The Puffer Forum

Please take pics

I got pics. It was VERY difficult to take them as the flash kept washing it out, and then without flash it wouldn't focus...but the pics were good enough so that you can make out what I am talking about. The puffers of course did not like being netted... (I used brine shrimp nets. They are VERY VERY soft and I like using them on small fish as they are tiny and don't rough them up).

BTW...

The one puffer that has been more outgoing (more likely for me to keep) ate a couple 3mm pellets today. Dainichi brand (no cereals or anything. The formula specifically is Color Supreme which has a 2:1 ratio of spirulina to krill in it).

Since it ate the pellets, should I keep feeding them every so often in between frozen food feedings? The pellets are rock hard...they aren't "soft" like other brands are. Or the pellets still aren't hard enough to help keep the beak trimmed? I was thinking that if I kept feeding this, to feed 5mm pellets. Or just consider this one weird puffer to actually eat pellets and just stick with the bloodworms, krill, and mysis shrimp?

The tank they're in. The more sociable puffer can be seen on the left side. That's the same one that ate the 3mm pellets, and that's the one with the one big circle underneath/










And puffer #2, the one with several circles:




Any ideas???

~Ed

I cannot see much on anything but the last picture, however, in that last picture those are puffer bite bruise rings.

Damn...fight scars? Definitely?


I'm assuming that they healed up perfectly and they are otherwise healthy? And will they stay there for life (ie, fade or disappear completely as they grow?) since they both do have theoretically up to another 16" to grow...

I think I picked out which one I am going to keep (the one that was on the left side, with the big ring/circle) and am going to sell the other to my lfs in a few days. I'm going to post an Ad here first if anybody wants him for the price I paid $12usd...

~Ed

I'd take another pic in a week & see if they move. Otherwise, definitely pufferbites.

Pufferpunk wrote:I'd take another pic in a week & see if they move. Otherwise, definitely pufferbites.

So at this point are they just scars? And they are otherwise perfectly healthy?

Do you think they will fade or disappear altogether as they reach adulthood? Or stay there forever?

Yep, those are exactly like mine...I just did not think a puffer bite could be nearly a perfect circle...Mystery solved then!!

They go away, in time.

So at this point they are just scars, right? NO permanent damage (at least not likely)???

Would a puffer ripping a chunk of flesh out make those scars, or just a bite/nip and maybe some torn tissue but nothing serious/life threatening?



They were both on the same side again today (someone in my house opened the shades to the windows so it wasn't dark in there anymore, which is probably why they became active) so I am probably going to sell the one to the lfs today or tomorrow. So far it appears they aren't bothering each other and I don't want to take any chances.


Currently I am feeding deformed cichlid fry to my wildcaught Tyrannochromis colony. Do you think the puffer will take an interest in fry eventually or should I just stick with frozen foods and maybe pellets once in a while if he keeps eating them? I like the idea of giving it pellets if it keeps eating them as Dainichi pellets are coated with vitamins after the cooking phase, and then the pellet itself contains calcium monmorillonite clay with has a LOAD of various minerals in it that I am sure the puffers immune system would love...

If he'll take the pellets, they're a good supplement food. I'd avoid giving feeder fish much, but if they are home raised in a known healthy tank with no new inhabitants, they should be safe.

Oh, and the ring marks are where the edges of the beak came into contact with the rubbery puffer skin and pinched it... no actual flesh was removed, as it would most likely have been on fish who's bodies are not built to also be balloons.

Nick wrote:If he'll take the pellets, they're a good supplement food. I'd avoid giving feeder fish much, but if they are home raised in a known healthy tank with no new inhabitants, they should be safe.

Oh, and the ring marks are where the edges of the beak came into contact with the rubbery puffer skin and pinched it... no actual flesh was removed, as it would most likely have been on fish who's bodies are not built to also be balloons.

No I don't feed feeder fish ever. The cichlids would be from my own stock that I breed myself.

The only live feeders I ever buy are grass shrimp since there isn't much they can carry parasite-wise, and they are much easier to digest and faster than feeder fish. Plus that particular tank that ONLY gets the feeder grass shrimp has a Aqua Ultraviolet (the best or one of the best brands out there...built like tanks!) 25watt uv sterilizer on it with a 700gph pump feeding water into it.

Thanks for the info on the bites. I just wanted to make sure they weren't permanently damaged.

WHILE I AM AT IT....


Does anybody know of a image/graphic or webpage describing the anatomy of a puffer fish? I'd love to learn where they're internal organs are, what organs take care of the puffing, etc...

Well I sold off the other puffer to my LFS today.

What made me decide to do it definitely today was the one puffer (seen in the pics above) that has the one big circle on it's underside made its way again to the other side of the tank and the other one was hiding from it.

What made me keep the one puffer (seen in the pics above, the "bully" one) was that it was more active, ate right away every time, and better color.

Now it has the 30g to itself with no dividers. When it grows another inch or two I will upgrade it to a wider tank like a 40g, 50g, or 75g.

~Ed

^ Don't take this the wrong way, but in all honesty you might as well go as big as you can to avoid having to setup a new tank at the start of every month till you reach the 125 you need, or else i have a feeling you might have a lot of spare tanks laying around...