The Puffer Forum

As most of you remember, I picked up a new large F8 Puffer. Pretty fish..

However, he is increasingly becoming more and more nervous since I've owned him. Anytime the lights are on he spends his time in corners dashing up and down, occasionally he will go for a cruise and act normal. Other than that, he's always skiddish with the lights on. If I turn the lights off, he will cruise the tank and looks much more calm.

I've tried altering the settings of the tank. I'm starting to think my rocks/driftwood (yes, the driftwood is getting soft and will be out of the tank shortly) is not giving him enough room to cruise the bottom of the tank and claim his territory & feel comfortable? The back of the tank is covered with a reflective background. I am housing him with another MUCH smaller F8 who is never aggressive, even during feeding.

If he spots me around the tank, he will make an attempt to jump out or he will dash to the other side of the tank. I have 3 medium to large plants along the backside of the tank. I have large 'cave rock', along with driftwood in the center of the tank that does not have any points that sit higher than the middle of the tank. He almost always hugs the back side of the glass. His coloring is great, his appetite is great. There is no competition for food and otherwise he looks very healthy. I'm nervous to just remove everything and disturb the comfort level of my small Fig8, who appears to be oblivious to the large F8's troubles.

My tank parameters are great, my salinity is 1.005. I just can't quite figure out what this puffer needs to relax!

Well, I decided it was time to do something and quit trying to figure out what could be the cause.

I pulled the driftwood out and removed the reflective backing from the tank. He's moved from his usual corners & he is swimming the length of the tank, pacing, but atleast he's not in the corners now. Still very skiddish, his rear fin is not clinched - but he's swimming fast and will swim to the surface and splash a bit.

Just an odd question, any bright colors in the room? Some people have found their puffers are really scared of bright colors such as red..

Maybe working something out so his light is more dim, or always leaving a small light on in the room so he's not so startled by sudden light changes when you walk into a room.

Strange. Both rocks in the tank have plenty of pink in them. Also, I have a small red decorative plant in the tank too.

I'm open to all and any suggestions!

Wouldn't that be nuts if he was scared of his tank decor?

Could be my imagination, but ever since I heard about the red thing a few weeks ago I've been paying more attention, and my puffs actually don't seem to appreciate it when I wear bright red.
Switching the decor could be worth a shot.

this is fascinating. who's puffer was it that was scared of a stripey shirt?

If you got the fish large, it's entirely possible it was a wild fish into adulthood, and thus is MUCH more likely to respond to things fearfully, fish in the wild that don't do that end up eaten. That also means that the bright decor might be whats doing it.

Wow guys, you sure hit the nail on the head with this one...

I removed the drift wood. I removed the reflective backing and he looked much more comfortable, yet he was still very skiddish and moved to the front of the tank all last night. I got home from work and he was still skiddish, but I pulled the bright red decor around 4:30pm & since then he's cruising the bottom of the tank and will actually approach the glass when I come in for a close look.

He actually came up at my fingers in the tank when I dropped in some bloodworms.

I think the poor bugger was afraid of the tank decor??

Wow.. I guess he very well might have been. Red is often a "warning" sign in nature.

Hey, as long as it worked! Try a regular old green fake plant and see what he does.

I do have a bunch of green plants in the tank.

In the past 2 weeks I finally found my timer & I've had the lights on a strict schedule. I thought maybe my erratic lighting schedule was making him nervous/stressing him out. When that didn't resolve it I figured something in the tank was startling him. This morning I turned the tank lights on for an hour while I dressed for work & he looked comfortable like my other puffer. He does appear to be an adult, he is quite large (the biggest F8 I've seen in person & pictures) and like others have said, is probably more versed about predators than my younger F8.

Thanks for the help everyone! I don't know what I would do without this place!!