The Puffer Forum

I went to a LFS the other day and ran into this puffer. Poor little guy was cramped into a 2 gallon tank with barely any turning room and large hard gravel, but he perked up and came to the glass when I went to say hello. I looked at the pufferpedia and I think he is a Tetraodon suvattii (Arrowhead puffer)? He has a cool "V" on his head.

He was already almost 6 inches, so it means that he is close to adult, right? Is 30 gallons enough for this type of puffer?

One of those lurkers i would assume. i dont specialize in this variety of puffer though. Maybe a side view would helpt to better identify him.

Looks like the teletale arrow on it's head.

Thanks PP! Any thoughts on this species? He was really friendly when I saw him.

Here is the sideview. Sorry for the quality, I took these pictures with my cellphone camera.

Friendly to whom? Not certainly to other fish! Looks very thin. Make sure they haven't been feeding it feeders.

Pufferpunk wrote:Friendly to whom?

LOL...friendly to me. I got a nice greeting when I said hello. Although, since he is so skinny, maybe he just wanted food

Wow nice arrowhead. Well, not the fact that it's skinny but it has a nice arrow on it's head.

Pufferpunk wrote:Make sure they haven't been feeding it feeders

OK, good advice. I will ask. What's good for them the usual shrimp, snails, bloodworms, and clams?

riggers wrote:Wow nice arrowhead. Well, not the fact that it's skinny but it has a nice arrow on it's head

That's what got my attention. Plus, he came and greeted me when I said hello.

Anything he'll eat that isn't feeders--leads to fatty liver disease.

The arrowhead is piscivore (fish eater), so it's not certain it will eat snails (snails actually breed in my suvattii tank - he has never touched a single one). It's not so important as with many other puffers, as the teeth don't grow very fast. Otherwise the ordinary puffer diet will be good enough. I feed different kinds of seafood (shrimp, clams, squid/octopus) and my own shrimp mix (which contains lots of green stuff). He's a bit picky though, more than I would have thought with a suvattii. But I guess that's my spesimen, and not a genaral thing with suvattiis. But be aware that this is a VERY messy eater! They tend to be nice to the owner, but a killer to other fishes. Be careful with your fingers when you work in the tank, as it can look a little like food to the arrowhead.

poor suvatti

Idontknow wrote:

Pufferpunk wrote:Friendly to whom?

LOL...friendly to me. I got a nice greeting when I said hello. Although, since he is so skinny, maybe he just wanted food

well puffer love is really a front... my mbus "love me" i know the real reason why they follow me but i like to think they love me.. appart from the baby who bites me aswell... love bites?!

Poor thing looks starved half to death!

My miurus (avatar) is a similar species & doesn't touch snails either. She's not so nice to me though. She's drawn blood on more than one occasion.

great looking fish once you get some weight back on him thats going to be one gorgeous happy puffer

I haven't bought him yet, I am still thinking about it. It would mean shifting some fish around to give him his own tank or buying a new tank, but I am still working on my wife to let me buy a 100g plus for a porcupine.

I am really concerened about the size of tank the LFS has him in. Only about 2 gallons (maybe less). He can barely turn.

I am not really a big fan of this LFS. Their tanks are always dirty. They don't really check their tanks either because I always see dead fish (sometimes the same ones) in the tanks.

I went there yesterday to ask what they were feeding them, but just as I got there I saw them feeding bloodworms. They must be trying to do cost control because it was barely enough for him. Most of it fell on the gravel and he couldn't get at it. But, he was very smart he started to fan the substrate with his tail kicking the worms up again. However, since he couldn't turn that well, he could only get one at a time. It took a while just to eat a few bloodworms. All that work just for a snack size meal.