Does Anyone Have Fangs Puffers (T cochinchinensis)?

[pufferpuggirl]

I've got some questions about this type of puffer. I have 2 of them, and when I look them up in my Aqualog book, they have like a bullseye or target spot on the rear flank, but mine don't have that spot. It's hard for me to see them because they stay hidden quite alot, but at night they come out and I get my flashlight and shine in there so I can try and get a good look at them. Then today, I was about to do a water change on their tank, and one of them was out. I don't know if I have boys or girls, but the one that was out was a nice light coloured green, and it looked as if there was a spot on the back flank, but it was just a little colour green, certainly not red like what I've seen in the book. The other puffer was hanging out of his shell and it was a darker colour green.

I'm wondering if maybe I have juveniles and when they get older they get the spot? Or could it be that I have females, that don't have the spot? I really don't know alot about these puffers, and before getting my own I'd never seen any other than in a book. The book says that they are very aggressive and that they are "biters", but I don't see them attacking each other, and I've had my hand in that tank many many times to put plants in that have gotten knocked out of the substrate, and they've never come near me. So maybe the aggression is something that comes with age also? I don't know. I just thought it might be interesting to talk to someone that's also got one or two of these interesting puffers. They have been very easy to keep and they look like they are growing since I've had them. I just wish they would come out a bit more, but as long as I can spy on them at night with my flashlight, that's better than nothing.

Thanks,
Suz

[Myaj]

The Target species are one of the most challenging to identify properly. I don't even try

Can you post photos of your two?

I have a turgidus that won't tolerate any tankmates, but usually he doesn't bite me. Every once in a while though he can't resist snapping at my fingernails, I think they kind of look like a shell maybe.

[pufferpuggirl]

I will have to work on getting a photo, but all my puffers are camera shy. I chased around the tank trying to get a photo of my male salivator earlier, each time I got ready to take a shot, he would look right at me and shoot off. I swear he knew what he was doing!

I did some searching on the net for photos of cochinchinensis and actually seen a couple that looked just like mine with a very faint circle on the back .... so maybe that signifies being a juvenile or female, I don't know. I just wanted to make sure I had what I thought I had bought.

At the risk of sounding daft, why do they call them the "target group" ?

[Myaj]

Because of the "target" circle they tend to display somewhere on their body.

[pufferpuggirl]

Ah I see ..... and is T cutcutia in that group too?

[Myaj]

I think so, but it could just be me being an airhead because you said the word "target" in your original post so it stuck in my head

[pufferpuggirl]

That's how I've read about them in different articles, they are called the "target group", and I thought maybe it was because they are all similar in looks, but since you mention it, I do believe they all do have a "target" or "bullseye" marking on their bodies.
I was just curious because I don't know much about my Fangs or the cutcutia (Emerald puffers). They are both ones that stay hidden most of the time, out of sight behind the plants.
Maybe I should face the fact that there's not much else to know about them.

[LilGreenPuffer]

See if Corvus can help you out. PM him. He's good on the IDs.