New Miurus Puffer!

[pufferpuggirl]

Hey, hey, hey .... I got my orange Congo puffer today!

Now, before anyone screams about photos .... I did take some, but the ones I took came out too blurry (a frequent problem for me and this camera) and I did take some others, but obviously they got lost when the camera died on me. I will try again, but tonight I just want to leave the poor thing alone. Tomorrow I will try again to get some shots of "Orangey" (not sure what sex it is, thanks to Corvus - so I will just refer to it by that name).

I have to be honest, I hope this puffer is okay. When I went to look at it the weekend before last, the manager said it had whitespot (ich), but all I could see was grains of sand from where it had been buried! But she insisted it had whitespot ... okay fine. Actually it gave me time to get me tanks sorted and some puffers moved around to make space for this Congo. However, I found out today what she's been using on the poor thing and that's what has me worried. She's been using a regular off-the-shelf whitespot treatment for "ornamental fish" -- not puffers!! And this woman doesn't really know anything about puffers, I've talked with her before. I've also had run-ins with this shop over selling me sick fish, but thing is, this is the only shop in my general area that carries more than dwarf puffers, F8's or GSP's -- not that there's anything wrong with those puffers, but sometimes you would like to see something a little off the norm. So I don't want to stop buying from this place ... therefore I suppose I shouldn't complain, eh? Well back to why I'm a bit concerned. When we arrived and the manager was saying she thought Orangey still had whitespot, she put her hand in the tank, put it under the puffer and lifted it up, and the puffer didn't try to get away or anything! Now, if I stuck my hand in my little Congo's tank and tried to pick it up, one of two things would happen -- either it would bite the heck out of me, or it would try as hard as it could to get away. It just made me wonder why Orangey didn't do either to her when her hand went in. Has anyone else been able to handle their lurker puffer? I am certain that none of mine would allow it .... maybe a slight chance that my Baileyi might not bite me, but still not sure she would let me hold her. Orangey just seemed a bit "passive", and I hope that doesn't mean anything bad. I don't have good luck with Congo puffers for some reason. Of all the puffers I have, and have had, I've had some very bad luck with Congo puffers, so let's hope this isn't one of those times.

Anyway, I'm very happy to have Orangey. The manager gave me the whitespot treatment so I could continue it at home, which I have no intention of doing, especially as I didn't think it had the whitespot to begin with. She was actually seeing it's spines and thought that was whitespot today .... can you believe it? But again, I shouldn't complain because in the end, I got the puffer, and I also got a free bucket with the puffer because I was afraid the puffer would bite through the plastic bag, which has happened to me a few times in the past when buying puffers (suvattii and Ceylon). I also got a good deal on the price too .... the puffer was £34.95 but she let us have it today for £28 ..... I thought that was excellent because we were hoping to get it for £30!

Okay, enough babbling .... I will post photos tomorrow!

**Oh forgot to mention, I also got 2 very small dwarf puffers to replace the small mudskipper that died on me over the weekend, so that was nice**

[losertastictoaster]

I can't wait to see pictures of the new guy. Congo's are one of my favorite puffers due to the colors, one of the prettier puffs in my opinion. I hope your's is okay and recovers from whatever is bothering it. I'm sure it'll be just fine, after all it has a wonderful new puffer mommy.

[pufferpuggirl]

Awww, thank you for those kind words, that was very nice of you!

[PolishPuff]

I'm so happy for you, I wounder, you now how puff's come to the glass when see you, would be cool if they remembare your face and let you pet them.

[newtopuffers]

Hi,

Congrats on your orange congo.
I'm currently in the process of trading/selling my 78 gallon for a 30 gallon to house a congo. Sounds crazy I know.

Just a few questions as I think you're rather experienced in them.

You mentioned that you've owned a couple of Congos, how did their activity levels vary?

Another thing, do they camouflage to match the substrate colour?
I want an orange or a red one. I don't want this thing turning some other colour on me..

Anyways, I hope there's nothing wrong with your new puff.
I know how worrisome these things can be. I was a bit worried about my fat tailed gecko yesterday because it wasn't eating as much as usual,
but at least I found out that it was a boy today (male characteristics finally showed after a shed)

[Flutter]

Congrats. I can't wait to see pictures.

[pufferpuggirl]

Thank you aksamit, I like those little little peeps ... and you know, I do believe that some puffers do recognise your face, however petting them is something I'm not quite sure they'd be willing to let you do -- but you never know!

Thank you also newtopuffers .... about your questions:
To be honest, the Congo puffers I've had experience with have all pretty much had the same activity level, which is mainly nil. The one I've had the longest is my small orange Congo, and she (I prefer to think of this puffer as female) likes to stay buried in the sand waiting for the Endlers to swim over so she can have a snack. She does a very good job of hiding too, her eyes are always out, but they look like small pebbles, so you don't notice them. I sometimes have to call my husband to "find" her for me, she's that good. The only colours I've had experience with are : brown, light tan, orange and one red. I've had more orange than any other colour and I believe I like it best, although I'd love to have a red one last more than a night. I can tell you that my orange one never really changes her colours too dramatically, maybe a little darker orange, or a little lighter .... but then again, I suppose it depends on the substrate and surroundings. Most of my tanks have a sandy substrate, so I can't really tell you how the Congo's have looked against anything other than sand. I think if you get an orange one, it will stay orange.
When preparing for "Orangey" I thought about getting some of that sand that's very dark, almost black, because I was thinking that an orange puffer against a dark substrate would look nice ... but then I thought maybe the puffer would darken themself to try and blend against the dark substrate, and decided I didn't want that, so I went with that silver sand.
I hope this has been helpful for you, and I'm glad you found out that your gecko is a boy! (I just found out that my puffer that I've thought was a Fang's is actually an Abei -- so you never know!)

** Thanks Flutter **

[rachy]

aww congrats schismy!!! im sure ur new puffer will b fine now hes with u :d cant wait 2 see it!

[L!$A]

Congrats schismy!
Can't wait to see photos of your new Congo!

[pufferpuggirl]

I know, and now I feel like a real nitwit for not being able to take any good photos! I am constantly deleting pictures after I upload them to the computer because they are mostly too blurry and sometimes too dark. I've seen photos on here of people's puffers and they look so crisp and clear and I wonder what I'm doing wrong. My camera takes good photos under normal circumstances, but I just can't seem to get any really good ones of my fish in their aquariums, and that's a bummer. My camera is about 5 years old now, and I guess that makes a difference .... so maybe I need a new one?

Oh Lisa, we seen your Amazon Leaf fish today at the one LFS that we stopped at before getting to the LFS with the Congo. They had them in with other fish, and it did say that they can be gluttons. I'd never seen them in real life before today, but had seen them in pictures online.

[L!$A]

They certainly are something else hey?

My bf had been looking for them for quite sometime now, so when we saw them we just had to scoop them up!
We got two for $60.00 Canadian. It was a pretty good deal.. considering they were $40.00 each! Even though we still would have bought them.. lol!

They are awesome though, they usually just float like a leaf, and they are so confident with their camouflage that they are super easy to catch.
& boy can they move when they are hungry!

[pufferpuggirl]

Well, here it is, the day after buying my new miurus .... so I came down this morning, turning on the lights on all the tanks, and I don't see Orangey! I had to turn on the big overhead light in the room to finally see where he had gotten to. I'm glad I put in that much sand because he was totally buried with only the eyes sticking up, but you don't really notice them, they resemble little stones. When he was at the LFS, he could only partially bury himself and most of his body was sticking out, but he was totally covered this morning, so I guess he's feeling a little more secure now. I know one thing, the poor thing needs to eat. The belly is not well rounded at all, it's somewhat sunken in. So I will start offering Orangey some food today, and I may even put some Endlers in the tank as snacks when he's hungry.

I will keep an eye on his feces, but to be honest, after her putting him through all that horrible whitespot treatment, I don't want to hit him with IP medication right now. I want to give him a chance to recover.

And yes, I haven't forgotten about the photos!

[L!$A]

Haha! It's okay Schismy.. I'll forgive you for forgetting the photos... for now!! lol

Hopefully Orangey eats soon!!

[LilGreenPuffer]

I find that IP treatments aren't too stressful, so maybe it would be a good idea to start now if you suspect them.

I can't wait for the pictures! Shoudl be awesome.

[pufferpuggirl]

Well Orangey has been hidden all day, with only his eyes and mouth visible in the sand. I keep hoping he will come out so I can get some pics of him. I hate to use one of the blurry ones I took last night because it doesn't do him any justice at all.
Tonight when I fed all the other puffers, I've put 1/2 a mussel and a small piece of shrimp in his tank and hope that he takes it during the evening. The girl at the LFS said she never seen him eating, but the food disappeared over night, so maybe that's what will happen with the food I gave him. I just want him to eat because he's belly looks as if it needs food desperately.