The Puffer Forum

Could be anything. The odd markings don't remind me of any Carinotetraodon, and in fact suggests something a bit more exotic, like one of the Chelonodon spp for example. But without a proper photo, can't help.

Cheers, Neale

Talking of misconceptions, here's another one... The bigger concerne with silica sand is that silicates in the water spur diatom and other outbreaks. Silica sand is the same stuff as glass, and equally insoluble. If diatoms are using silicon, it's as likely from one as the other, so we'd be avoiding...

The white stuff on the eyes is likely dead skin. Slightly reduced salinity and the use of an antibiotic can help support the fish while it heals naturally. An optimal diet, and especially the use of supplementary vitamins (e.g., Selcon), will improve the odds of recovery. Can take months to fully he...

Lowering the salinity in a FOWLR tank or one with soft corals isn't wise; you may kill the Ick parasites, but you'll also kill most of the invertebrates. Arothron nigropunctatus tolerates reduced salinity very well (though it isn't as euryhaline as Arothron hispidus , as far as I know). So moving th...

Possibly, but it's rather like asking if you're more likely to break another fingernail because you've already broken one. Even if he does chip another tooth, what's the big deal? I've seen SAPs with oddly chipped teeth and they soon grew them back to normal. My understanding is that fish (all fish)...

Yes, I know. But that's an insanely large fish that almost always dies prematurely under home aquarium conditions. Unless you have 1000+ gallons at your disposal, Tetraodon mbu isn't a fish you can keep properly. Frankly, they shouldn't be traded at all, and it always depresses me when I see them in...

Jenny makes a compelling point here. No-one buys a pufferfish expecting to maintain it in a community tank. Almost every pufferfish species has to be maintained on its own, alongside its own kind, or (rarely) with a few carefully chosen tankmates. So whether this pufferfish is a brackish water speci...

I'm with Jeff on this one. I've kept SAPs with relatively small, docile cichlids, specifically Pelvicachromis taeniatus , Laetacara curviceps and Mikrogeophagus ramirezi[/i]. Once the cichlids learned to keep out of nipping range, and the puffers learned to stay away from the cichlids' caves, everyt...

I'd modify somewhat what Jeni says above and say that the fish you have is something within the Tetraodon nigroviridis - Tetraodon fluviatilis species group. Since none of these fish (including the form aquarists call Tetraodon sabahensis ) can be identified securely without DNA analysis, something ...

As Corvus indicates, identifying GSPs visually isn't reliable. Scientists maintain that you cannot identify the two recognised species without performing DNA work. Since the two species (as traded) are essentially identical in care, don't worry about it. Just enjoy the fish you have. It's probably a...

Indeed, as Nick says, could be lost for a variety of reasons. Nothing to worry about, and will likely grow back in time. Although Melanoides spp. snails are often mentioned as being likely reasons for puffers losing teeth, that's something with precious little evidence to support it, and even if it ...

I'm not a huge fan of tea-tree oil medications like Melafix. Over at WWM, I get two or three messages a week from folks with fish that have Finrot or Fungus, have used Melafix, and their fish haven't improved. Bob Fenner is even more hostile to the stuff, and considers it worthless. http://www.wetwe...

I agree with this. Indeed, I'd go so far as to suggest that the reports of psychotic irrubesco are actually down to misidentifications. Here in England irrubesco and lorteti are commonly mixed up in the same batch of fish, but sold as one or other species. Then there are those other Carinotetraodon ...

I've kept nerite snails with irrubesco puffers without problems, and my four specimens live in a busy tank alongside Panaque and Garra , both of which eat algae. So there are options. Cherry shrimps might be worth trying, though likely some would be eaten. My own experience with cherry shrimps is th...

Probably a bit late now... but still. Klaus Ebert describes a method for deflating puffers in his Aqualog pufferfish book (p. 9). The puffer is held in the hand with its head pointing upwards. The belly is stroked -- to provoke further inflation -- and it's this process that allows water in. The fis...