New Porcupine Puffer Strange Behavior

[nanofowlrboy]

Hey everyone!
My mom recently got a new juvenile porcupine pufferfish for her Water-box 110. This isn’t going to be it’s permanent home as it will eventually get to large for the tank. He’s been eating like crazy and has no visible signs of disease such as ick or velvet. He’s alert and has clear eyes. So here’s the problem. He just sits on the wavemaker or sand-bed like a lazy dog when it’s not feeding time. We’ve had a porcupine puffer in the past act like this when he got velvet. But this guy has no signs of velvet anywhere and he’s been in the tank for about 4 days now. None of the other fish have signs of velvet or ick. He gets up occasionally and swims in the general 5 inch area, but he likes to sit on the wavemaker most of the time. Part of me thinks he just thinks its fun to get sucked to it. He’s the biggest fish in the tank also. Thank you guys so much

*He had a 45 minute acclimation period

Tankmates:
Bicolor Angelfish
2x Ocellaris Clownfish
2x Azure Damselfish
Bangaii Cardinalfish
Matted filefish
Neon Dottyback
Lawnmower Blenny
Pink Spotted Watchman Goby
Coral Banded Shrimp
Pistol Shrimp
Turbo Snails
Nassarius Snails
Dwarf Hermit Crabs
Corals and Anemones

Parameters

1.025 SG
8.1 pH
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
Temp: 79.5 F
Lighting period: 12 Hours

 

[Andy Sager]

Porcupine puffers do not always have to be in motion and they do tend to like the water current. I've seen many in the ocean just sitting underneath a coral head.
That said, if the fish is clear eyed ( as appears in the picture) and the fins are all clear and the fish is eating fine, I would not be concerned. I'd be more concerned for her shrimps and crabs as puffers like to use them as food.

 

[nanofowlrboy]

Awesome thank you for your help!!

 

[Colin_T]

You might want to raise the pH a bit. Marine tanks normally have a pH around 8.5.

Most puffers I have seen just sit on their butts all do and only move when there's food.

It could also be getting use to the tank and might even have jet lag depending on where it came from and when it came in.