was a single thing, or a combination of all, I cannot say - perhaps it just took him some time to get used to the close proximity of other toothed killing machines?

If he knows there's not many places for him to hide, he's gonna start flipping, rather than subtly going into a refuge and peeping out at you. I'd get a substrate in there...for pH and for his security....what decor have you got in there now? I can imagine plants are ouit of the Q with nothing to anchor them in.
Pami.

Jhong mentioned his being moody....I guess that's how I'd describe this guy. Sometimes he seems soooo happy to see us, then other times he has to be coaxed out of his lil hiding spot to eat, or is skittish. There are a few fake plants (being weighted down with large shells), rock, and hollow "log" with holes in it for him to hide in. I'd read you should change their scenery quite a bit so we do that with each water change, or whenever he starts to "pace". I'd love to put him back in the 55gal but as much as he loves to eat live crayfish, I know he'll make a B-line for all or the crabs in there!! I wonder if there is a way to effectively keep the puffer & crabs seperated.....any suggestions on this??

Nope, crabs=pufferfood. Yum!!