View Full Version : The Puffer Diary Part 2
Firsttanks
11-02-2003, 4:43 PM
Oct 6 - Chubbs is filling out nicely, and Skinner has lost that starved look and actually had a little pot belly today for the first time. Their colors are brightened up nicely now :D
http://www.aquaticconnection.info/gallery/albums/album09/Oct_6d.jpg
Oct 8 - The puffers seem to have finished off all the snails and most of the Ghost shrimp, they still pick at the frozen medicated foods, but it seems they are on the mend nicely.
http://www.aquaticconnection.info/gallery/albums/album09/Oct_8a.jpg
Well rather than bore everyone with the rest of the story day by day I will finish off with the most recent pics of my newist little terrors Chubbs and Skinner, a couple of little Tetraodon leiurus - Target Puffers who seem to have made a full recovery and are waiting to be relocated to a nice 35 gal tank where thay will have lots of room to swim and hunt (for now :huh: )
http://www.aquaticconnection.info/gallery/albums/album09/Oct_25c.sized.jpg
Chubbs
http://www.aquaticconnection.info/gallery/albums/album09/Oct_25.jpg
Skinner
http://www.aquaticconnection.info/gallery/albums/album09/Oct_25f.jpg
cdawson
11-02-2003, 4:54 PM
Dude I would be careful with those puffers. target puffers are pretty **** aggressive and will most likely kill each other unless separated.
Firsttanks
11-02-2003, 5:01 PM
Thanks cdawson, I for got to change the original post...after some more research I have discovered that they are actually Tetraodon cutcutia, and I believe I lucked out and got a male and female, so I'm hoping they will turn into a breeding pair....they are scheduled to be moved into a larger thank within the next week or so.
yashinfan
11-02-2003, 5:27 PM
Aww, I love happy endings :)
how do they eat snails? suck them outta the shell??
cdawson
11-03-2003, 10:51 AM
Nope, they actually EAT the snail. Puffers have very strong beaks that basically can crush anything modern evolution can throw at them. Even small puffers are pretty much at the top of the food chain. They even contain a deadly neurotoxin (the most deadly in the world) that's used by several other animals, like the blue ringed octopus, the stonefish, a species of jellyfish, and the south sea conch shell. It's in their muscle and organs, so if they're ever eaten. The assuming predator becomes the prey and if they haven't asphyxiated on the puffed puffer they'll die from the neurotoxin quite quickly. Many species of puffers are so aggressive they can stand up to pretty much everything, the only thing I've seen a puffer get taken out by is another, more aggressive puffer.
Callidus
11-03-2003, 12:58 PM
As I have posted on the other site, I agree that they are Tetraodon cutcutia as well.
I had one called Elmo who wasn't incredibly agressive but grew very quickly; within 3 months went from 1" to 3". His tail grew brilliantly and he appeared to be extremely intelligent.
You will enjoy them and being FW (<--- Correct we if im wrong on this.) you dont have to put up with salt creep.
Firsttanks
11-03-2003, 7:33 PM
These two seem to be getting along Ok for now, but I have seen noticable growth in just the last month. I expect them to have a bit of a spurt once they get into the larger tank.
cdawson
11-03-2003, 9:28 PM
You're not putting them into a community tank are you?
Firsttanks
11-03-2003, 9:38 PM
:D :D lol...no they will be getting their own 35 gal tank. I'll be keeping an eye out for the aggression level as the months go by, and if necessary will set up a second tank to seperate them.
cdawson
11-04-2003, 11:25 AM
phew,I thought you were going to put them into a community tank (I was looking at your tank list, I missed the 35g puffer tank).
Lol, some guy on another board had 3 red eyes and put them into his community planted tank and they systematically went through each and every single one of his fish then start killing each other.
Firsttanks
11-04-2003, 7:37 PM
lol...That's how I started keeping fish, we got 3 Dwarf puffers for the community tank (on the advise of the lfs :rolleyes: )and they proceeded to shred everything with long fins that they could catch (including my wifes favorite Dwarf Gouramis). Rather than see them returned I adopted them as my own and have been adding to their ranks since.
p.s. i really should update my sig. I have another 35 gal set for the cutcutia.
Milton Friedman
11-08-2003, 9:55 PM
Ahh yes, the mistake of putting puffers in a community tank. Very common mistake amongst newbies :(. One of my friends put a GSP in a 10-gallon tank (No salt and extremely small) and systematically killed every guppy he had in there. Not a pretty site.
Although about Dwarfs; some have had success keeping those in a community tank. A friend of mine (who has been keeping fish for some time) put 2 dwarfs in a 55-gallon community tank. It is important to note, all the fish were fast (i.e. Tetra neon’s) and very heavily planted... So far for about a year now, no problems
By the way, nice job on the revival