The Puffer Forum

Hi
I sadly lost my F8 a few weeks ago and purchased 2 babies for her tank. They settled in quickly, feeding well, very interactive and apart from some minor squabbling at dinner time, they have been getting on well. However in the past couple of weeks they both seem very nervous when the lights are on in the tank, hiding away most of the time and if they do come out are very jumpy and skittish. They are fine when the lights are out, exploring and friendly and eating everything in sight. The only thing I can think of is that the house is often full of teenage lads playing console games and it frightens them for some reason when the lights are on but not when the lights are off. Unfortunately I can't situate the tank anywhere else in the house so apart from leaving the lights out all of the time, has anyone else expereinced this with baby F8's and does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
Sue

As long as there is enough ambient room light to give them a day/night cycle, they don't really need a tank light. That's more for our viewing pleasure and benefit of live plants.

That's funny, mine are the exact opposite.
When the lights are on they are "normal"; inquisitive and friendly and explorative.
When the tank lights are off but the room lights are on, they flip out if you go near the tank and pace the glass most of the time.

Strange. I was wondering if dusk in the wild is a dangerous time for them or something.

My first F8 was just like yours, inquisitive in the day and nervous with tank lights out, I think my babies are a bit mixed up lol
Sue

I think they may be more nervous in scantly decorated tanks in the light(where they can hide quickly when they are easily seen), and more nervous in densely decorated in the dark(when they can get ambushed from the cover)... what do you think?

The tank is very heavily decorated with plants ornaments etc, so they have plenty of places to hide. I think they just like being different lol, maybe they will get braver in the daytime as they get bigger. I am loathe to turn off the lights all the time, as it is so much easier to see them with the lights on, and they are so pretty, in the mean time I will have to enjoy my puffers in the morning and the evening when they play in the twilight . I am going to reduce the time the tank lights are on though, at the moment the lights are on for 10 hours a day so I can probably reduce them to 7 or 8
Sue

My Fig 8 that i have had for 2 years seems to not like the light. Not really sure why. He usually finds a nice dark corner of the tank during the day when the light is on then when the light goes off becomes quite active. The tank is heavily decorated.

I quite often find that when i move the decorations around a bit he has a week of coming out in the light - looks like he is playing and exploring. But then gets bored and sits in the corner. He also comes out more in the light when there is something for him to hunt, like river shrimp.

I think that this hiding behavior has decreased however when i added a black background to 2 sides of the tank. He seems a lot more active.