We just got back from the pet store. My wife just bought 2 more DP's - bringing our grand total up to 4. One of them has a VERY visible stripe on his belly and wrinkles behind his eyes. So it looks like we have 3 females and one male. He's going to have some fun. Still not sure what we'll do if we do end up with little (littler?) DP's.
Funny thing - we asked the lady at the pet store if we could have some of those tiny snails. She's like "Sure, they're just a nuisance." She gave us all five that were in the tank nearest the puffs. On the way home, the bigger DP, the male, munched two of the snails! I have never heard of fish even eating the day they were put in a new aquarium, let alone in the bag on the way home! Of course, I've never had puffers before.
Right now we've got the bag in the tank letting them adjust to the water, and the biggest DP that is already in the tank is trying to eat the snails thru the bag. I was half expecting him to chew through the bag. Looks like we'll be taking some snails off the hands of pet stores soon.
-Kenny
two more dwarf puffers
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LittlePuff
- Dwarf Puffer
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 10:15 am
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: One female dwarf puffer 😞
- Location (country): United States
- Location: Rock Island,IL
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SirMinion
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:41 pm
- Location: Suffolk, England.
- Contact:
Sadly true, which is why so many Dwarf Puffers go to new owners on the verge of starvation.LittlePuff wrote:He was probably starving. Most LFS's feed them flake food.
Kim
We bought a couple of Violet Gobies a couple of years back that the store had been trying to feed guppies to.
The Gobies were so thin that thy looked like pieces of string with heads.
We bought a couple of portions of daphnia at the same time and dumped them in the bags with the fish. By the time we got home there were no daphnia left in the fish bags.
We have:
Fahaka Puffer, Dragon Puffers, Brown Puffers, Dwarf Puffers, Figure-Eight Puffer
Photos
FREE pufferfish screensaver
Fahaka Puffer, Dragon Puffers, Brown Puffers, Dwarf Puffers, Figure-Eight Puffer
Photos
FREE pufferfish screensaver
what LFS's feed puffers
This was actually Petsmart again (a pet store chain). There's 3 or 4 of them here in Columbus, Ohio. They breed their own DP's according to http://www.dwarfpuffers.com which is why they can sell them so cheap - $2 US each. The lady in the fish section said they feed them frozen food. If I remember right, she said it was frozen brine shrimp most of the time, except on Tuesday they feed them frozen bloodworms as a treat. Of course, I'm not sure if its just that store, or I might have had them backwards...
In any case, there was one big, mean, aggressive puffer in the tank with the two we bought that had a very swollen belly. I'm guessing he might have eaten all the food before the other ones got to it?
Another thing - the Petsmart we got our first three puffers at had the DP's in with things labelled South American Dragonfish - which I think might have been violet gobies under a different name. If I'm not mistaken, they are brackish?! There was also some other kind of fish in there. I can't remember the name, but it was pink. Gee, that narrows it down, doesn't it? That Petsmart was out of puffers, so we went to another to get the other two. They had a much larger fish section, and had the little DP's in their own tank.
One thing I was wondering... Both Petsmarts they netted the puffers out of the tanks just like any other fish. If I'm not mistaken, this is not the proper way to handle puffers. Should I tell them "Don't do that!" next time I'm there?
-Kenny
In any case, there was one big, mean, aggressive puffer in the tank with the two we bought that had a very swollen belly. I'm guessing he might have eaten all the food before the other ones got to it?
Another thing - the Petsmart we got our first three puffers at had the DP's in with things labelled South American Dragonfish - which I think might have been violet gobies under a different name. If I'm not mistaken, they are brackish?! There was also some other kind of fish in there. I can't remember the name, but it was pink. Gee, that narrows it down, doesn't it? That Petsmart was out of puffers, so we went to another to get the other two. They had a much larger fish section, and had the little DP's in their own tank.
One thing I was wondering... Both Petsmarts they netted the puffers out of the tanks just like any other fish. If I'm not mistaken, this is not the proper way to handle puffers. Should I tell them "Don't do that!" next time I'm there?
-Kenny
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Feathers&Fins
- Figure 8 Puffer
- Posts: 201
- Joined: Sat Jun 04, 2005 5:42 pm
- Gender: Female
- My Puffers: Pufferless since Nova passed; had 2 red T.miuris, 4 T.biocellatus for many years.
- Location (country): KY (USA)
- Location: (US) Kentucky
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RTR
- Mentor
- Posts: 6155
- Joined: Tue May 31, 2005 4:39 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location (country): East Coast, USA
supenguin - we do have a technical problem right now, usually with a "debug" error message. If you get the debug message, just go to the forum and re-open the thread to confirm that your post did enter properly.
The techies will try to get the issue corrected ASAP, but in the meantime the posts are processing even though the message implies that they are not.
The techies will try to get the issue corrected ASAP, but in the meantime the posts are processing even though the message implies that they are not.
Where's the fish? - Neptune
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tekknoschtev
- Puffer Fry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:54 pm
- Location: SCS, MI
- Contact:
As you noted, PetsMart does tend to treat the majority of the fish correctly. Maybe the PetsMart here was influenced by my girlfriend who does her best to make everything happy, but because I have DPs she had researched them and found they dont to flake well. She works at PetsMart and got our feeding them daily with blood worms. They have some of the largest DPs I have ever seen (that are truly DPs, and not just mislabeled F8s or GSPs which PetsMart doesnt carry).LittlePuff wrote:He was probably starving. Most LFS's feed them flake food.
Kim
As you also notes, they do net the fish. I dont know if there is much they could do on this level, because it would require more effort on the employees part as the whole tank would need to be cleared of obstacles because the cups cant slip behind rocks to spook the fish out. My girlfriend had everyone in her department capture them in the net, however, for DPs the net was never removed from the tank, instead they dook the specimen container and scooped the water and net as one, so the fish was never out of the water in the net.
I've had some bad experiences with Aquarium Adventure. Ichy fish for sale. Their plant selection is quite good though. Do check out Byerlys on West 5th. A few weeks ago they refused to sell me a frogspawn coral for my reef tank. He suspected it had been injured in transit and told me to phone back in a few days. Sure enough, the coral was slowly dying. I'm sure many LFS would have sold it to me regardless.Never heard of Byerlys. I'll have to check that place out next time I need to get anything for the aquarium. You ever check out Aquarium Adventure?
John R
Aquariumboard
Aquariumboard
Byerlys
We hit Byerly's today. I was very impressed. They actually had a Mbu puffer!!! It was going for $99.99, probably about 3 - 4 inches. There was a snail in there and a shrimp or prawn or something bit in half. I asked (just to see what they say) how big they get... They said 2 feet and it needs at least 150 gallon tank. Also asked what they feed him - shrimp, snails, even guppies. "He'll eat anything".
This place also had dwarf puffers - tiny ones - that they were selling for $5.99 each (Petsmart has them for $2 each). This place also had Fugu puffers, Green spotted puffers, leopard puffers (looks like they were sold out). On top of all that, they also had a couple saltwater variety. There was one, I can't remember what species he was, but he was HUGE! At least 6 inches long, closer to 8. I'm horrible at estimating sizes...
On a sad note, they had a couple of DP's in that tank that looked like they got caught in the filter, freaked out, puffed up, and died
-Kenny
This place also had dwarf puffers - tiny ones - that they were selling for $5.99 each (Petsmart has them for $2 each). This place also had Fugu puffers, Green spotted puffers, leopard puffers (looks like they were sold out). On top of all that, they also had a couple saltwater variety. There was one, I can't remember what species he was, but he was HUGE! At least 6 inches long, closer to 8. I'm horrible at estimating sizes...
On a sad note, they had a couple of DP's in that tank that looked like they got caught in the filter, freaked out, puffed up, and died
-Kenny
If im not mistaken, many lfs sell GSP's under the name leopard puffers aswell. A LFS tried swindling me by telling me that what they had for sale was a leopard puffer and not a GSP (they had both labled on the tank as to different prices.) I wasn't going to buy it anyways, just wanted to clear it up that they were the same 
<80 gal> 2 GSPs & a Ceylon!
<75 gal> 3 Figure 8s & 1 Butterlfy Goby
<75 gal> *Empty*
<55 gal> 3 Gymnothorax polyuranodon (FW eel)
<30 long> Pair of Lorteti's & Irrubesco's, 1 DP, Endlers Livebearers, Clown Pleco, Royal Pleco, 2 Bumblebee Cats
<20 long> 4 Flounders
<4 gal> 2 Sparkling Gouramis & 3 ottos heavily planted
~Tihsho~
<75 gal> 3 Figure 8s & 1 Butterlfy Goby
<75 gal> *Empty*
<55 gal> 3 Gymnothorax polyuranodon (FW eel)
<30 long> Pair of Lorteti's & Irrubesco's, 1 DP, Endlers Livebearers, Clown Pleco, Royal Pleco, 2 Bumblebee Cats
<20 long> 4 Flounders
<4 gal> 2 Sparkling Gouramis & 3 ottos heavily planted
~Tihsho~
Petsmart
Cool! A Petsmart person. They seem to be the place around here for Dwarf Puffers and those little snails they love to eat... You're right, there is quite a diff between stores. There are two within 20 min. drive of my house. Let's compare the two. Let's call them closer one and farther one. I'm not very creative at 2:30 AM...
Closer one: been there three times to get puffers, twice they were out. They tell me they feed the puffers frozen brine shrimp except on Tuesday when they get frozen bloodworms as a treat. Or I may have those backwards... Aquarium section is about half the size, and they have DP's in with South African Dragonfish and pink Gourami's. DP's seem to like nibbling on the dragonfish's fins. One of my DP's from there up and died for no reason a couple days after I got him. Too bad I trashed the receipt and then flushed him when he died. I realized afterward they have a 14 day return policy on fish, I believe it was.
Farther one (by about 5 min): huge freshwater section. There aren't really many huge tropical fish, and its all freshwater, but there is quite a variety. The DP's from there seem bigger, look better fed, have a much more vibrant green. Oh yeah, and they are in a tank by themselves. Tonight when I went to pick up more (I have total of 7 now!) I asked to get some of those little snails. They said sure, they toss 20 or 30 of those in the DP tank a day! No wonder these guys look so well fed!!!
Both still net them out of the water and into the little plastic containers.
-Kenny
Closer one: been there three times to get puffers, twice they were out. They tell me they feed the puffers frozen brine shrimp except on Tuesday when they get frozen bloodworms as a treat. Or I may have those backwards... Aquarium section is about half the size, and they have DP's in with South African Dragonfish and pink Gourami's. DP's seem to like nibbling on the dragonfish's fins. One of my DP's from there up and died for no reason a couple days after I got him. Too bad I trashed the receipt and then flushed him when he died. I realized afterward they have a 14 day return policy on fish, I believe it was.
Farther one (by about 5 min): huge freshwater section. There aren't really many huge tropical fish, and its all freshwater, but there is quite a variety. The DP's from there seem bigger, look better fed, have a much more vibrant green. Oh yeah, and they are in a tank by themselves. Tonight when I went to pick up more (I have total of 7 now!) I asked to get some of those little snails. They said sure, they toss 20 or 30 of those in the DP tank a day! No wonder these guys look so well fed!!!
Both still net them out of the water and into the little plastic containers.
-Kenny