Takifugu Ocellatus

[Christie_ZXR]

Hello!

Seeing as you guys are the people in the know about puffers, wondered if anyone could share some experiences/advice on Takifugu Ocellatus?

Long story, but I've ended up with one, and he (or she!) is totally wonderful! He's currently in FW (and was in the shop) until I'm happy about what I'm going to do about swapping him over to brackish/marine. My current thought is to get him up to 1.010 initally, and finally up to 1.020 in the long term, sort of a bit like treating him like a GSP. But I wanted to get some advice from any others who know about, or have kept these wonderful little guys before I start changing things for him.

At the moment, the poor little fella's been doing a bit of glass surfing, but I'm hoping that's just down to the change of scenery and it'll settle down. I only picked him up on thursday, so I suppose it's to be expected. Although it is a bit unnerving He has already happily buried himself in the sand once or twice, and he's eaten today, so these are good signs I think!

Any advice/suggestions or anything at all would be great! I want to get as much info as I possibly can on this little guy and do the best I can for him


Cheers guys!

[Flutter]

ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Marine/T_Ocellatus/
library/puffers-in-focus/takifuguocellatus/

[Pufferpunk]

Unfortunately, this species is pretty much doomed in the average aquarium, unless you are willing to add a chiller to your system. Even the most expert pufferkeepers haven't been able to keep them a year. Mine lasted 8 months.

[RTR]

Magnificent fish, but not for the average hobbyist unless upkeep cost is no object. It requires very large, high-current, chilled tanks at least - and maybe more than that.

I have tried several times (3? maybe 4?) and my best survival time in my tanks was about like Pufferpunk's.

[sevenyearnight]

Here is a link to a thread viewtopic.php?f=13&t=26470&p=284029#p284029
This person has kept a Takifugu Ocellatus for 3.5 years before rehoming him, so perhaps you could contact the poster of the thread to get some advice on what they did.

[Christie_ZXR]

Ta very much!

And I'll try to get in contact with them, cheers

[sevenyearnight]

I'd try email over PM, not too certain they log in since they rehomed their puffer

[Terrance]

I saw a group of these puffs at my LFS. Every time I come visit the store, there was at least 1 dead. They all got wiped out within 3 weeks (I think because of water temp being too high).

I just looked up aquarium chiller.. Never knew it would cost so much.

[Christie_ZXR]

Tbh, I'm in England, so I reckon I'll get away without a chiller!! There's only going to be a few days a year an unheated tank would rise above 20 degrees! If any of my tanks do get too hot, I stick a frozen bottle of water in there and that brings it back down. There's a tank in my lounge that sometimes gets a bit too warm because of where it is, but the rest of the tanks are usually okay. I've put the little guy in the kitchen anyway, which is the coldest room in the house. Didn't do that deliberatly! But it should help If anything, I think I'll need a heater to stop it dropping below 18 in the winter.

I did get hold of pyratt too, thankyou. And I've got some great advice. And asked a load of silly questions!

I'm just going to do the best I possibly can, and hopefully the little guy will get on well. Fingers crossed anyway!

Thanks again

[sevenyearnight]

Great! I'm glad you reached him. Please post lots of pics!

[Pufferpunk]

Does Pyratt still have his puffer?

[sevenyearnight]

I believe he gave it to someone in the Chicago area. If he did, I wonder if he kept in touch with them.

[Christie_ZXR]

Not any more I don't think.

Fed the litte man his first mussel today...he tore it to shreds!! I didn't realise he'd be quite so vicious so I didn't think of it, but I'll have to get a vid of the aggression next time he gets one!

I've only got a couple of phone pics at the moment.

Meet Mushroom the Fugu Puffer;

In the bag, not looking too impressed at getting a quick snap taken:


Buried in the sand the first day he came home:

[sevenyearnight]

Awww! Mushroom is adorable!
Thanks, and keep the pics coming, I love this puffer! I live in a warmer place so I couldn't really keep one.

[J-P]

They are cute! Wait till PTOM... Chuck is going to have a run for his money