Teeth trimming and A. modestus

[marksrush]

Be prepared for eventual teeth trimming on this species. What size tank do you have for it?

If you have one of these puffers, and can give it snails every day, about how often do you have to do this (teeth trimming)?

[Pufferpunk]

I've had mine about 3 years & have trimmed his teeth 1x so far. Looks like he's due for another one soon. I don't feed a ton of snails though.

[marksrush]

Oh, phew, thanks PP. I was worried it was going to be like every month or something.

[Martin Hi.]

hi,
i have never had to trim the teeth of my modestus, but i have to trim the teeth of a.silus every some months, no matter how many tons of snails it gets.
the problem is that this two species are often sold together and most people can not differentiate them, especially not as juvenile fish.
martin

[marksrush]

Yes, Martin Hi, I've read about how common it is for these two types to be misidentified. I believe this is truly a modestus because it looks *exactly* like the first picture of this species shown in the A. modestus page on Pufferpedia. The ones we have at the store are definitely greenish and not yellowish or golden, although they are juveniles, if that makes a difference.

[Martin Hi.]

hi,
i for myself could not differentiate between the first picture in the pufferpedia here and the pictures of a silus. where do you see the difference?
it is not the colour for sure: i still have mine in the same tank and the color is just the same!
martin

[marksrush]

Well to me it seems that there is an obvious color difference in each species' main pic (the one you click on to get the rest of the info and photos). The modestus has a greenish tint to it, whereas the silus has a yellow or golden tint to it. Also it seems that the colored part extends more toward the belly on a modestus versus a silus, and the ones at work (I bought one, but am keeping him at the store until his tank has cycled) have a definite greenish tint and their color extends down farther toward their belly just like in the photo, and otherwise as I said above looks exactly like the one in the pic, minus the full belly. However if you actually have examples of both species in your care, and you're saying they're virtually indistinguishable from each other in terms of color, that's good info to know and I will have to do a little more digging to correctly identify this puffer - if I can. He's a cute little bugger, that's true regardless of which species he is.

[Pufferpunk]

Martin, How about this fellow? I've always been under the impression he was a modestus:

[Martin Hi.]

hi to both of you,
as i see it, and there is also nothing i can find in scientific papers, there is simply no difference in the color. i depends just on how the light is falling on them: sometimes they look more silver or golden, most of the time they are greenish-metallic.
the last pictures seem to show a modestus but i could never tell for sure. if you seem them one to one in a tank as adults, you can easily see that the modestus is growing much bigger than the silus. also it has more finrays than silus. thats why the fins look "bigger".
in my experience the auriglobus that are importet as small juveniles are always silus. modestus and silus are very seldom exported as mixed up adults, that are more easily to distinguish.
martin

[matt77]

Hi guys you can tell the difference between the two species in one way by looking at the caudal peduncle A Silus is longer and thinner while A modestus is rounder and shorter this is the part of the fish starts from the end of the dorsal fin to the begining of the tail fin and the end of the anal fin to the tail fin hope this helps.

[Pufferpunk]

I always figured the modestus has a deeper chest, as mine seem to. Matt, are you in agreement that mine are modestus from looking at the caudal peduncle?

[Jase]

PP, I think you have A. modestus from what both matt77 and Martin Hi. say...

[matt77]

I always figured the modestus has a deeper chest, as mine seem to. Matt, are you in agreement that mine are modestus from looking at the caudal peduncle?

Hi pp can you send me a side on pic for now im going to say modestus, but for some reason when i look at the second photo i see something that does not add up. I know there is 5 or 6 different types of Auriglobus in Asia.

[Pufferpunk]

[marksrush]

Mine, and the other ones we have at work, look like Pufferpunk's - but then they're very tiny so maybe that makes it harder to tell for sure. But the caudal peduncle is short and stubby, like the ones in her pics.