THEY'RE HERE!!!!!

[LilGreenPuffer]

I didn't order them; they were from the LFS. And, no, there aren't two species. Some are male and some are female. There's an article in this site's library about sexing dwarf puffers. If memory serves me, your Jill is actually a Jack! What size tank do you have them in?

library/puffers-in-focus/sexing-carinot ... rf-puffer/

Thanks LilGreenPuffer

I have already read that artical and have learned that males have the stripes and females have the spots, I was just curious to why some have black stripes or spotes and others have green/blue stripes or spots!?

Or are there actually no black striped and spotted DP's they just look black in certain lighting conditions?

From watching mine, I'd say it's defintely not a matter of lighting. One's markings always looks greenish, one's pure black. I'm assuming that since my green-spotted fish matches the article's description of a male in terms of body shape, belly color, etc., that the males have the green spots, but I could certainly be wrong.

So, on another subject, what does courting behavior look like? Mine circle each other a lot. I would be really surprised if they were doing that already, but it doesn't look like aggression. Sometimes James Bond follows Thumbelina around, but they move too slowly for him to be chasing her out of anger/aggravation.

[puffertt77]

Crazed Puffer posted this link on another thread and it shows 2 different kinds of DP's, make sure to click Scientific names from the menu at the top. Also they all have Black Spots and Stripes?!
http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/

Ps LilGreenPuffer you should call your female DP Miss Moneypenny (From the James Bond Films:)

[LilGreenPuffer]

Wow! This should go into the PufferPedia! Interesting, so they still don't know for sure if it's two species or not...

[Daria101]

Thats where I got the two types from...i know i wasn't dreaming when I read it..

[LilGreenPuffer]

So, I got a reply from Agnate on whether this might important for folks to know:

I believe it's still just speculation in terms of whether or not they require a different classification, or if they're simply a variant of each other. Remember, Dwarf Puffers are now bred, so we're bound to see a plethora of variants and mutations as time progresses. There's no real need to mention the minute differences, especially since our PufferPedia only covers the very basic care required, and both "kinds" of DP are similar-looking enough that people won't be confused.

That's my two cents, at least.

So, it looks like it's actually no big deal.

And actually, I've only seen one James Bond movie (the new "Casino Royale"), so I didn't know about Miss Moneypenny. Otherwise, I would probably have named her that! The other girl name I thought about was Stellaluna - you know, after the bat from the picture book?

[LilGreenPuffer]

My little fishies have been with me for three days now, and they're still alive and healthy! Yay! I have yet to check parameters this morning (I would have been late for work), but I'll do so this afternoon. They were perfect yesterday. Yay!

They established their territories quickly - Thumbelina on the left, James Bond on the right. The first night, she headed over for the plant on the left, and he picked the driftwood on the right, and they've slept there both nights.

I haven't seen them eat the frozen bloodworms yet, but they're enjoying the snails. I caught JB pooping out some nice lovely non-stringy brown.

I think I saw Thumbelina puff! We were looking at each other, face-to face, and all of a sudden she was taller! But when I looked at her from the side, she wasn't puffed... so maybe not.

And I keep catching myself baby-talking them. I sound like a little old lady with small, yappy dogs. Ugh! But I love my babies!

Pictures soon. Things calm down and I can hopefully do it over the weekend. Take-home exam and test on Friday, then two days of (relative) freedom!