Striped Burrfish

[Hydrokal]

It has been suggested that for a 75g I try the burrfish as opposed to the porc puffer. I have looked into them as much as I could find, and they intrigue me.

How different are they to care for than a porc? I need more information! It has been mentioned that they tend to not adapt to aquarium life so well sometimes, well, I can give them a shot, but I need more research material first.

Anyone able to point me in the direction or just give me general pointers for these things?!

[Myaj]

Well, I own one, and I've had her.. well, I don't exactly know how long but I'd venture to say its well over a year, maybe close to two years, I'd have to look up the original thread. The biggest thing that was stressed to me when I was considering her was to make sure it is eating before you buy it.

Often, these fish refuse to eat in captivity, and also carry a heavy parasite load, and waste away rather quickly if you can't get proper food and deworming meds into them.

When I got mine, she was eating readily.. only live feeders though. Even with that, she was wasting away due to parasites. I discussed it with the store owner, and he gave me a discounted price since he felt she was going to die anyways, and I had a lot of support here as far as getting her dewormed and eating other foods.

Within one day of bringing mine home, she was eating anything and everything I offered her, especially if it was in a shell. She went absolutely nuts at the sight of a snail, and still does, literally bouncing off the glass. She also accepted defrosted raw shrimp, nightcrawlers, crickets, grasshoppers.. and she's continued to accept all of the above. Early on she was more willing to try various foods, for a while she was eating mussels and Carnivore Delight pellets.. she won't take those anymore, but still eats like a pig. Some days she can put away 2-3 raw shrimp.. usually its more like one shrimp or 3 nightcrawlers. My biggest challenge with her is trying to get her to eat a variety of food, she's very picky. Won't even eat squid. One of these days I'm going to try to stuff some ramshorn shells with squid, etc and see if I can sneak it into her that way.

Anyways, she's a bit nervous.. doesn't like changes in the room around her, fast movements or things like lightning, but she's very personable. She plays hide and seek with my boyfriend, always comes to greet us.. as far as temperment, I wouldn't trust her with any sort of docile fish, since she has had feeders in the past. She has a clownfish as a tankmate, and is fairly scared of it (the clown is a bully), but that hasn't stopped her from taking a swipe at it once or twice. I would NEVER put her with an aggressive fish, she's a big scardy cat and any aggression would either stress her out or the other fish would just kill her.. she runs from the clown half the time when she sees it.

[Hydrokal]

I have never dewormed a fish, I would imagine it is putting a medicine in their food?

It seems to me that the tank mate choice ends up being purely up to the personality of the burrfish?

I read about your puffer a bit actually and thats what made me decide it may be worth a shot after you suggested it. its a nice looking fish and seems to have tons of personality. I would definitely be sure to see it eat before I bought it. My LFS tends to not sell their fish until they are taking frozen foods readily and never feeds live foods to them unless they are feeding pest crabs to their garbage disposal (niger trigger.)

Do you have any links to more information about the species in general by chance?

[pufferfreak]

The burr will be fun. The "garbage disposal" if funny.

Also i do think that burrs get smaller than porcs.

[Hydrokal]

It does indeed stay smaller, especially since the LFS says that 9 times out of 10 the distributor sends him the D. Hystrix (3' porc) which there is NO way I could possibly get a tank to handle that beast.

I am starting to think that a burrfish is a good idea, and maybe try a niger trigger with him, get a tank of strange looking fishes.

[pufferfreak]

Nigers are nice peacfull fish (for a trigger of course) but they can get up to 18 inches big. It like trading the porc for the niger. Maybe a small trigger?

[Hydrokal]

ahh, yeah I didnt see that they got that big, I have only seen them small personally. With short search... maybe the blue throat trigger...

Any other suggestions for tank mates in a 75g would be appreciated!

[pufferfreak]

A goby would definitly work.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod ... pcatid=233 blue throat trigger, it says they require at least 70 gallons. I think its because they are very active fish. They grow to about 6 inches. I dont think triggers are the best idea for a tank with a burr that is only 75 gallons. While it may work while they are small they will eventually need a tank twice as big.

[Myaj]

Honestly, a single burrfish in a 75 is about the minimum. I probably shouldn't have the clownfish in mine, but I had no where else to go with her and at the time I set up, had the sump adding in water volume.

I would not try to put a larger fish in there with a burrfish.

[Jase]

If you really want another fish in there, I'd consider a small fish that can hide well, such as a goby like pufferfreak recommended...
but I personally would be very happy with just the burrfish

[t1gerbee]

just remember that 'paris' is a rarity, and that it is very difficult to get most burrs feeding... be prepared for a battle, one you may be able to win, but a battle all the same...

[crazedpuffer]

And almost all are completely loaded with IP.
I wish they shipped better and were less prone to IP, they would make great aquarium fish.

[pufferfreak]

Yes, if your going to add another fish make sure it doesnt get to big. Gobies can be very entertaining fish. Be prepared for IP's just in case your burr has them. Check live aquaria divers den. I believe they had a nice fat burr.