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Pick a puffer

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 9:01 pm
by martini57
So, unfortunately I was told today that we are moving in December, so I can't get any more tanks until we get down there. But the fiancé told me that I could get any kind of fish that I want!!! Naturally, I have to get a puffer. I am not limited by water type, size, anything. No restrictions. So I want to start planning, naturally. So if you had your choice of any puffer, what would you pick?

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 9:19 pm
by Arny
They're very expensive to buy but I would get a golden puffer. But when you think you'll have it as a pet for 15 years its not really that expensive.
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Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 9:34 pm
by martini57
What is the price range on those? I looked it up and it said like 350?

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 10:27 pm
by hadla
Porky! :D

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:41 am
by RTR
How many years have you been keeping fish?

How many and what size tanks have you had?

What water conditions have you expeience with in tanks? Fresh water, brackish water, salt water (marine)?

What other pets have been in your sole or primary care & responsibility?

Without some information on your history and ability to care for pet animals, I could not in good conscience suggest any puffer for a novice, so please tell us a bit more about yourself.

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 11:21 am
by martini57
Haha leave it to RTR. Experience with freshwater and brackish. Also, I am a veterinary technician. I am just recently getting back into tanks, other than bettas. Animals that have been in my primary care are too many to name, currently an African grey parrot, hermanns tortoise, 2 dogs, betta, African dwarf frogs. I know you guys are serious about your puffers, and I understand that. But any pet that is in my care is given the best care possible. I do my research extensively.

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 4:51 pm
by DMD123
Well, I have been thrilled with my little hairy puffer 'Scruffy'. He has a ton of personality wrapped up in that little furry body. Its funny that my wife did not like him when I got him because he was 'ugly' but he won her over with his charm. Yep he sits like a lump when your not in the room but as soon as he see us he begs for food or swims around trying to see whats going on. Was not a cheap fish but worth every penny. I have mine in a 40B with an AC110 filter and he is doing very well.
Here he is puffing up
Image Image

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 11:08 am
by RTR
OK, I am reassured.

I like the looks of the Hairy puffers, but they are ones I have not personally kept. They seem to among the more out-going/active lurkers. They should be an interesting puffer and certainly take the prize for "weird fish".

FWIW.

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 1:38 pm
by martini57
Haha they definitely do, I think they are kinda cute though. I like fish with personality. The hairy puffer is definitely on my list though, I like that they practice puffing. I'm sure it would scare the crap out of me though for awhile, thinking it was stressed out and sick lol

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 3:09 pm
by DMD123
It was just a little back that I was trying to find the right puffer.

I considered a Congo but could only find light brown ones and really wanted one of the cool red ones. The other thing I did not want is a fish that buries itself all the time. I have this motto, that if I cant see it-its just a waste of tank space. That being said I do own an expensive pleco I never see. :D

Another one I liked was the Humpback. This one really was one of my favorites in regard the size and color but I read a lot of things that spoke about their inactivity. Some were saying you almost had to just drop the food in their mouth and they never came out of their caves. Granted every fish is different but this did not appeal to me.

The Arrowhead was really high up on my list but no on had any so I kept looking.

Finally I found a Hairy and started to do some hard core research and found it was the right fit. It is a puffer that does not really bury itself where you never see him. In fact mine lays out in the open. I have a couple cave structures set up and he never uses them. He is also very active and outgoing when he see us with a ton of personality. But of course the absolute best was the 'hairy' appearance! When he looks at you head on it looks like a little puppy, thus the name Scruffy.
Image

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 3:23 pm
by Arny
Porcupines are great puffers to

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 3:25 am
by TrevorA
I have only had my Fahaka a couple of weeks but think he's brilliant.

He's always floating about when we're in the room, he goes for a good 81- hour sleep every night once his lights are off, buried in his sand duvet. And if we keep him up late watching telly he won't get up the next morning until he's had his sleep quota. And his "where's my worm dance" is something to behold, even to people on the TV :)

Best pet I've ever had.

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 10:44 am
by RTR
Fahakas are very attractive fish, but are also the largest puffer practical for most hobbyists. Starting out with a 2x2x6' tank is quite a subtantial commitment for most folks and IMHO should only be undertaken by folks with no intention of relocating anytine in the foreseeable future. I have had three of them - two were good pet fish, the third was the only fish I have ever kept of which I was physically afraid. I would never keep another. Been there, done, that, not going back, ever.

Palembangs puffer's are really cool looking and in the right set-up (well planted but not too densely planted 30-long or better 40-long tank, w/two driftwood refuge shelters). They are not very active, but with enough sheltering places and some plant cover w/o being too dense, they will lurk atop their shelters and will move out under Crypt-type plants in search of live foods. They move glacially on such forays, but they do look like they have broken backs and I suspect may be seen as carrion by such prey items as ghost shrimp and largish ramshorn snails. They are perhaps a specialist's fish more than for a novice, but I find them endlessly fascinating and beautifully and highly adapted meat-eating predatory fish.

GSPs are quite high-personality fish which should end up in a FOLWLR tank with a good skimmer and a 24/7 macroalgae refugium (preferably with a passive return to the display) They are highly interactive with their keepers whom they do tend to train quite well. Keeping more than one is problematic. They can be quarrelsome with conspecifics as often as not. Peaceful coexistence is never guaranteed. Incompatibles should be separated permanently.

F-8s in light BW are active to hypeactive, attractive and well marked, and not demanding of large tanks, but do need swimming room.

South American Puffers (SAPs) are also smallish, well-marked and quite active fish which like F-8s can be kept as singletons or in small groups, but are kept in FW tanks. If they have any drawback at all, it is that they rarely school tightly, but are only really secure if they can see others of their own kind. They are FW and are quite demanding on tank space, well planted bot wit areas of current for swimming against. They also need a basically snail diet, so the hobbyist pretty much need to be in large-scale snail production.\

FWIW, YMMV.

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 2:41 pm
by martini57
I do love my figure 8's. They are very funny and personable. I think I am going to pet them in a 40 or 55 when they get a little bigger. They are very small and already use the entire tank. I have always wanted a porcupine puffer, that's what started this whole tank thing again, but I wanted to wait until I could get the perfect setup for one. Which may be possible when we get to south Carolina, I will have to see. Gsp, hairy, and porc are all on the possibility list. But my fiancé said that if I am going to get a big tank, then he wants there to be other fish in there besides the puffer.

Re: Pick a puffer

Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 11:13 am
by RTR
Why wait to upgrade the F-8s? Long-term they will be better off and healthier and more long-lived the sooner they are in their permanent home. I generally move from QT to the permanent home. I really believe that is a big part of how and why my fish tend to live long healthy lives.

Folk who want confetti tanks don't realize what they are missing. Their loss. Specimen or species fish tanks are especially for high-personality fish. Many to most puffers can live up to that. I was very pleaqsantly surprised that as inactive a fish as the Palembang's puffer held my eyes on feeding days better than the GSPs. Puffers tend to poor tankmates. Most are better as species or specimens.

IME, specimen tanks are the best way to have long-lived fish. Confetti tanks hold short-lived fish from insufficient exercise and intraspecific stresses. Those can be as damaging as over-feeding and under maintaining. Hobbyists tend to get greedy - they want everything they can cram into any given tank rather than what is really best for the fish to be kept.