The Puffer Forum

Hey guys I am new to the forum and new to keeping puffers in general. I do have fish keeping experience and as you can see in my sig I am very interested in keeping Piranhas. I made an impulse buy (who hasnt) the other day and bought what my LFS told me was a bronze puffer. The problem is I have only found very limited information on this particular fish so I ask, if you could, please tell me as much as you know about him. He is very very active and I got him yesterday and today he is eating from my hand. What a cool experience! Thanks in advance! [/img]

More than likely, you have an A modestus. Cool fish. Mine is active. They may need regular teeth trimmings. Not very agggressive.
Check them out at http://www.pufferlist.com.

The pic has bad lighting but it kind of looks like him but he looks exactly like the picture of Xenopterus naritus from puffernet. Is puffernet accurate? Also it says that A. modestus only reach four inches. My guy is easily over that by an inch and a half. Thanks for your help!

is there any way you can post a pic of your puffer? it would help with the id much!

Puffernet is not a good place for ID. If your puffer is indeed that large, then it would be a good guess that you have a X naritus. There is not a whole lot of info on this species--Dr Ebert doesn't even list them in his book, The Puffers of Fresh & Brackish Waters.

From Shannon's website:

Bronze Puffer, Xenopterus naritus (valid): As an adult, it is found in points offshore in the Gulf of India. Require marine conditions as an adult. Original notes of fresh water appearances are thought to be confusion between this species and the Chonerhinos genus.* Current research shows no indication of specimens located in freshwater. (Tyson R. Roberts) No noticeable external differences between the genders. Though they may be small when you get them, they will decimate anything else in their tank. Very like the Chonerhinos genus, the main difference is the habitat (marine/estuary), number of fin rays (Dorsal rays 35-36, anal rays 28-29), and the overall grow out size being far larger than Chonerhinos. 28 cm (11.02 inches).

*Excerpt from Journal follows: Xenopterus, so far as I have been able to determine, is marine or estuarine. There so not seem to be any museum specimens of Xenopterus with any locality data from fresh water, and statements in the literature that Xenopterus occurs in fresh water (e.g. Cantor 1850:384; Weber and de Beaufort 1962:373) appear to be based at least partly on misinformation or confusion with Chonerhinos. T.R. Roberts

HTH & I'd really love to see some pics! ~PP

Yup, second that. The real X. naritus is really uncommon in the trade. You can really help us out by posting updates on the fish and any pictures in captivity would be fantastic!

The only puffer I've heard about that makes Fahakas seem wimpy.

Great find! Congrats!

What size tank are you keeping it in?

Q about your Ps--can those different species be kept all together?

make the fahaka seem wimpy? Didn't some guy on the old forum keep some with dwarfs? As far as being uncommon they seem to be coming around alot more in my area lately, but that could just be a regional or seasonal thing. Anyway, good luck with the puff

Didn't some guy on the old forum keep some with dwarfs? As far as being uncommon they seem to be coming around alot more in my area lately, but that could just be a regional or seasonal thing.

You're thinking of the A.modestus, X.Naritus is the bigger BW/SW cousin, and harder to find

My modestus is a pussycat.

Ummm...

My modestus, although very shy, would kill anything else in the tank!

And my pussycat is a terror.....

hmm I guess you live and learn. I have seen them in fw and bw here so I guess they were different fish huh? Wierd

Unfortunately, the water in which a puffer is housed in the LFS or even in many hobbyist's tanks say nothing about what the puffer is, or what water it should be in.

ok, I too have a fish that seems like this one. I'll post some pictures I took of him last night- sorry they aren't the best but he is REALLY camera shy!

I would like to know what he is so I can stock his tank for what he needs- if he IS what I think he is, poor little guy is going to have to deal with solitary confinement!

http://strimmer.no-ip.com/pics/show.php ... er-001.jpg

http://strimmer.no-ip.com/pics/show.php ... er-002.jpg

I also posted his picture in another section of the forums too. hehe