Pea puffer Terrorist..

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Forevernight

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Jun 10, 2006
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I put a tiny Pea puffer in my community tank without doing research on these fish. He was attacking all the fish in the tank! This morning I checked my fish and my mickey platy was devastated! His fins look like swiss cheese
and my paradise fish has damaged fins! I watched and the puffer was attacking the fish.. I took it out and almost flushed him i was so mad! But, i got a friend who will take him, I got it in a glass of water right now and friend should be here soon to take him. I never thought such a tiny fish could wreak that much havoc!
 
yup. dwarf puffers (Carinotetraodon travancoricus, aka "pea puffers", Malabar puffers, blue-eyed puffers, bumblebee puffers) are notorious fin-nippers. a tiny dwarf puffer could easily tear the fins of much larger fish and kill them from the stress. that's why you should always do the research before buying a fish.

puffers are generally not recommended for community tanks. dwarf puffers, in particular, I would never suggest putting in community situations.
 
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No point blaming the puffer for acting like a puffer. Adding fish to a tank without knowing anything about it is like throwing a dart in a dark room. They're great for a species tank though.
 
yeah, at Petsmart they are labeled as community fish, too. Stores don't always know what they're doing, and unfortunately you had to find out the hard way.

I wish there was a Dwarf puffer Adoption and Rescue organization that would find naughty dp's good homes. I'm sure many people find themselves in your predicament after reading those wrong labels. I'd start the DP Rescue myself if I had all the time and money in the world, but I don't. Plus I don't have thick enough skin to deal with all the depressing situations it would present to me on a daily basis.

I'm sorry that your platy is doing so poorly...
 
So sorry about your fish, but I'm glad you didn't flush the poor little guy. Puffers are amazing fish, by far my favorite out of what I keep, they just need the proper enviroment and a speices only tank. If I had the space I would get another 30g tank and keep all dwarf puffers and turn my 10g into a peacock gudgeon or Gertrude's Rainbow tank. I just love to watch them!
 
Forevernight said:
The thing is, it was labeled as a community fish, At Petfun.. Now I think the Mickey platy is dying..
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I hear ya!


I had a Bala Shark that acted like a Great White Shark. Very carniverous. Very aggresive.
 
plah831 said:
yeah, at Petsmart they are labeled as community fish, too. Stores don't always know what they're doing, and unfortunately you had to find out the hard way.
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Petsmart labels also say that the common pleco will get to 20" and be fine in a 20 gallon tank. I think every label I read the last time I was at Petsmart was wrong. It's amazing that a large company specializing in "pets" can't get accurate information.
 
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