My New Mappa!

[schlecht13]

Its been awhile since I have been able to post as well as read up on how everyone else is doing but I wanted to share my fortune with the forum readers! I received my (our - my girlfriend as fallen in love with Mappa Puffers) 3rd Mappa last week. Up to this point I have often wondered why they are sometimes referred to as Quadricolor puffers. My first one which is now about 6" has a completely black body with stark white markings radiating from the eyes and on his body. My second was the more common color of tan with black markings however this 3rd one is basically tan however has very clear yellow hue to his belly, fins and on his sides...he is beautiful and already eating everything I put in his tank. He lives is a 110G along with (2) Volitan Lionfish and he has already proven to be quite a character. I will post pictures this week of all three just to show the differences.....

I would like to ask everyone, how common are the black mappas with white markings? Other than mine, I have yet to ever see another - the black one reportedly came from the SE coast of Africa which may explain his coloration and the other two are Indo-Pacific.

Anyone else have one or seen one or can verify this color is specific to the geographical location?

[sandfire]

I was in my LFS yesterday and they have a black and white puffer which I thought was a mappa, its was labelled as a 'black and white spotted dog faced' and was a BIG puffer and only £70. I asked the manager if they new if it really was a dog faced as the patterned was not spotted but had the same swirling pattern the mappa's do, it was STUNNING so beautiful. The shop manager showed a photo from a book of the more 'commonly' seen mappa and said it did not look like 'that' so I was wrong.

But someone is going to get one hell of a bargain, because that swirling pattern is unmistakeable.

Do you have any photo's of yours so I can compare the
!

[yunachin]

What is sad is someone may get a bargain but they have no idea about the size of tanks meant to keep these fish from stunting.

[t1gerbee]

was just thinking that.....

3 mappas..? How can you possibly ever have tanks big enough to house these when they are full size...?

[yunachin]

Hopefully have connections with aquariums.