The Puffer Forum

I had a chat with a woman a week ago, and she claimed she had had a BW DP. Does that exist? I've never heard of any. I tried to show her pics of c. travancoricus, t. nigroviridis, t. biocellatus and c. irrubesco, but neither of the fish looked like the one she had had. She also claimed that this fish was described in a book, and the book said that they were brackish, and that they didn't get bigger than about 2 cm. Do you have any idea what puffer this can have been?

Its highly likely that its a DP that was just caught in BW, however as we have discussed countless times just because a fish is found there doesn't mean it stays there all the time. Most river fish will move from full FW to SW parts of a river system at different stages in their life. Through extensive research and practical learning it has been discovered that DP will live longer and healthier in FW and that really is the only way to veiw it I guess

I have heard several times over the years that dp's are brackish, and also that there aren't any freshwater puffers. All I can do is correct them and go about my business, otherwise you will beat your head against the wall arguing.

its shocking isn't it

But I still don't know what species it is. As I said, I showed her pics of both travancoricus and irrubesco, just to check out whether it was a freshwater species she was talking about. It wasn't any of them. Travancoricus is the only one I know of that doesn't get any bigger than the 2-2,5 cm.

I killed my 1st 3 DPs thinking all puffers were BW. They were in 1.005.

Guys, I think you need to read closer.

She's not saying this is a dwarf puffer that lives in brackish water. She actually said she showed the lady photos of many common puffers (including the dwarf!) and it is NOT any of those.

So, basically, she is asking if there is a SMALL puffer, that stays under 2.5cm, and is also a brackish puffer.. and its NOT the species we commonly call dwarf puffer.

I doubt a unknown species of puffer looking different to the ones generally known could occur in trade without being recognized as such by some exporter/importer/wholesaler/seller, since they could ask for more money for a new and still rare species. A new species in trade would catch the attention of scientists working with puffers and result in a publication. The person claiming to have had a different species should look at the aqualog puffer book and/or fishbase and provide some pictures.

A side note: the first ever published batches of DPs as pets were caught and shipped in brackish water (1.003). They were kept in there and bred in there, raising of the fries was documented. Large parts of the habitats of dwarf puffers (aside some rivers) are back waters that depending on season, rainfall and tides can become slightly brackish for some time. I doubt DPs (at least the ones from this area) can be killed with slightly brackish water. However, I'd say they are freshwater fish, because even those populations close to the coast will spend more than 3/4 of their time in pure fresh water.

Don't those red-line BW puffers stay pretty small? Not as little as the DPs though.

These? Should not stay small

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/species ... throtaenia

http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/ug. ... hrotaenia/

Well, I'm probably not so silly as I felt I was, not knowing any BW DP. The only puffer I know that stays so small is c. tranvancoricus, and I know it's not brackish. My aquarium atlas claims it is, but it also claims it can grow up to 15 cm, so we all know that book isn't trustable
BTW, how big does c. imitator get?

Troender wrote:Well, I'm probably not so silly as I felt I was, not knowing any BW DP.

Well, it can occur in brackish water, so that is not entirely wrong.

Troender wrote: The only puffer I know that stays so small is c. tranvancoricus, and I know it's not brackish.

No fish is purely brackish, they are all fresh-brackish, brackish to marine or fresh to marine. Since we humans can only have a tank at one salinity to establish proper filtration, we have to decide what is best, for DPs it seems to be freshwater. There are strictly freshwater and strictly marine fish, but no strictly brackish one.

Troender wrote: My aquarium atlas claims it is, but it also claims it can grow up to 15 cm, so we all know that book isn't trustable
BTW, how big does c. imitator get?

The same size as tranvancoricus and hard to tell apart when the spines are not studied in detail. Possibly not a separate species.

Troender, possibly it was a dwarf puffer, but so sick from being kept in improper conditions that its coloring/markings were faded/dark so she just doesn't recognize a healthy one?

Corvus,

Excellent post. Saved me the job!

Cheers, Neale

Corvus wrote: No fish is purely brackish, they are all fresh-brackish, brackish to marine or fresh to marine. Since we humans can only have a tank at one salinity to establish proper filtration, we have to decide what is best, for DPs it seems to be freshwater. There are strictly freshwater and strictly marine fish, but no strictly brackish one.

Nice to see out Mentors getting in on this one!