The Puffer Forum

premo wrote:Hi

As many other contributors have stated, Abei's do have a fantastic ability to change colour / tone
depending on their mood.

I have attached a pic of my chum Isaac, in the picture he is wearing his "happy" colours !!

Chris

Thanks for posting a pic, that definitely looks like an Abei to me. Very pretty indeed.

He's looking good premo, has he grown much sine you got him.

Hi Hilly

Isaac is now just under 4 inches, I think that's gonna be his max, eats like an underwater
horse and provides hours of entertainment, every home should have one !!

Chris

Mine is about that including tail, I dont think he's gonna get any bigger. I have moved him back into an 18 gallon tank from a 26 he was very skittish in the tank. I have also tried a different decor structure. No plants just lots of bogwood stacked on top of each other providing lots of crevices and woody holes to swim through. He seems to like it a lot and has returned to a calm inquisitive self. Good to hear everything is going well with Isaac.

Maybe you want to try this, maybe not. I do believe I read somewhere that Abei's like to hang out under waterfalls and/or near rapids. The only way I can think of to replicate one of those would be lots of air stones/bubble blowers.

My T. Sabahensis loves hanging out under the waterfalls in my tank. So do his GSP followers. Then again, the Saba is probably the goofiest puffer I have.

Air curtains are not my thing, I wouldnt want to grace my tank with one. There is a strong current from the filter and he remains out of the way of that.

Hilly, have you ever witnessed your Abei show an aggressive behavior toward another Puffer or fish ? Something like slowly swimming at the offender with his head down and tail way up above his head ? Just curious because I got a new 'Fangs' Puffer and his spot was orange. Could just be a weirdo one but if its an Abei I fear he will demolish all my fangs. That action I described above is what he did after about 5 mins in his new home. He slowly crept toward the smallest fangs puff and stared him down like that. Of course I separated em..but now I wonder...

HI Umbrella

Abei's are definately very aggressive, towards their own species, any other puffer and imho just about
anything they can or cannot eat !!

The behaviour you describe could be aggression or just as easily excitement. If you search around on here you
will find a video of Hilly's Abei having a cockle for lunch, watch the movement, it is similar to that you describe.

With the exception of DP's and SAP's, I personally would not keep any puffers together, just not worth the risk, might
work if you had a tank the size of a football stadium !!

Chris

Hi Hilly

Interesting what you say about the decor your Abei seems comfortable with, we have a mass of bogwood and rocks, forming
around 5 caves in our tank, plus, an upturned half a coconut shell, this seems to be his preferred sleeping quarters.

Our fella seems to have quite an intense dislike of plants, could be that he doesn't like the movement in the water interfering
with his ability to "scope" the whole area. We keep a few small ones in there but when the mood takes him he definately
attacks the plants, just aggression no intention of trying them for food.

I've never seen any pics of the rivers these guys inhabit but would like to, any pointers ??

Chris (Getting ready for the promised storm !!)

premo wrote: With the exception of DP's and SAP's, I personally would not keep any puffers together, just not worth the risk, might
work if you had a tank the size of a football stadium !!
Chris

Yikes! I don't have anything even close to that size. lol. I think they call tanks that large, 'Lakes'. I certainly don't have a lake haha, but if I did it would most def. be stocked with some Puffies Although I would need to be NOT in freezing cold PA.

These guys appear to be fine at the moment. I currently have 4 Fangs puffers in a 75 G, but as I mentioned one might not be a Fangs. Having just the 3 before him in one tank scared me. Now that there are 4 I'm petrified. I got 3 tank dividers ( sucky solution but it works for now ) and I keep them divided when I am not supervising. They don't really get too excited and move around when I remove the barriers. They just continue to chill. The bums! Once I find out which ones are cool with each other, I will separate them into their own tanks ( I hope ) in pairs without barriers.

Umbrella wrote:Hilly, have you ever witnessed your Abei show an aggressive behavior toward another Puffer or fish ? Something like slowly swimming at the offender with his head down and tail way up above his head ? Just curious because I got a new 'Fangs' Puffer and his spot was orange. Could just be a weirdo one but if its an Abei I fear he will demolish all my fangs. That action I described above is what he did after about 5 mins in his new home. He slowly crept toward the smallest fangs puff and stared him down like that. Of course I separated em..but now I wonder...

My Abei showed the head down tail up behaviour to a delhezi bichir, they are fearless little fish.

premo wrote:Hi Hilly

Interesting what you say about the decor your Abei seems comfortable with, we have a mass of bogwood and rocks, forming
around 5 caves in our tank, plus, an upturned half a coconut shell, this seems to be his preferred sleeping quarters.

Our fella seems to have quite an intense dislike of plants, could be that he doesn't like the movement in the water interfering
with his ability to "scope" the whole area. We keep a few small ones in there but when the mood takes him he definately
attacks the plants, just aggression no intention of trying them for food.

I've never seen any pics of the rivers these guys inhabit but would like to, any pointers ??

Chris (Getting ready for the promised storm !!)

To be honest mate I have no clue what their natural environment would be like or where they cruise for prey, however with their brown colouration they blend perfectly into wood, can take me a minute to spot him as he blends into the tangle of wood so well, so I can only make an assumption that with their colouration that cruising through the roots along the banks of rivers would be an ideal place for them to hunt.

Hilly wrote: My Abei showed the head down tail up behaviour to a delhezi bichir, they are fearless little fish.

Interesting. Because 2 of them are total cowards. One is fearless though and MR. 4 did the head down tail up thingy to one of the cowards. I wasn't sure if he was like, 'Hey Baby!' or 'DIE JERK!'. It just looked more like, 'DIE JERK!' to me.