Help with a nile puffer set up spooks

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

4" nile puffer in 75G 

tank gets natural light she, we have decided she is a she, has recently started to spook occasionally maybe once or twice a week and slams the HOB aquaclear 110 the top etc before stopping and hiding for the rest  of the day. feed her cherry shrimp, MTS, ramshorn, krill with vitachem, parameters all standard. 

would you put pogostemon etc on the ends to define that and the dither fish to chill her out a bit more ? 

any idea if that is normal for the nile puffers? not really an issue with the unique personalities of the hairy puffer colony members

thanks  

[Cory]

I'd look into any shadows being created in the tank. Plants on the ends could help if the motion is coming from there. But usually it's a motion outside of the tank thing, whether it's shadows or not. Having it brighter in the tank than outside in the room can help cut down on that. Puffers have good vision and can see up to 30 feet outside of an aquarium. Something as simple as a TV with flashing colors can do it from previous experience. 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

Thanks kindly. Its fairly sparse pending the next coop plant shipment for the ends. I may also try some opaque acrylic on top of the cover and a wrap on he back and left side to further minimize the shadows. The behavior is new and took a month or so to develop. It could be seasonal sun movement up here in the mountains. Always looking to improve the habitat.  Thanks again

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

On 9/14/2020 at 8:59 PM, Cory said:

I'd look into any shadows being created in the tank. Plants on the ends could help if the motion is coming from there. But usually it's a motion outside of the tank thing, whether it's shadows or not. Having it brighter in the tank than outside in the room can help cut down on that. Puffers have good vision and can see up to 30 feet outside of an aquarium. Something as simple as a TV with flashing colors can do it from previous experience. 

Thanks much. That location has some shadows and tv flashes. I installed a diy background on outside left and back of tank, added more coop plants to define the sides, and had Kribensis and Celebes sent to me last week as dithers. 

I now have a puffer who does not take off and kribs excavating and courting in her tank. She enjoyed the Celebes a bit too much to be dithers. It seems blue eyes is not a color she can resist.

Thanks again.

Vr

Matt

[Preston John]

I have an 11" Tetraodon duboisi that did this too. It got to the point I didn't want to walk by the tank in fear of sending it into a panic. I moved it to a third row top tank a few months ago and have not had another panic attack from her. I then moved my male to the tank she was in and he started panic swimming. I found after a lot of testing that it was caused when walking towards the tank and in front of another aquariums light. I couldn't even see a shadow, but the panic attacks stopped after I removed the other aquarium and it's light. 

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

12 hours ago, Preston John said:

I have an 11" Tetraodon duboisi that did this too. It got to the point I didn't want to walk by the tank in fear of sending it into a panic. I moved it to a third row top tank a few months ago and have not had another panic attack from her. I then moved my male to the tank she was in and he started panic swimming. I found after a lot of testing that it was caused when walking towards the tank and in front of another aquariums light. I couldn't even see a shadow, but the panic attacks stopped after I removed the other aquarium and it's light. 

Thanks kindly. I am hopeful this adjustment is a longer term fix seems promising so far. I had my hairy puffer colony in a tank on the same wall with no issues for 12 months before upgrading everyone's tanks and moving tanks around with a reset early this year. I suppose that could be a function of the species involved in addition to the conditions of the room.

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

Figures this would be worth an update for future reference. COOP bulbs have made a nile puffer hang out in back left corner. Puffer is significantly less skittish but still spooks occasionally puffer being a puffer I suppose.

Dither attempt 1 (Failure) :Kribs tried a few but they just beat up on the fahaka puffer bad 24 hours and kribs had to  be removed.

Dither attempt 2 (partial failure) red wag platy....nile eats anything red as it turns out.

Dither attempt 3 (success so far) golden wonder killifish...also a fairly awesome combo with the puffer generally leaving them alone and  aquarium lily pads filling in top and corners.