The valentini puffer fish has been seeing consistent growth in its popularity within the fish keeping community over the last couple of years with the fish consistently going from strength to strength as photographs and videos of valentini puffer fish go viral on social media drawing more people to the species.
They are a controversial fish for beginners to fish keeping but many intermediates and experienced fish keepers have valentini puffer fish in their tanks and have problems with their fish staying puffed up.
The most common reason that a valentini puffer fish will stay puffed up is due to stress and anxiety or being in a brand new tank that is needs to get used to.
In some situations, a valentini puffer fish can stay puffed up if it is suffering from a parasitic, bacterial or fungal infection or is living in an aquarium with poor water parameters that are high in toxins.
If your valentini puffer puffed up and has stayed puffed up then it may be due to the fish being frustrated as the species can be little divas but this will depend on your particular valentini puffer fish.
Some do tend to get frustrated more than others and puff up and not deflate due to their frustrations where as other valentini puffer fish will not do this so try to look for other signs of frustration in the fish.
Do Valentini Puffers Puff Up?
Valentini puffer fish can and will puff up for a number of reasons with the more common reasons being a way to try and scare off potential predators or to interact with other valentini puffer fish in their tank either for attracting a mate or scare off other valentini puffer fish from their territory.
The species can also puff up due to being stressed, anxious or frustrated too or due to having problems with infection or poor water parameters.
For the most part, a valentini puffer fish will only swell up for around ten seconds at the absolute most but in certain conditions, they can stay puffed up for a couple of minutes with this still being considered normal.
This is generally when the fish feels threatened by a potential predator or is in a new tank and is unfamiliar with the environment and feels there may be a potential threat.
In rare situations, valentini puffer fish can puff up and stay puffed up for much longer than this though or puff up for a couple of minutes, deflate and then puff up again within seconds and stay puffed up for a couple of minutes with this repeating over and over again.
This is usually what rightly gets fish keepers who have valentini puffer fish in their tanks worried as it is not a normal behavior and is definitely a sign of
Is It Normal For A Valentini Puffer Fish To Be Puffed Up?
It is normal for a valentini puffer fish to puff up multiple times per day and the frequency that a valentini puffer fish will puff up is going to depend on a number of different factors so there is no set frequency that is considered normal for the species.
If your valentini puffer fish is in a community tank, especially a heavily stocked valentini puffer fish with multiple species then they do tend to puff up far more often.
This could be due to the fish feeling threatened and perceiving its tank mates as a potential thread to it so it puffs up to try and scare off the other fish in your tank.
If you do notice that you have a valentini puffer fish in a heavily stocked community tank that is not deflating much then it could be due to the stocking levels and other species being kept in the tank.
If you have multiple aquariums or a way to set up a temporary quarantine tank you can test this by trying to put your valentini puffer fish in a separate tank.
Just keep in mind that it is normal for a valentini puffer fish to puff up more frequently and for longer periods in new environments so it may take a day or two for the fish to settle in and normalize.
If the fish does not puff up much when in the new aquarium then you have a good idea that the problem was due to the other tank being so heavily stocked or that the problem is local to that tank with other potential issues being poor water parameters that need correcting.
What Causes A Valentini Puffer Fish To Stay Puffed Up?
The main reason that valentini puffer fish will stay puffed up is due to the fish either not being able to relax and calm down or due to irritation on the fish due to an infection or high toxins levels in its water.
These can be common if you are a new fish keeper but thankfully, they are all very easy to fix and they can usually be fixed without having to spend much money too.
One thing that we do see beginners making mistakes with time and time again when it comes to keeping marine tanks no matter the species they keep in them is that they use the cheap paper water test strips.
For only a couple of dollars more you can get a decent reef tank test kit that is not only far more accurate but also tests for a wider range of potential problems with your aquarium water.
We have lost count of the number of times that we have seen people having issues with their valentini puffer fish or other species of fish due to their water parameters but overlooking the issue that is quick and easy to fix due to their test kit giving an inaccurate reading.
If you have been trying to find the problem that is causing your valentini puffer fish to stay puffed up but are using the $10 water test strips then they could be your problem and they could be giving incorrect water parameter readings.
How Can I Help A Valentini Puffer Fish That Is Constantly Puffed Up?
The easiest way to help a valentini puffer fish that is constantly puffed up is to work on fixing whatever is stressing the fish out.
You will often find that actually finding the cause of the stress is more time consuming than actually treating it in many tank setups but good places to start are with water parameters, aggression from tank mates, and various types of infection in the fish.
As we touched on earlier in the article, some valentini puffer fish are just divas and can get frustrated for the slightest thing causing them to puff up and stay puffed up for prolonged periods of time.
This is usually down to the specific personality of your valentini puffer fish rather than an actual problem with its environment so you are usually not able to fix this one if this is the reason that your valentini puffer fish keeps puffing up.
Although we are not able to confirm this, we have seen people say that they think that some of their valentini puffer fish get jealous too during feeding time if they don’t get food quickly.
There have been a large number of people reporting this occurring with their own valentini puffer fish though so it does make us feel that this could be a reason that valentini puffer fish may puff up but we are not sure if it could be a reason that they would stay puffed up.
How Long Can A Valentini Puffer Fish Stay Puffed Up Without Having Problems?
Most valentini puffer fish will only stay puffed up for a couple of seconds or a couple of minutes at most and even then, anything over a minute in normal circumstances is very rare.
If your valentini puffer fish is staying puffed up for longer than a couple of minutes there it is a good indication that there is something wrong with the environment of the fish.
The longer your valentini puffer fish stays puffed up the higher the risk is to the fish having problems but the problems that can occur to a valentini puffer fish staying puffed up for extended periods of time tend not to be as serious as most people initially think.
The issue is that if the valentini puffer fish is doing this due to having problems with an infection or being chased and nipped by its tank mates then this will often end up being more of a problem than the fish being puffed up for so long.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over why your valentini puffer puffed up and has stayed puffed up to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you short list the possible causes of the issue in your fish. As we have touched on a couple of times throughout the article, the more common reasons that your valentini puffer fish will puff up and stay puffed up do tend to be easy to fix in most situations and you should easily be able to fix the problem once you workout what is causing the issue.
