Pufferfish are very playful and friendly saltwater aquarium fish that like relating with human beings ( their feeders). There are many species of this fish and each has its unique colors, size, and behaviors too. Despite that they have their unique colors, they could sometimes change or alter their colors for some reasons which you will learn in this article. If you are wondering why your Pufferfish changed colors, this article will explain it all for you, so read till the end.
Why Does my Puffer fish change colors? Pufferfish could change or alter their colors to camouflage.
There are a few reasons why these funny fish could change their colors and the above is just one of them.
You will agree with me that it could be very strange and surprising waking up one day and seeing your fish change from maybe white to dark or pal, etc.
This could be frightening and will get you wondering if your fish is alright or it is sick or maybe dying, etc especially if you are not very familiar with these types of fish.
So, the reasons why they change colors are:
Why Puffer Fish Change Their Colors
1. To Camouflage: Earlier I mentioned camouflage in this article because it is one of the most common reasons why Pufferfish change their colors, especially in the wild.
We all know that These fish are tropical saltwater fish, which means that in the wild they have many enemies or predators, and also they feed on smaller aquatic animals too such as crustaceans, Snails, etc because they are Omnivores fish.
Being surrounded by both predators and preys, they apply to change colors as a defensive and offensive technique.
What I meant to say is that they could change to the colors of their immediate environment just to hide from their predators.
Also, they could change to the colors of their environment just to ambush their prey too.
It is obvious that its preys are fast swimmers than they are, so to catch them, they lay ambush by either mimicking the colors of their environment, maybe rocks, sand, etc, and pounce on the unsuspecting animal.
Apart from doing all these in the wild, they could also do it in your aquarium sometimes, especially if there is an aggressive animal in the tank, so it is just normal for them to Camouflage and you have nothing to worry about that.
2. Stress: Another reason why Pufferfish could change their colors is a result of stress.
Stress is very unhealthy for all aquatic animals, in fact, all fish could alter, change or fade in color as a result of being exposed to stress.
There are many factors that could lead to stress for these fish and they are, unsuitable water and environment, the presence of Toxins in the water, aggression from other aquatic animals, constant disturbance from people, etc.
When a fish is overly stressed, it could become sick and may die in the process, and one of the signs they show when they are in this condition is that they fade in colors or change their colors entirely, for instance from white color to dark, etc.
3. Lightening system: Sometimes your aquarium light could be the reason why you may think that your Pufferfish or fish, in general, has changed color while in the real sense it hasn’t.
The fact is that so many fish’s colors could easily be mistaken to have changed due to the color of the light they are in, for instance, a blue fish could easily be mistaken to be light blue, dark, or even dark green in some cases.
So, if you noticed that your fish have changed colors, you might have to check the light because it could be a result of the aquarium light, and again as I explained above, these fish could easily mimic their environment, so they could easily mimic the color of the aquarium light.
4. Sickness: One of the reasons why your Pufferfish might have changed colors or faded in colors could be that it is sick.
We all know that no fish will remain the same once it is sick.
There are many diseases and parasites that could infect a fish and make it change from its usual color to another color such as white spot disease popularly known as Ich and many other diseases.
If you find out that your fish is sick, I won’t advise you to do anything, just get in contact with a veterinarian doctor.
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