Petey the Spiny Box Puffer is bored in quarantine

exalectric · Jun 2, 2021

Petey the Spiny Box Puffer is currently in quarantine. He's physically doing well so that's fantastic.
However, mentally he seems so sad and bored in there without his best friend Mefitis the Volitan Lionfish, rockscapes to swim through and clean up crew members to terrorize and munch on. Whenever I come over to the tank he will swim up to me and gets very excited for snacks. I feel bad that he has to sit in there alone for a month. Are there any suggestions for things I can add to the tank for him to play with that can be easily cleaned after he heads back to his reef? Currently all he has is a fake plant I snagged from the freshwater quarantine system. I was planning to get some new PVC pieces for him (I was afraid he might get stuck in the smaller ones we have) but not sure if that's enough or if there are other ideas out there. Do they make pufferfish "toys" to keep him stimulated when I'm working and can't sit by his tank?

exalectric · Jun 2, 2021

Here he is:

tehmadreefer · Jun 2, 2021

How do you how a fish Is doing mentally and is bored? He may be absolutely loving it, yet you would never know...

lion king · Jun 2, 2021

Some live ghost shrimp and a live fiddler crab will put a smile on his face.

exalectric · Jun 2, 2021

tehmadreefer said:
How do you how a fish Is doing mentally and is bored? He may be absolutely loving it, yet you would never know...

I'm a puffer telepath, obviously.

I mean, perhaps you're right, but usually he is an active swimmer and only sits around when its bedtime or he just ate. I just want him to have options to explore and entertain himself if he wants to. Often he watches the cat while the cat watches him in the main tank, but there is no cat perch where he is now so he can't do that either.

exalectric · Jun 2, 2021

lion king said:
Some live ghost shrimp and a live fiddler crab will put a smile on his face.

That is a good idea. I will see what the LFS has later today!

LRT · Jun 2, 2021

Mine prefers to be alone. Ive tried pretty much everything. Bigger tank, tank mates you name it. All he does is try to escape or sketch out around other fish.
What he does like is low lighting. Mostly active at night. Loves to make huge messes everyday by tearing up rock and pretty much whatever else he can get in his mouth.
Took mine a cpl weeks to get acclimated now I can't go near the tank without him spitting water at me or something.

exalectric · Jun 2, 2021

LRT said:
Mine prefers to be alone. Ive tried pretty much everything. Bigger tank, tank mates you name it. All he does is try to escape or sketch out around other fish.
What he does like is low lighting. Mostly active at night. Loves to make huge messes everyday by tearing up rock and pretty much whatever else he can get in his mouth.
Took mine a cpl weeks to get acclimated now I can't go near the tank without him spitting water at me or something.

Petey and the lion swim together often or perch around the same rocks so I'm assuming they're friends.
The quarantine tank is near a window (no direct sunlight into the house from that window) but doesn't have any extra lighting on it so I'd say its relatively low. Petey is pretty clumsy when he swims around, but hasn't done much intentional damage per se.