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midgetwaiter · Post by **midgetwaiter** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 10:43 pm

So I popped by the LFS I worked at over the winter yesterday, when I walked in one of the guys I work with (the other puffer guy) looks at me and before I can say anything he yells "Fugu!" and starts pointing twards the back corner. I run over there and find 30 2.5" t. Occelatus crusing around in a tank. Yipee!.

So rather than a nice relaxing weekend off of my regular job I'm back working in the store to pick up a little extra cash and my 2 new fugus are crusing a nice 20 gal.

One of the things that me and my coworker are hoping to acomplish with this is learning. The fish are in remarkably good condition, very few sunken bellys, ripped up fins or anything else, much better shape than we usually get puffers in. Using Tan's article as a guide I'm going to take my fish from the FW they are in now and raise the salinity slowly to 1.018 or so over a couple months.

My friend is going to try them in his large brackish planted tank. He has a 65 gal community going in there and has even managed to breed knight gobys although he has no idea how.

I may also get another and after a Q period introduce him with my 2 GSPs in full SW. I have to room in the tank but things are going really well there since I lost my mean Ceylon (I actually named him hamster) a few months ago to unkown causes. I seem to remember another member, Mekong maybe, that was keeping one in SW, I'd apreciate any advice on the subject.

For all you Calgary or Alberta folks out there, in the same shipment we got 4 adult GSPs that are just huge and also in good condition. There are a little pricey at $70 but one of them has to be 7 or 8 inches standard length. The store is Riverfront in downtown Calgary.

I'll try to get pictures for everyone soon.

crazyforpuffs · Post by **crazyforpuffs** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 12:07 am

I remember Riverfront from way back when I lived in Calgary - going back like 6 years now.

Got my first Figure 8 from them - long before I knew what I was doing puffer wise...I remember coming home with a tub of aquarium salt - as recommended by the guy there. My Figure 8 didn't last long - but he certainly captivated me...and I've learned alot since then.

Good luck with the occelatus. I understand they are hard to keep in aquaria.

Woland · Post by **Woland** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 4:33 am

Concrats!
Lookin' forward to pics!

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 1:16 pm

I'm afraid the rest of the 30 will probably die.

Post by **Myaj** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 2:25 pm

I see someone on Aquabid has 5 or so for sale as well, the picture looks very healthy but they are saying its a freshwater fish.. If I only had the room...

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 4:27 pm

Myaj wrote:I see someone on Aquabid has 5 or so for sale as well, the picture looks very healthy but they are saying its a freshwater fish.. If I only had the room...

How much? Pick up only or deliver?

Post by **RTR** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 6:19 pm

T. ocellatus die in captivity.

Unless you have some specialized plan projected for keeping them alive, pass them up. Dr. Ebert can't keep them, I can't keep them, nobody else here can keep them. How do you plan to accomplish this?

Tihsho · Post by **Tihsho** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 6:32 pm

RTR where did you get yours from? I am just curious.

midgetwaiter · Post by **midgetwaiter** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 8:06 pm

I know Robert, I don't really expect to be successful. I wasn't in on the decsion to order them and would have tried to stop it. They're here now and I would rather try it than watch them die at the store.

I don't have a plan beond good diet and a good system, can you elaborate a bit on what you tried and any ideas you may have?

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 8:33 pm

You should talk to TAN. He has one as his avatar.

Post by **RTR** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:36 am

Mine came from a LFS, several batches over 2-3 years.

Tried FW; BW w/slow inrcease in salinity; BW w/drip acclimitization to mid range, then slow increase to SW; SW by dip acclimitization. Also tried a variety of frozen and live foods. I saw no differences in any of the above, all died after days to weeks to a couple of months of apparently normal hyperactivity and nasty tempers (all killed any conspecific or other tankmates ASAP). I used tanks from 30-long to 120 gallons.

fatpuffer · Post by **fatpuffer** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 2:01 am

I was at riverfront and saw the ocellatus. Mighty tempting...but decided not to get one. I did see the full grown GSP's.

Midgetwaiter: is it possible to transfer them over to marine...i dont
think they will live long in the fw.

Jaimie (the store owner's son) is great...he was trying to get me to buy the fugu...this kid is knowledgeable when i comes to his store...and he is only 10ish...maybe less...what a bright kid.

anyways...

js

TAN · Post by **TAN** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 2:01 am

Unfortunately I agree absolutely with RTR.
I considered that I had passed the critical stage provided that him I had to enough months.
Suddenly and without no mark I lost him.
My own opinion is that this species It does not tolerate the captivity.

midgetwaiter · Post by **midgetwaiter** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 9:09 am

Fatpuffer if they are there for a while I'll talk to Wayne about it. Because they are shipped in FW it's usually best to try and settle them first and then worry about the rest later. We've tried adapting fish to brackish right away and it doesn't work well. I'm sure there is some marine salt added to that tank.

Jamie is amazing, he's only eight.

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 11:39 am

Maybe you could speak to the owner about depleting/endangering the species, by removing them from their natural habitat, only to a sure death--of ALL of them!

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