Normal puffer behavior?

[jphendren]

I bought my first fish, a small 3" dogface puffer on last Tuesday. I drip acclimated him to the tank over 90 minutes. From Tuesday until Saturday morning when I went to work, he spent all day swimming around the tank exploring, he would come up to the glass and give me good looks at him, blow in the sand, and would eat great. I work Saturday and Sunday 12.5 hour shifts, and is left in my wife's care. Anyways, Saturday evening I get home and he is looking blotchy, and kind of bloated looking. I was concerned, but my wife said that he ate fine, but was "anti-social." Sunday morning I get up and noticed that he had one pectoral fin stuck in his gill, I didn't know what to do, so I thought I better act fast and help him get it out, so I reached into the tank and as my hand neared him he puffed up. It worked, the fin came out. Now he seems to eat fine, but stays hidden throughout the entire day, under rocks, or in spaces between rocks. He has one spot he likes where he gets in between two rocks, puffs up just enough to wedge himself into the hole. He still eats, but barely pokes his nose out enough to get the food, and then back into hiding.

I think that he is afraid of me and my family. I have not acted aggressively toward him, so I'm not sure why the sudden change. Every time I walk toward the tank, he starts bloating himself and his color gets blotchy. Will he get over this, or should I return him to the LFS? Would putting another fish in there with him perk him up, or stress him even more?

Jared

 

[bix]

It took my DFP a while to get used to me as well. I found for the first few weeks he would only come out when hungry.

One way to keep him out is to not feed as much. As soon as I feed my puffer he hides for a while, sometimes for the rest of the night. Kinda like they are saving energy to deal with digesting the meal or something?

Sounds like normal behavior to me, my guess is that he will get more social with time. It's still a relatively new environment for him.

If you could get a picture of him when he is bloated/blotchy it might help.

Another thing I noticed is that they change colour quite a bit. Mine can go from a dark brown to almost white, usually more pale when sleeping/resting.