Fish stress and how to avoid it

[Lilthuglet]

My Pea Puffers are super skittish.

A water change is enough to make them hide every time I come near the tank for a day, even if I am feeding, and glass surf the rest of the time.
Any serious maintenance, like a gravel vac or moving an item of scenery in the tank, or even moving stuff around/being noisy in the room they are in is enough to make them hide and glass surf for a week or more. And get sick.

The last two times I've done a proper gravel vac one of them has developed cotton mouth and died afterwards. It is heartbreaking.

I can't stop doing tank maintenance can I? It is a planted 100L with (now) 4 Peas in it.

When they are settled they spend their time mooching round the plants and wood and eyeballing me every time I come close to see if I'm going to feed them so the difference is really noticable.

The water is at 0 ammonia and nitrite, <5 nitrates. pH of 7.2. Temp 25*c. Water is a little hard at 11dH. They are fed on live daphnia, brine shrimp and bloodworm with occasional snails - I did have a snail tank but it never produced enough to be more than a treat so it is as easy to get them from my LFS as they give them away free. They're super picky about eating and prefer bloodworms but I won't leave them eating only that. They will NOT eat anything that is not alive.

This is the tank:

 

[Thunder_o_b]

Wish I could help. Never had the fish. Will be following with interest, I have thought about keeping them.

I gotta say that when I read your title "Fish stress and how to avoid it"
The first thing came to mind was having a lot more money to spend on them... Then, "Oh you meant the stress on the fish not the keeper."

Best wishes.

 

[A201]

Instead of using a siphon, maybe just dip out the water with a plastic pitcher, avoiding gravel vacs altogether.
Consider stocking a group of a small bottom feeder, such as Kuhlis.

 

[jmaldo]

Wow! 4 together, I started with 6 but... down to two.
My duo do swim and hide from the siphon, then after a few hours return to their normal behavior of hide and seek. They are watching and have learned to recognize when the pipette I use to feed enters the water it's feeding time.
Here's my thread, if interested
20 Long Planted Pea Puffer Build | Freshwater Aquarium Builds Forum | 503601
Good Luck!

 

[carsonsgjs]

I found peas to be fairly timid but they settled fairly quickly. Mine often watch me while I work and are very inquisitive. During maintenance, they don’t seem to be bothered at all.

Just wondering how long have you had them (tank looks fairly established though) and whether they are in a quiet room away from noise and lots of people passing by?

 

[Lilthuglet]

Thanks all. I've had them about 6 months, the tank is in the quietest corner of my living room where I don't go except to feed them or work on the tank. I'll see how we get on without a vac, but they are such messy eaters I worry about leaving the bits in.