The Puffer Forum

Pufferpunk wrote:Sorry I didn't see the red spot. Sure looks a lot like Beetlejuice:

rotfl! his/her mouth looks like when dory says "Who's a mister grumpy gills?" XD

I do love that face!

he is to cute

RTR wrote:IMHO & IME, I just do not ever keep clawed critters w/puffers for any length of time. Puffers do nap/sleep and are subject to claws. If not eaten within hours, I remove them from the tank and try again later.

Red Clawed Crabs, like Fiddlers, really should not be in FW anyway. They do better light BW, and should have out-of-the water areas, but do not spend as much time out as Fiddlers in my tanks.

You are definitely correct, now that I have seen what can go wrong.I thought they would last two days. One crab a day as a meal...

Oh and the Occeli is really prevalent I just can't get a shot of it Pufferpunk, it was the first thing I saw this morning. Pulled out the camera and boom swam behind a Anubia.

Is a curling of its caudal fin a sign of stress and or fear? My puffer seems to do that quite often these days. The crabs definitely did not help. I am going to try and stay out of the tank for a few days and let her hunt Ghost Shrimp. Already finding lots of shrimp are jumping from the tank to save their lives only to die from drying out.

Could just be napping, too.

Well I think our Puffer was a little unhappy after crab gate but she seems happy enough again. I cleaned out my canister filter for my planted tank and took all the snails and shrimp I found and put them into the 20 long. In return the little puff let me get some iphone shots that show her red occeli. So she is 100% a Fangs although I would of preferred a Turgidis, if that was the case my puffer wouldn't be full grown.

Very cute

Try and be happy it's a Fangs, so many people have wanted one and never been able to find them

Fang's have always been rare to very uncommon around here.

Tail tucking helps the "blimps" in turning when swimming slowly. Fang's don't have big caudals, but a closed caudal still acts as a rudder. When folded against the body it helps the turn by the extra turbulence. Even the non-blimp DPs use it in helicoptering.

RTR I think the tail was curled in case a hasty turn was needed but I also think it was a sign of feeling threatened/stressed.

Its been about a week since crab gate and my Puff keeps its caudal fin straight again while resting on the bottom(90% of the time). So I think that things have settled down in the tank again. I need a camera on the tank so I can see if my little Fangs swims mostly at night or when I am at work. I have noticed that at least 10 Ramshorn Snails have been killed many with their shells crushed and that the RCS population and Ghost Shrimp populations seem to be down to 0. So my puffer has been very active and looks very fat and happy its just happening when I am not looking.

Also Fangs and Target species seem to be far more common here in Socal. Probably due to the proximity to all the major distributors that get everything wild caught in Asia. I feel petty lucky in terms of how easy it is to get one if I really try to find one.

My little Abei keeps his tail tucked most of the time, but he is also very slow moving and seems to never be in a hurry. That is unless I drop a crayfish in the tank

Targets species are definitely lurkers. They won't move much unless a meal is involved.

Tank is doing great and I added 50 Ghost Shrimp. I still see 2 Ramshorn Snails and find new empty shells daily so I know the tank still has some and my Puff is well fed. I saw a few failed attempts on the Ghost Shrimp and my RCS seem to be out more since they are getting ignored.

I really prefer this style of feeding to cockles, krill and shrimp. It just seems more natural although I need to really make sure everything is gut fed. I am planning on a shrimp and snail tank currently. I am also looking into breeding CPOs as well.

RTR wrote:Even the non-blimp DPs use it in helicoptering.

lol, non-blimp? they look like tiny blimps to me =P

No, one of the Carinotetraodon characteristics is the taller-than-wide body form and at least the potential for dorsal and ventral ridges on the males. They certainly can get fat, but for me do not do so nearly as easily as the larger hunters. GSPs and F-8s are classic blimps, and also the most likely to be too fat.

I like the ready access to live foods as well, and for the same reasons, but the only puffs I have long-term luck with having food available 24/7 have been the lurkers, The lazier the particular fish is, the better chance for co-housing with food for me. My Palembang's was the all-time easiest on that. The active hunters over-eat too easily and run through all available food too quickly for me.