figure eight puffer help

ryanm19

Medium Fish
Feb 6, 2008
99
0
0
Lawrence, KS
#1
hello,
ive got a 20 gallon which holds:
2 figure 8 puffers
1 green scat
1 archer fish
1 silver shark

they all have been hapily living together for several months now but the tank itself has been running for a year. it is overstocked and more room is soon coming for them but for now i have a question about one of my puffers..
the two puffers have been in there together for just under a year now and are very happy with eachother but recently one of them begins to curl up in a ball type shape. it is like this sometimes floating or laying on the gravel. this puffer doesnt have as bright of color as the other one. this color has seemed to always be like this. but other than that it does fine and eats well and swims normally. I have just recently tested the water and everything is normal.
If anyone can help explain why my puffer is doing this i will be very thankfull

thanks
 

Dec 1, 2007
43
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0
#4
He's just much too cramped in there. Puffers show they are stressed by curling their tails around their body and showing dark, or black coloration on their bellies (not all puffers do this, but a lot do). The only solution I can give you is to upgrade that tank as fast as you can. You'll need at the very least a 55gallon, and most likely an even larger tank in the future.