I.D. question again...

Dwarf, Red Eye, South American & more. Freshwater puffer talk in here.
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CarmenH
Fahaka Puffer
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I.D. question again...

Post by CarmenH »

I posted a question a couple of weeks ago regarding the species of puffer I just acquired. There were quite a few guesses that were close but none of the was really dead-on. I was searching again and came across this...
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fish/oc ... puffer.php
This picture looks EXACTLY like Frankie and the size listed, 6", is closer to what he is than the other species that were guessed. But in the pufferpedia, the species Tetraodon cutcutia is listed as only up to 4" and the pics look very different??? Anyone familiar with them? Are they different species but getting mixed up???
Pics of Frankie are in my album, CarmenH. Just a note, he looks much lighter in the pics than he really is because of the extreme lighting that *was* on the tank...
Luckily, all the types he resembles are freshwater...

Carmen
Carmen
Frankie, Monotrete Turgidus
Zephyr, Giant mutant Tetraodon Nigroviridis???
Odie, Tetraodon biocellatus RIP :-(
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Dadof4
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Re: I.D. question again...

Post by Dadof4 »

I don't think that's a correct picture. ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/T_Cutcutia/
"Darwin swings...annnnnnd a miss. Boy Jim, Chuck's suffered at the plate tonight. He's 0 for 3 and I'm not sure he's recovered from that shoulder pull a few weeks ago. I'll bet the front office is re-thinking that contract."
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Myaj
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Re: I.D. question again...

Post by Myaj »

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it.

You will never get people to agree on things when it comes to the target species. I'm looking at Ebert's book right now and his page of Cutcutia's sure do look like that, but I've heard plenty of people question it. I mean, looking at the previous page, the cochenisis, some of the pictures have a black target, some have a red. So does that mean the color of the dot doesn't matter? Or those fish were mis-identified? Or who knows what! Half the pictures labeled as the same species look nothing alike.

Thank goodness the target group all has the same basic needs... figuring out which species doesn't really matter much.
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pufferpuggirl
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Re: I.D. question again...

Post by pufferpuggirl »

Here's my cutcutia, not the greatest picture, but he's very shy and doesn't come out much, so it was hard getting ANY photo!
Image



I know he's hard to see, but it was the only one I could fine of him. :)
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CarmenH
Fahaka Puffer
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My Puffers: Doug, Takifugu Ocellatus RIP :-(
Frankie, Monotrete Turgidus
Zephyr, ???Tetraodon nigroviridis???
Location (country): Ontario, Canada

Re: I.D. question again...

Post by CarmenH »

Thanks for the input again! Frankie does look *exactly* like the picture posted by schismy007, even how he hovers right in/over the plants. I'm quite certain he's a cutcutia. I know it doesn't *really* matter as long as their requirements are the same, I'm just an info addict, always like to know "the answer" :-)
The pics in the pufferpdia really threw me off...if they are indeed correct, there's a huge variation in markings within the species, those pics look so different from the other cutcutia pics out there...
Carmen
Frankie, Monotrete Turgidus
Zephyr, Giant mutant Tetraodon Nigroviridis???
Odie, Tetraodon biocellatus RIP :-(
Doug, Takifugu Ocellatus RIP :-(
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pufferpuggirl
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Re: I.D. question again...

Post by pufferpuggirl »

I know exactly what you mean CarmenH, because I'm like that too. I just want to know who's who. I had some confusion between my Fang's and turgidus puffers when I first got them, as they were both sold to me as the opposite puffer (Fangs sold as turgidus, and turgidus sold as a Fang's), so naturally it was important for me to know just who was which puffer.

And I do think that photos can vary by quite alot sometimes because I know from looking puffers up on the net, you can get many photos of supposedly the same puffer, but them not look a thing alike. I would say, from my experience, that the so-called "target puffers" can be difficult to correctly identify sometimes.

On a different note, I think the cutcutia puffer is a very beautiful puffer, however, mine is a bit shy and doesn't come out where I can see him too often. He will make an appearance around feeding time, but it's like he comes out, eats a little and then boom! he's back in his hiding place! :D
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Martin Hi.
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Re: I.D. question again...

Post by Martin Hi. »

hi,
the pic in the link shows a m. cochinchinensis, the pic shown here by the user is hard to tell.
the two species are very different in their behavior and do not even belong to one family yet. so you should sooner or later get clear, whicht species you are keeping there. why don't you show a picture? that would make it much eaysier.
martin
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CarmenH
Fahaka Puffer
Posts: 539
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:01 pm
My Puffers: Doug, Takifugu Ocellatus RIP :-(
Frankie, Monotrete Turgidus
Zephyr, ???Tetraodon nigroviridis???
Location (country): Ontario, Canada

Re: I.D. question again...

Post by CarmenH »

LOL, I'm so confused! He definitely looks like the pic in the link, but in the Pufferpedia, it says cochinchinesis only get to 3" and will kill anything in the tank...

Frankie is 4 1/2" at least and is happily coexisting with a tank full of Endlers and ghost shrimp that were supposed to be snacks! He lurks at the bottom with shrimps creeping in front of his nose but comes to the top immediately when he thinks there's grocery store shrimp coming.

I just moved him into a new tank yesterday! I freed up a 65g I had going with just cherry shrimps, BN plecos, and red ramshorns. As a giant thank you, I got my first puffer bite :-) I wasn't paying attention and reached in to replant a val that had come loose and he thought it was dinner time...a good pinch but no blood...

Anyhow, just posted a few new pix in my album, I'm still welcoming guesses :-)

ug.php/v/User_Galleries/CarmenH/
Carmen
Frankie, Monotrete Turgidus
Zephyr, Giant mutant Tetraodon Nigroviridis???
Odie, Tetraodon biocellatus RIP :-(
Doug, Takifugu Ocellatus RIP :-(
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pufferpuggirl
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1 x T Schoutedeni
1 x T Leiurus
1 x T Miurus
Rainbow crab
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Location (country): Yorkshire, GB
Location: South Yorkshire, UK

Re: I.D. question again...

Post by pufferpuggirl »

Yes, well now I'm a bit confused too because some of your photos of Frankie look a bit like my Fang's when he's in dark mode. I think that's the problem, these puffers can change their colouring dramatically. My Fang's can go from looking dark green, to having these lovely orange spots all over his body. I notice that the spots come out when he's "hunting". We watched him change one day. We put a cricket in the tank and right before our eyes those orange spots came out of nowhere and he looked totally different!

Thankfully I have just about one of each of the "target" puffers, so even if I don't have their names right, I'm fairly certain that I've got one of each. Although I think I now know who's who .... but I wouldn't want to bet my life on it (or a good amount of cash either :) ).
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Martin Hi.
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Re: I.D. question again...

Post by Martin Hi. »

hi,
the pics are very bad but on a first glance they look like a m. cochinchinensis. it is right that they are usually very aggressive or better to say see other tankmates as prey. if yours does not behave that way, you ar maybe a lucky guy. t. cutcutia by the way is usually much more agressive!
martin
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pufferpuggirl
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My Puffers: Puffs & Stuff:

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1 x M Turgidus
1 x T Palembangensis
1 x M Baileyii
1 x T Schoutedeni
1 x T Leiurus
1 x T Miurus
Rainbow crab
crayfish
Location (country): Yorkshire, GB
Location: South Yorkshire, UK

Re: I.D. question again...

Post by pufferpuggirl »

I had read that cutcutia were very aggressive too, but surprisingly, I had to house some guppies with one, and he never killed any of them, in fact, they were taking the food from him and I've just moved them out of his tank because I think he was not getting to eat his share with them in there. While on the other hand, I had 2 guppies in with my Fang's and he killed one wtih a bite to the under-belly. He didn't eat it, just killed it because he didn't like it. I removed the other one quickly after that. My Abei also killed his tankmate (an algae eater) with a bite to the under-belly.
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