Heh heh...maybe the first female didn't like Dogs d'Amour, Rocker. I bet you've been there a few times, eh?
That pic is striking! You wanna write a detailed account of all this and get it published...that pic's gonna generate some interest.
Pami.
Getting along?
so true, so true Pammi Well things have started to settle down a little now. After the male had moved away from the second female he settled in an unusual spot for him. He became restless and agitated, his feeding ritual of trying to devour everything stopped and only fed when the food was waved directly in front of him. No charging to the front - just showing lack of interest in the food. This started to worry me for the first couple of days until a couple of days later when lights came on in the morning. Both he and the second female were fully inflated and attacking each other quite severely. It only stopped when one had managed to take a chunk out of the other. This became routine now as every day I would enter the room and find both puffers fully inflated and circling each other. They would circle each other for a while looking to get above the the other then look for the opportunity to strike. Interestingly, these puffers seem to be more active at night particularly under the moonlight I have over the tank but the aggression starts first thing in the morning as the main lights come on. The male is always the aggressor as he comes from his place to find the other. It is the male that instigates the fight but of those I have witnessed I would say that he has come the worst off out of the majority of the attacks. These morning attacks continued for about a week with either the female getting the upper hand or myself intervening. I tried to rearrange the line of site between the two but to no avail. The male is persistant and stops at nothing to find his opponent. Even when I intervene he seems to wait till I think all is calm and leave the room and then goes looking. I'm not sure why he has singled this puffer out at the moment as he has shown no interest in the other female and palembangensis.
As I said earlier, things are calming now and there has been no witnessed attacks for a few days. The male seems to be a bit more interested in feeding and the scars are starting to heal.
As I said earlier, things are calming now and there has been no witnessed attacks for a few days. The male seems to be a bit more interested in feeding and the scars are starting to heal.
Some call it a product of a mis-spent youth, I call it Rock n Roll ! 
A week on and there has been no further attacks.Tank life has returned to some sort of normality. The wounds have healed very nicely and the aggression seems to have gone.
I have bought another artificial cave which I hope will improve things making a total of at least 5 caves.
Its interesting to note that suvattii adopt two very different threat postures.
The first is of no great concern as it often passes of as nothing but a display.This is usually the result of a territory depute.The puffers will stretch their bodies forward with their snout protruding forward and upward. Their bodies will become very flat and distend outwards. This takes place on the bed of the tank.They usually try to circle each other with their snouts almost touching. This subsides with usually the intruder swimming away.
The second threat behavior is of great concern as it usually ends with one of the puffers skin being bitten away. The two puffers approach each other fully inflated and try to circle each other looking to get above one another. This often takes place in mid water. When one seems to be above the other he will strike looking to tear a piece off the other. The fight will continue with each inflicting bite marks and will only cease when a chunk has been bitten away.Usually in this case it is the victor that swims away.
I have bought another artificial cave which I hope will improve things making a total of at least 5 caves.
Its interesting to note that suvattii adopt two very different threat postures.
The first is of no great concern as it often passes of as nothing but a display.This is usually the result of a territory depute.The puffers will stretch their bodies forward with their snout protruding forward and upward. Their bodies will become very flat and distend outwards. This takes place on the bed of the tank.They usually try to circle each other with their snouts almost touching. This subsides with usually the intruder swimming away.
The second threat behavior is of great concern as it usually ends with one of the puffers skin being bitten away. The two puffers approach each other fully inflated and try to circle each other looking to get above one another. This often takes place in mid water. When one seems to be above the other he will strike looking to tear a piece off the other. The fight will continue with each inflicting bite marks and will only cease when a chunk has been bitten away.Usually in this case it is the victor that swims away.
Last edited by Rocker on Mon Jan 02, 2006 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Some call it a product of a mis-spent youth, I call it Rock n Roll ! Confirmation that things are back to 'norm' as the two are now freely sharing each others 'space'. I strongly believe that this was now a courtship between one male and two females. As predicted the male would become aggresive after the courtship for a period of 7 - 10 days. After this period he returned to his usual nature. I don't know whether this would have been the case if there had been any eggs produced.
Some call it a product of a mis-spent youth, I call it Rock n Roll ! 
-
jumpysquid
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2005 4:28 pm
- Location: Canada
wow
Amazing story and pics, Rocker. Thanks for posting it.
Well as I have come to learn from puffers- you just can never tell.
All four seemed for a while to get back to their normal behavior but as of recently the dominant one has become more aggressive. Not only attacking his partner but anything else in the tank. I tried to 'ride' it out and see if it settled again but the wounds were becoming more savage by the day. I decided enough was enough and the dominant male has been removed from this set up. It will be interesting now to see what, if anything happens between the remaining three.
What has this taught me?
Well you can never trust a puffer lol.
And as for puffers sharing a tank, well it might work or it might not. I was under the false sense of security that after this length of time and the fact that they were introduced together as juveniles it would work.What you have to take into mind is that puffers 'personalities' do change as they become more sexually mature.
All four seemed for a while to get back to their normal behavior but as of recently the dominant one has become more aggressive. Not only attacking his partner but anything else in the tank. I tried to 'ride' it out and see if it settled again but the wounds were becoming more savage by the day. I decided enough was enough and the dominant male has been removed from this set up. It will be interesting now to see what, if anything happens between the remaining three.
What has this taught me?
Well you can never trust a puffer lol.
And as for puffers sharing a tank, well it might work or it might not. I was under the false sense of security that after this length of time and the fact that they were introduced together as juveniles it would work.What you have to take into mind is that puffers 'personalities' do change as they become more sexually mature.
Some call it a product of a mis-spent youth, I call it Rock n Roll ! -
lisalisa
I hope people reading this thread realise that behaviour can and does alter. The dominant one was just that from day one but he never showed any signs of aggression.Things can change over night very quickly, so those who in particular chose to mix species, it may be fine for now but be careful.
Some call it a product of a mis-spent youth, I call it Rock n Roll !