Keeping A Pufferfish Entertained

[Anthony!]

I'm afraid my Green Spotted Puffer, Squirt, is bored. All he really does is pace the sides of his little 10 gallon (Of course it is too small, but for the time being, he is the size of my thumbnail, and its a great size for him. He will be moved, as soon as I fix my 45 gallon tank, which has a leak ) I've tried to help him out by adding more plants (I've doubled tha amount, to no help) and I have no idea what else to do. I hate to put my little puffer through a boring life, what can I do for him? More plants? Some rocks, maybe make a cave for him to explore through?

 

[pica_nuttalli]

try adding ghost shrimp and a Malaysian Trumpet Snail colony. skip a feeding once in a while, so that foraging for food becomes more interesting.

 

[Rocker]

The size of the tank is the issue here. I feel he will settle down when the 45g is ready for him with more space to explore.

 

[Ricky Savage]

try adding a airstone, that may interest it for a bit, mine like the new plant i got for them...its really bushy, looks alot like a coniferous tree, they go into it, and every time im looking for them they seem to poke out of it...good luck

 

[Loko17]

One thing I've heard of that entertains bettas is if you get like an orange ping pong ball and let it float on the surface the fish will come up and kind of admire it from affar for a while and get closer and closer then come up and snap at it, then try again, and again, and again. That might be something you could do once in a while to give him some fun.
Also I like the idea of making him a cave, has to be kind of big so he doesnt get bored with it too easily but that shouldnt be a problem making a large one in the 45 gallon as soon as he gets in to it.
I agree with pica, give your puffer a friend like shrimp, some snails, you could even get a few fake people out of like bubblegum machines and clean them and let them sink to the bottom of the tank for a few hours and see if he likes those. Personally I would just keep giving him things to keep his mind busy. Hope it works out for you.

 

[joloco]

how about moving and altering everything around every so often, a friend does that with her puffers - its quite entertaining watching them swimming around like hey whats this... a new cave, hmmm veeeery interesting