My Tetraodon Schoutedeni

[Matts]

Yay! Isn't it weird that fish prefer garlic-flavored foods?

Yeah, can't imagine there're a lot garlic cloves floating around in the Congo river

[Pufferpunk]

IKR?

[Matts]

It seems I might have been happy a bit too early

The skinny ones absolutely loves the garlic bloodworms, the other one can't seem to figure out how to eat them and keeps spitting them out, while the other is like a little vacuum sucking them up one by one.

I've tried white, black mosquito larvae, bloodworms, krill, mussel, shrimp. I've tried them with the garlic and without, with strings and with tongs but mostly they mouth it. Take some bites and spit the majority back out.

The only times they have a nice full belly after feeding is when I give snails or earthworms...

Any suggestions on how to get more variation in their diet?

[MVURO]

have you tried breeding some ramshorn snails to feed them. most will go nuts for those. a small snail breeding tank with puffers is a must imo

[Matts]

have you tried breeding some ramshorn snails to feed them. most will go nuts for those. a small snail breeding tank with puffers is a must imo

Yeah I have an old 20l tank in the cabinet with bladder- and ramshorn snails. Just wanted to get some variety in their diet besides the snails and earthworms.

[MVURO]

ah i see! well atleast they do eat something.
hope youll be able to breed them sometime

for now i have te bribe the woman to let me gat another bigger tank

[Matts]

I really hope I'll get a chance to breed them, but that depends on them off course

But right now I'm battling ick again, so breeding isn't really the focus right now...

[Matts]

After about 40 days in quarantine they are finally in their tank, after only a few hours there doesn’t seem to be a single snail left as far as I can see.
It’s amazing to see them searching every nook and cranny for snails, I’m less enthusiastic about the teeth grinding crunching sounds but I suppose that’s part of it…



Finally manged to take a picture of some tail flaring, they seem to be reestablishing the pecking order between the two of them.

This is the tank a few days ago before adding the puffers (hence the still abundant snails )
I’m pretty happy with how it looks and the puffers seem to have plenty of hiding spots considering I can’t find them half the time.

[Pufferpunk]

They look fantastic, great job! Love the decor, too.

[Matts]

So I think is time for an update.
Both have settled in really well, they get along fine for the time being so hopefully it stays that way.
I’m still not convinced on the sex, I have seen one ‘bellybite-ride’ but only for a couple of seconds. So I’m not certain if that was something or just some dominance display between two males.
The puffer in the first picture (named Pumba, because he/she is a little pig) is somewhat rounder, but has more contrast and more dominant. I took the pic after a meal so they have a foodbelly going on.
The fish in the second pic (named Timon because he/she is always looking for attention) is more lean and more active but has less contrast.


T. Shoutedeni by Matthias, on Flickr


T. Shoutedeni by Matthias, on Flickr

They do show off from time to time, but I haven't seen any real bites since they've been out of quarantine :

T. Shoutedeni by Matthias, on Flickr

This is how the tank looks these days, some algea but nothing to major.

Lido 200 by Matthias, on Flickr

And lastly a pic of the tetra's in the tank:
Jellybean tetra by Matthias, on Flickr

[Matts]

Maybe I'ts time for a small update?
The puffers are now more than 6 months with me, they're still my favorite fish I've ever had.
The tank is running great, besides some brown algae issues, but nothing too bad.




A while ago I also managed to take a quick (blurry) snapshot of one of them puffed up.
It was the first time I saw it happen, not sure why he did puff up though.

[Pufferpunk]

Looks great! they seem very happy.