The Puffer Forum

My wife had wanted a porcupine...even had a dream about it...so we asked the LFS if they could get a baby one in. They had a cute 12 inch one that is super healthy and friendly, but we wanted to start off with a smaller one. So we put one on order.

The LFS surprisingly got a baby porcupine puffer right away. I was told it would take quite a while, but I got the call yesterday after only a week. I went to see it and it was very cute, but a little sickly looking. The LFS said they couldn't get it to eat yet and they will sell it to me in a week or so. They said that their experience was that most of the baby porcs did not live past a week at their store, so they wanted to wait to sell it to me.

I am almost inclined to just buy it right away. In a way, I think it might have a better chance at living in my tank. There is lots of live rocks and caves. The tank is 10 times bigger and I would be able to offer it foods other than dried krill. However, at $60, I kinda don't want to take a chance and have it die on me.

What do you guys think? Any advice would be appreciated.

Ask the store if they will do some kind of deal with you, so you could possibly get money back in the event that it dies within a week or something. Or get a dogface

I think that's why they want to keep it at the store, because they can get credit with their supplier.

There is a small 3 inch dogface at another LFS, but my wife really wants a porcupine.

Well, I went back to the LFS to check on the porcupine and it was dead. It was sitting on the bottom of tank with some white fuzzy stuff encasing it.

Now, I really regret not taking it...I think it had a better chance at my house.

I can't believe they would leave it in the tank dead like that. Perhaps finding a different pet store would be a idea..somewhere they do not leave carcasses in tanks.

Yeah, I think you're right. But, it's the closest and most convenient to my house.

I am trying to find some good online fish stores in Japan, but there are not many. The U.S. seems to have a lot of good ones, though.

They have the cutest porcupine at a store by my house. I cant get him though cause I have the stars and stripes but they are so precious. Absolutely adorable. I hope to have my stars and stripes a good long while but will definitely get a porcupine at some point in my future.

I agree, they are really cute.

It's funny, last year when I saw lots of porcupines all over the place, I didn't have a large enough tank.

Now, that I do...I can't find one anywhere.

Is there an online service like craigslist in Japan that you can use? Like an online classifieds?

There is a craiglist for my area, but hardly anything is listed on it. I guess it's not very popular here.