The Puffer Forum

I have had my figure 8 for about 4months (maybe more) --> and for the most part, he does not seem happy. he paces the glass endlessly and freaks out when i come near the tank (except of course at feeding time) --

The 30 gal tank is well decorated (see pics in my gallery to confirm or deny) and i keep water parameters within the recommendations of this site and others -- SG .007 - temp 80 - nitrites 0 - nitrates under 20 (mostly between 5-10 with weekly water changes)

i give him a varried diet of blood worms, prawns with the hard-shell on, and mysis shrimp --- and his appetite is very good

he is close to full grown (i think) -2.75" head to tail with a roundish belly (not flat or concave in anyway), and has 2 tank mates (golden mollies) -- which he totally ignores.

ive tried my hardest to make this guy happy and i have failed--- any ideas??? ——— if not, im gonna need my own anti-depressants!

P.S. i read one thread where someones listless f8 was "cured" by adding another F8 -- good idea? bad idea?

I'd move the mollies out. IME, fast moving fish tend to freak the puffers out, even if you think he's ignoring them.

ive thought about that --- ill give it a try once my qt is free

p.s. - what does IME mean ?

IME means 'in my experience' i think.

i have 2 figure eight puffers, when i got my first he just continiously swam up and down the tank. i decided to add another and he has pretty much completely stopped and kinda hangs out with his new buddy exploring.

indie, do you have any other tank mates with your 8's

I have 2 F8's with a couple of Austrailian Rainbowfish...I dont know if the company helps...they are intellegent fish and can become bored easily.

You can try to re arrange your decorations to give him some place new to explore...or add a powerhead to create a current...if mine start to pace, I flip on the powerhead for a few hours...they seem to love to body surf on the current.

what about a football, I know of Oscars that will chase the ball along the surface for hours. Of course I mean a small ball like a ping pong ball not an actual football

Anyone tried this?

never tried with puffs but lost of the larger cichlids will do this chasing of teh floating orb.

I might give it a go tonight. I shall pilfer, I mean liberate a ping pong ball from work

What kind of lighting do you have? Does the tank of a background? Are there a lot of reflections on the glass?

Odd, I have 1 large F8 and he constantly paces up and down on ONE side of the tank. If I shut the lights off he travels around the tank much more. He appears very healthy and loves to eat..but whenever the lights are on he spends his time in the same corning pacing up and town. On occasion he will cruise the tank. I have a black reflective background...18w lighting...80 degree water...

my lighting is just the standard hood that comes with a cheap set up -- one 17W NO fluorescent 18" bulb-- but i have ordered a 65x2 PC that will be here this week --

i dont know if the glass is more reflective than any other glass (how would i resolve reflection?)- check out the gallery pic, you can see the plant being reflected on the right side - (is the tank adequately decorated to make him feel safe?)

he mainly paces the sides and corners and when he does swim around its mainly within a few inches of the back pane of glass

i have noticed that turning off the lights in my tank makes the figure 8 go nuts sometimes - especially right before i turn in for the night -- 1030/1100 ish - he will start darting around at 1000 feet per second --- kinda scary actually ---

my ceylon does this also, shoots up to the surface once or twice then settles

yeah, that's funny , mine almost jumps out of the water a little bit and makes a big, almost comical, splash sound

is your ceylon also a glass pacer?