How to know when to give up?

[SWilson]

I started keeping south american puffers 3 months ago.  I have 6 in a heavily planted 55 gallon, and lost 1 in quarantine.  I tried to do a fair pit of research before settling on this fish and felt prepared to handle the challenges of keeping this fish.  The ones that made it through quarantine are doing well, they eat, have fat bellies.  And each spends some time exploring the tank.  They are still juvenile, about 1.5" long. 

Despite this, I'm considering giving them to a local fish store or seeing if I can rehome them through the aquarium club.  Although they are generally doing well, they still do a lot of glass surfing, exclusively on the back and sides of the tank (which are covered in black to try to cut down on this).  The tank has a powehead to provide flow, and is heavily planted -- I even bought $200+ worth of subwassertang to try to fill up the sides of the tank to see if that would help.  The parameters are stable at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10 nitrate.  The pH is high, 8-8.4 - I've been adding pH neutralizing substrate and more cattapa leaves to try to combat the high pH of my tap water which I think gets even more alkaline from the snail shells they leave behind.  The temperature is 75.  I understand that glass surfing is quite common in the species, particularly early on.  I got the impression that it was temporary.  I realize now I should have done even more research.   But research can't always tell you how much you might enjoy a particular fish or tank set up once you do it.

I feel guilty saying it, but I just don't find watching them glass surf enjoyable.  And I initially was attracted to a species-specific "oddball" tank, but I now think I'd prefer the variety of a community tank.  If it weren't for this behavior, I would enjoy them much more and don't think I'd be at the point of trying to give them away. 

I worry that I'm giving up on them too soon.  Not to mention that the stress of me catching them and being moved yet again will probably be even worse for them than their current situation.  For people who have kept them long term, should I stick it out?  Any other suggestions to try to reduce glass surfing?  Would an even bigger tank help?  could my water parameters be contributing to this behavior?  

[Fish Folk]

Sounds like you’re a fine aquarist! Here’s my personal view — take it, or leave it: I recommend you spend at least 2 months trying to resolve this from this day forward. Even if it never works, you’ll probably learn a dozen things through the effort.

The question is: are they stressed, or distracted? And then what is causing either answer?

If you e not already, consider covering your water surface with some kind of floating plants. Water lettuce works well.  Giving fish a “green canopy” can go a long way towards calming hem down. Now, plants underneath are going to require a recovery of lost light, so maybe also lengthen your photo period.

If possible use rain water (or ground water from a sump) that is neutral pH for changing water. Also, take a few clean 4-5 gallon buckets, draw your tap water into them, and leave 5x Rooibos tea bags in each overnight. When you change water, use these first. Adding tannins may calm them, and balance your pH. But be careful not to overdo. Know your GH and KH so that you do t crash pH. You can add alder cones, catappa leaves, Amazon botanicals, etc too.

Find out what they really like to feed on. Are they live food eaters? Get them eating their favorite fare, and watch their behavior.

Evaluate your flow. Too much? Too little?   Direction?

That’s how is go at it. Try to patiently eliminate one possibility at a time, and learn some things along the way. 

[Schwack]

If you aren't enjoying them, I'm guessing you'll have no trouble rehoming them. I bought a school of emerald corys for my community tank and... just didn't like them. They weren't a fish I enjoyed keeping. I put out a rehoming message to my local aquarium group and had them in a new 65 gallon filled with corys within 2 hours. I don't think it makes someone a bad aquarist to "give up" on a particular fish, especially when you're feeling like you aren't giving them the best possible care.

For me, fish keeping is most enjoyable when it's relaxing. That is, when I'm not stressed about all the things I'm doing wrong and can just sit back and enjoy the fish.

Having said that, I agree with @Fish Folk that you might find enjoyment in solving the problem and creating that best possible home. Journey rather than destination sort of thing.

 

[Brandy]

I think you have the best advice from both posts above. Learning is good, but at the end of the day this is supposed to be fun.

[KBOzzie59]

Edited April 1, 2021 by KBOzzie59

[Kirsten]

Yeah @Fish Folkhas some excellent, detailed advice for these particular fish. You're in very good hands with them.

I don't have any advice other than the psychological kind, to not get hung up on being a perfect fish keeper or having perfect fish that behave exactly as the guides say. As you've already observed, going down that path can rob you of the simple pleasure of watching and keeping fish. You can rehome the fish, but you can't rehome perfectionism 🙂

But I get it, it can be frustrating to observe chronic issues that don't go away no matter how hard you work on them. From what I've read, glass surfing sounds like a stereotypic behavior, typically caused from boredom or stress, like animals pacing in a zoo or an office worker who constantly clicks their pen. If they were wild-caught, I'd think the stress in being confined at all could be enough, especially for an animal as smart as a puffer. But, just like a dog who chases its tail or chews on the furniture, sometimes they just be like that, no matter how happy and enriched a life they lead.

I agree that, if you're on the fence, you should give yourself a solid timeline for doing your utmost, after which point, you can rehome them with no regrets, knowing you did your best.

But I also wouldn't let it stop you from experimenting with other fish that you're really excited to try. If your budget allows, get yourself a nice new, not too huge livebearer tank while you're working on the puffers. Give yourself a win and a fun new project to help see you through the frustrating times. And if you decide to rehome the puffers, hey, whole empty tank to play with!

[Fish Folk]

24 minutes ago, Kirsten said:

You can rehome the fish, but you can't rehome perfectionism

Brilliantly put.

[SWilson]

Thank you all.  Much love to this forum.  So much great advice here.  I will try the things @Fish Folk suggested and give them some more time to acclimate, tannins, and live foods.  

[Fish Folk]

1 minute ago, SWilson said:

I will try the things @Fish Folk suggested and give them some more time to acclimate, tannins, and live foods.  

If it makes the project more enjoyable, and camaraderie is encouraging, you can keep posting on this thread, uploading photos and videos journaling the process. We’ll cheer you on from around the world!! 🌎 

[SWilson]

26 minutes ago, Kirsten said:

But I get it, it can be frustrating to observe chronic issues that don't go away no matter how hard you work on them. From what I've read, glass surfing sounds like a stereotypic behavior, typically caused from boredom or stress, like animals pacing in a zoo or an office worker who constantly clicks their pen. If they were wild-caught, I'd think the stress in being confined at all could be enough, especially for an animal as smart as a puffer. But, just like a dog who chases its tail or chews on the furniture, sometimes they just be like that, no matter how happy and enriched a life they lead.

 

I think it's exactly because I read/recognize the behavior as stereotypy that it so affects me.  I knew this was a strong possibility that they would glass surf, but I didn't know how bad I would feel.   I think part of my guilt is that I had initially been set on only a captive bred puffer, like a pea puffer, but then my partner got really excited about the amazon puffers when we saw them at a store, and I bought into what the people working there were telling us about them being a "community puffer."  So I think there's a little bit of regret mixed in too.  

[SWilson]

3 minutes ago, Fish Folk said:

If it makes the project more enjoyable, and camaraderie is encouraging, you can keep posting on this thread, uploading photos and videos journaling the process. We’ll cheer you on from around the world!! 🌎 

This community is so kind .<3  I tried to get a picture just now of the one I would miss the most, my chunky monkey - the one who is always first to the bloodworm block.  The conditions were not great for a picture, so I'll keep working on it. 

[Kirsten]

22 minutes ago, SWilson said:

So I think there's a little bit of regret mixed in too.  

It's okay 🙂 I'm sure almost everyone here has at least one species of wild-caught fish, whether we know it or not. Some even go out and find native fish and plants themselves!

This video about Gary Lange's fish room, full of rare rainbow fish, some of which he caught himself in Papua New Guinea and which he's helping to catalog, preserve and breed out for the aquarium hobby, gave me a new respect for wild fish-gathering: