My palembang/dragon/humpback puffers
Posted: Tue May 29, 2018 9:09 am
Hi all,
So since my last post, I decided to go with the Palembangs. After calling around 30 local (and not so local) fish shops. A few had some in stock but I found one specialist shop that believes they have what is likely to be a male-female pair. I have used a lot of fish shops before (I am new to puffers but relatively well experienced with other fish) and this in my opinion is one of the shops where I feel confident they know what they are talking about and therefore was happy to go with their advice.
They are 4.5 inches and 6 inches respectively. The guy in the shop explained that they have had them in for a couple of months and had no aggression issues whatsoever. He also personally knows the previous owner who had them for over 6 months and again no signs of even the slightest bit of aggression. I know ordinarily given the circumstances this would be a 'singleton' species - but given the circumstances I thought the pair would be ok. In fact the guy in the shop was so convinced they were a pair I don't think he would sell them individually!
That being the case (and the fact they look awesome!) I decided to go for them!
I released them yesterday and left them in the tank with with the tank and room lights off to settle in for a few hours. So far I have managed to get the smaller on to eat a piece of whitebait. The larger one hasn’t shown interest in food so far.
I wanted to share my update but also to see if any of you puffer pro’s have any advice with the following…
1. The great news is that they already used to eating frozen food only (apparently they have been eating frozen whitebait/prawns/mussels). I plan to feed them every 2-3 days and rotate these different foods. I want to avoid live foods (if they are happy with frozen then why change and risk turning them off frozen?). However should I once a month give them a ‘treat’ such as a live crab/crayfish? (This would be good for their beaks – though I understand this is less of a problem for Palembangs’)
2. If I am feeding every 2-3 days – if on a ‘feeding day’ one eats but the other doesn’t – should I try again the next day or still wait 2-3 days?
3. In terms of identifying male/female – all I could find out is that females are likely to be bigger. Does anybody have any other tips/advice?
4. Breeding! I know this is very ambitious and is rare in aquariums. However if I have what could be a m/f pair then no harm in trying!– does anybody have any advice? Any specific water conditions/parameters? Has anybody on the forum had any success with this before? I assume that if they do breed it will be more luck than anything else – but I thought it was worth asking
I will try add some photos later.
Thanks guys.
So since my last post, I decided to go with the Palembangs. After calling around 30 local (and not so local) fish shops. A few had some in stock but I found one specialist shop that believes they have what is likely to be a male-female pair. I have used a lot of fish shops before (I am new to puffers but relatively well experienced with other fish) and this in my opinion is one of the shops where I feel confident they know what they are talking about and therefore was happy to go with their advice.
They are 4.5 inches and 6 inches respectively. The guy in the shop explained that they have had them in for a couple of months and had no aggression issues whatsoever. He also personally knows the previous owner who had them for over 6 months and again no signs of even the slightest bit of aggression. I know ordinarily given the circumstances this would be a 'singleton' species - but given the circumstances I thought the pair would be ok. In fact the guy in the shop was so convinced they were a pair I don't think he would sell them individually!
That being the case (and the fact they look awesome!) I decided to go for them!
I released them yesterday and left them in the tank with with the tank and room lights off to settle in for a few hours. So far I have managed to get the smaller on to eat a piece of whitebait. The larger one hasn’t shown interest in food so far.
I wanted to share my update but also to see if any of you puffer pro’s have any advice with the following…
1. The great news is that they already used to eating frozen food only (apparently they have been eating frozen whitebait/prawns/mussels). I plan to feed them every 2-3 days and rotate these different foods. I want to avoid live foods (if they are happy with frozen then why change and risk turning them off frozen?). However should I once a month give them a ‘treat’ such as a live crab/crayfish? (This would be good for their beaks – though I understand this is less of a problem for Palembangs’)
2. If I am feeding every 2-3 days – if on a ‘feeding day’ one eats but the other doesn’t – should I try again the next day or still wait 2-3 days?
3. In terms of identifying male/female – all I could find out is that females are likely to be bigger. Does anybody have any other tips/advice?
4. Breeding! I know this is very ambitious and is rare in aquariums. However if I have what could be a m/f pair then no harm in trying!– does anybody have any advice? Any specific water conditions/parameters? Has anybody on the forum had any success with this before? I assume that if they do breed it will be more luck than anything else – but I thought it was worth asking
I will try add some photos later.
Thanks guys.