Spotted Puffer Confusion

[GobyGuy5]

As far as I know there are three types of "Spotted Puffers"
Tetraodon Nigroviridis
Tetraodon schoutedeni
Tetraodon fluviatilis
Out of the three, I have heard varying reports on whether or not they require (or do best in) Brackish conditions, I'm pretty sure that Tetraodon fluviatilis is a Brackish or even Marine fish but what about Tetraodon Nigroviridis and Tetraodon schoutedeni?
What kind of water conditions do these fish like?

 

[Dangerdoll]

Well, although they do look quite similar, Tetraodon Nigroviridis (Green spotted puffer) is in fact Brackish while Tetraodon schoutedeni (Congo Spotted Puffer) is freshwater.

 

[rjl420]

heres a good page about how to tell the difference between all the spotted puffers as well as other informations. from the page:

http://puffernet.tripod.com/confusion.html

T. fluviatilis is a brackish water pufferfish. T. nigroviridis can handle small amounts of salt (they actually do better with some salt), but is considered a freshwater fish. T. schoutedeni is a purely freshwater fish, so you shouldn't give it any more salt than you would another freshwater species.

HTH

 

[RTR]

rjl420 - erroneous info there. T. nigroviridis is BW, not fresh, and holds its color better in high brackish to marine. It is definitely not a FW fish. Keeping it in FW will likely also keep it from reaching proper adult size, fade its colors, and could shorten its life.

Then the fish pictured on that cited page is not T. fluviatilis (they are likely T. nigroviridis as well) I believe that site lists the real T. fluviatilis as "Ceylon" puffer, without any species designation. This fish is also brackish. (And larger than that site projects - at least as big as T. nigroviridis and reported larger.)

 

[rjl420]

and I thought I had a grasp on the confussion. I guess I'm just confused as the original poster.

thanks for the enlightenment.

 

[RTR]

If you ever get the chance, browse Dr. Klaus Ebert's Aqualog book on puffers- it is one of the rare places where most seem to be correctly ID'd. I'm not in full agreement with his personality generalizations, but these fish are so variable in aggresion that he may have seen different populations from those I've kept.

 

[GobyGuy5]

If you ever get the chance, browse Dr. Klaus Ebert's Aqualog book on puffers- it is one of the rare places where most seem to be correctly ID'd

Where could I find this book, it seems that It would help me out a little...................

 

[RTR]

It is one of the newer Aqualog hardcovers, quite pricy, but if you are into puffers, it is the undisputed reference.

I got mine from Fish2U

http://www.fish2u.com/

but if you check around, there may be cheaper sources now.