The Puffer Forum

Just a silly question here, anyone have any experience with turgidus (heck, any of the target group for that matter) spawning or even purging eggs?

I'm just randomly wondering if Bubba is really Barbara. Lately there's been a huge increase in how much food he/she is interested in and he spends a lot of time digging pits in the substrate and arranging them just how he likes. He never did that before (with the same substrate). He's also pretty defensive and a heck of a lot more outgoing now, where before he'd generally hide unless he was hungry, now even if he's not, he comes out and says hi.. that said, I'm not sure if he's being friendly or trying to defend his "pit", I tend to not put my hands near him if I can help it He will come over and get right in my face if I put my nose up to the glass.. doesn't bite at me, but doesn't back down either, which is why I'm not sure if its typical puffer inquisitiveness or territorial behavior.

I've had this fish for several years now and this is the first I've seen of this sort of behavior, Pufferpunk had him before I had him so I doubt he/she is first reaching sexual maturity now.. I do think this behavior change is a combo of the extremely high quality water this city happens to have plus moving his tank up to eye level so he can see more room activity.

Anyhoo, after I babbled enough about all that.. I'm basically wondering if anyone's seen any sort of spawning action with these guys and which one digs the pits, male or female.. just curious I guess I've never seen another turgidus for sale in the area so spawning them probalby wouldn't be an option even if I was up to the challenge hehe.

Wasn't there a fellow a few year back described the constant spawning of his cochinchinensis? Until they killed each other...

hi,
the problem is still that m.turgidus and m.cochinchinensis are nearly not differentiable with only using the scientific "written material". therefore it is hard to tell if someone really has a trugidus. it is also been prooved that m.cochinchinensis cross-breeds with m.abei. and it seems that the offspring is fertile yet.therefore it is questionable in my opinion if we can still talk about different species.
anyhow: it is very easy to breed m.cochinchinensis or m.abei and they are all showing the same behavior: the males are cleaning flat stones or peaces of woold and after that the pair spawns on it.
martin

Ah, so in that case I'm still probably pretty safe continuing to call him a "he" Curiously, I've put several flat "river stones" in the tank and he has no interest in those, he much prefers to dig pits in the substrate.

Thanks Martin!

My Turgdis does the same thing. I have him by my bedside (I wake up with him inches from my face) and he has decided to dig a pit along the glass and he matches me move for move when I am near the tank. He even goes so far as to click his teeth when I'm there, not sure if that's him rubbing them on the glass or actually biting at me. One interesting thing though, when I'm cleaning the tank he hunkers down in that pit and won't move, I can tap him with the Python and he just looks at me with this "you think so" type look. I had to clean that area of the tank so one day I reached in and sort of scooped him up.....he didn't even flinch. I vacuumed the gravel, he swam back, fanned the gravel like he was getting his house in order and went on with his day like nothing happened.

I've attributed his behavior to being trusting of me and knowing where his food comes from. The digging of the pit I found interesting too. One day he abandoned the root overhang I had set up for him and started digging.....Been happy as a clam since then!

Aw darn, and here I was hoping one day we could try a little matchmaking

Bubba has been sticking to his "pit" pretty regularly lately. In the past, he's always preferred a cave, only rarely digging. I have to sort of push him out of the way to clean too, hehe.

Myaj wrote:Aw darn, and here I was hoping one day we could try a little matchmaking

Bubba has been sticking to his "pit" pretty regularly lately. In the past, he's always preferred a cave, only rarely digging. I have to sort of push him out of the way to clean too, hehe.

Too bad there isn't a way to sex these guys, I had the same thought. Maybe we'll have to try once and see what happens, put them in the same tank..a little Barry White music...flip on the moon lighting or put a candle outside the tank....

One interesting thing Leon does is that he charges the back glass, only one particular spot, and gets very, very pale green, and occasionally puff. He'll deflate and come back to his pit at the front of the tank and you can literally watch him turn back to his normal darker colors. I've never seen a fish, or any animal for that matter, change color so fast and so drastically.

I can't really reply to the "spawning" part of this conversation, but I do own a Turgidus and I only wanted to say that I'm unsure which sex I have, although I refer to all of my puffers as "he" unless I'm sure of what I have (as in the case of my Congo puffer), and that my turgidus has been very out-going since day 1 that I've had him. He's always a happy camper. If I come near the tank, he's up and watching me. He's never tried to bite me when I've had my hands in the tank (unlike my Congo, she bites me every chance she gets). I've been extremely happy with my turgidus though. I did some research before I got him and thought he was going to be very inactive, or hid away all day, but he's very sociable and always comes out to greet me, morning or evening. And what an eater he is too! He will have a bulging belly and still want more.
On another note, I also have a pair of Fang's (cochinchinensis) and I don't quite see the similarity between them and my turgidus, or my cutcutia puffers for that matter. While they are all part of the "target" group, they all look a bit different to me. But that's just me.