I did it!.. my Irrubesco boys come tues!

[Bleedingheartmommy]

I know you all have listened to me for whine forever, so I am sharing... plus i really wanted to tell Jeni, PP has helped me so much on this journey...wether she knows or not, she taught me nearly everything I know about puffs!

Plus I still can't believe this!

It's real, Tuesday my heart can stop aching and my life energy can start being used for something beyond relentlessly searching...

Two adult Irrubesco males, will be shipped Monday and be mine on Tuesday. My dream was a male/female pair, but I don't make habit of looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Thousands of emails, phone conversations, back door deals and close calls... but my gut has this one on lock, and I'm not feeling any "cold pricklys" as my son says. She's a good puff mommy too, after grilling her tirelessly about the care she's given them over the year she's had them, I think these are just right for us!

I was talking to wes about the Banded puffers hes got, and found out he's got the 1.5" schoutedeni back! Wes is a good guy and has some very reasonable prices, and healthy stock-especially when compared to others... so I had decided I was giving up on my Irrubescos and getting a designer puff (schoutedeni) to close this chapter...my family has even had a "puffer-vention" on me, all sitting me down together telling me what this relentless search has been doing to my loved ones, and I decided this had to stop. It has literally consumed me, getting emails during dinner and calling people back mid-meal. I wake up and it's the first thing I talk about, I am an Irrubesco mess!!! So I decided, $h1+, for the $200 I'm paying in total with shipping for this schoutedeni, I should offer the same $$$ to this woman to see if she will sell (it didn't work out originally bc she lives in Newfoundland Canada, and on an island where she has to drive nearly 2 hours to ship anything). This fish is etched in me like teenagers initials on an old oak tree... so I tried and.... B I N G O, with the Canadian conversion rate, she's got a nice little payday coming. But omg I am gonna sleep like a baby tonight.

I have a video but need to work some to get it up, promise I will do it!

I would love some name ideas, all the boys have named all my puffs ( Cantaloupe, Honey (Dew), and (Mad) Max...) and I'm putting my foot down with these two.... I kinda like "Aster".. I dunno...

**update***
Couldn't get video to load so I got a couple screen shots, this is one of the two.



P

[Pufferpunk]

[Bleedingheartmommy]

Now I just heard something that made the needle skip... beak trimming... on a Carinotetraodon?!?!
Eeerrrccchhhh!

What?!

She says no snails where she lives (don't say it, I already thought it too...) and they get brine shrimp cubes, not even with spirulina from the looks. Says since they get no crunch, she has to trim the ol' beak every 3 months....

NO crunch?

This has GOT to have health repercussions beyond the beak, anyone weigh in here? I know they need mollusks, it's part of their natural diet- brine shrimp is not nutritional and I already know nothings been gut loaded... hmm... should I worry about the health of these two boys? She had them a year, so they are 1.5-2years old and have been eating like this for 12 mo straight getting overgrown teeth every 3mo. TBH I have never heard of any of this family getting "long in the tooth".

Now I'm a little nervous.

[Pufferpunk]

Do they look healthy to you in the photos?

[gkai]

Very strange indeed. Never had to trim teeth for mines, and i did not gave them crunchy food. They were able to hunt snails, had some in my tank, but I rarely saw them do it. Most reports I have seen on internet tell that trimming is rarely (if ever) needed for carinotetraodon species....

[Bleedingheartmommy]

That's what i had found too! After much more talking, my nerves have been calmed. To answer your question PufferPunk: She sends me videos every morning (and she's 4 hours ahead of me, so I wake up to one every day!) and they both look healthy.... and so perfect, it's nearing creepy how much I adore these fish Lol

It's not both who have the need for dental work apparently, just one of them needs trimmed (the one pictured above), and it seems to be a fluke of nature... I love outcasts, so we'll find a way to make it work! Plus I have access to snails, clams, live shrimp etc- so I'll make sure they both have a much more balanced and crunchy diet.

She's also decided to take the whole day off work to get this done, in case the UPS in this little town can't work it out, then she will have time to try the FedEx. I already sent her the money Friday, and there is still a small chance it couldn't happen (international live fish shipping can be messy and complicated, especially for an new or unseasoned shipping agent), though Kelly has made it clear she's in this with me and will do everything in her power. I'm not worried but I feel good about this, she is actually a really cool person and I think I've made a new friend during this whole thing. She has seen my willingness to make this as easy on her as possible, and even gotten the cash in hand before the shipping date (my idea and choice) - and in return has extended me the same effort and respect. Answering my messages at all hours of the night, sending me videos, chatting with me through the day and helping find ways around obstacles in our path. After she got the money, she did not dissapear on me like she easily could have, but rather became a little more attentive (likely from seeing that i was very serious about everything we'de talked about). Also over this time she has come to see how personal these boys are to me, and how much I care for all fish in general. Everyone please pray, hope, cross your fingers on Monday when she tries to ship them, I need as much good thoughts and Jew-Jew as I can get!

[Bleedingheartmommy]

[lobowind]

Oh, I hope you can get this worked out! To ship from Canada to the U.S., she will have to send them to a transhipper who is able to import the fish, and then they can ship the fish to you.

[lobowind]

Also, my salivators never had to have their teeth trimmed. Maybe with your better diet, the irrubescos won't need trimming.

[magpie]

Congrats! I can feel your excitement.

Any updates?