The Puffer Forum

Yesterday I got another Ceylon puffer (T fluviatilis). I bought my first one several weeks ago, and it's doing fine. I hadn't planned on getting another, but went to an LFS and was instantly in love with this big guy. The only thing is that he's really dark. HIs belly is as black as black can be. Now normally I know that that means trouble, but he seems fine, he's got a good appetite and doesn't appear to look or act ill. I know that he was in freshwater, so when I got him home yesterday, I did the drip method to get him acclimated to my brackish tank. I do believe his colours have perked up. When I got him, you could not see any of the colour on his back, at least now you can make out that it's green ... but he's still very very black on the tummy. I have moved him and my other Ceylon to a tank of their own, as they had been in with my 5 GSP's and it was a bit crowded. The new Ceylon is getting along really well with my other Ceylon and I think they are enjoying each other's company.
I just wondered if anyone has seen a Ceylon that looked this dark, and is it normal? Also .... does anyone know how to sex these puffers? I was hoping that I had a male and female. They seem very friendly with one another, and it would be awesome if I did have a pair.
I've decided to call my new Ceylon "Yorkie" because we went up to North Yorkshire to get him, so it's Yorkie and Pudgie now!

Yeap, could be: sleepy, uhappy, stressed, scared.....
My GSP's would look like that sometimes.

as far as I know, you can't sex a ceylon -- but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong (please do!).

My ceylon never gets that dark, but he does get half gray when he's being sneaky.

Does Yorkie ever lighten up? i've heard of folks' GSPs staying dark like that but still being healthy.

GOOD NEWS!!!

This morning when I got up and turned on the aquarium lights, I thought I was looking at Pudgie, but then I noticed it wasn't Pudgie --- Yorkie's belly is white !!! He's got a slight bit of grey on the lower parts of his belly, but compared with how dark he was, he's beautiful and light now!

So I was right -- he was dark black like that because he was in freshwater!! I tried to tell my friend at the LFS that he needed to be in brackish water, but he just looked at me. I think I will take a photo of him and send it so he can see the difference. I will also post a photo on here later so you can all see the difference. I got him on Friday afternoon, so it's taken just over 3 days for him to lighten. Now I took some updated photos of him last night, but his belly was still black, so he has changed overnight. I'm so happy!!!

Great idea! Show him a FW/BW photo difference. He won't be able to deny a good pic!

Cool, glad to hear his belly turned white! Interesting how being in the right water helps so much with their coloration: I saw this same thing at work when they let me put our GSPs into saltwater. (And of course I've seen it at home with my own past purchases.) The ones at the store went from looking dark and awful, to bright white and green and so much more active once I got them over into the marine section. What's even better is that they're selling better than they ever did when we had them in freshwater!

I think he's happier too!

Here we are! This is proof that Yorkie is much much happier in his new brackish water tank. I took this photo before I turned the lights on in the aquarium. He seems to darken up after I turn the lights on, however, he's not at all as black as he was when I first brought him home (as in the first pics I posted on this thread). He's a beautiful puffer and really making me a big fan of Ceylon puffers now!

He's handsome! Glad he's coming around.

Big difference!
I noticed a nice difference just by adding a little salt to my Ceylon's tank as well. Good luck with him!

That is awesome! I was nervous at first to see such a black belly, but you definately made the little guy happy and healthy! My ceylon is in full marine now and he is better than ever, he changes color a lot on the top from light to bright, but the belly is always white. Yay for ceylons!

For some reason, Pudgie, my first Ceylon, has always got a white belly, very rarely does it change, but Yorkie, the bigger Ceylon, his/her belly changes all the time. It will go from being totally black to bright white, and then back again. If I didn't know better, I would have thought he was very ill, but then it will go entirely white, so I'm not quite sure what that belly means. I just don't think it means they are ill, because Pudgie is white all the time (well mostly) -- so I'm wondering if it means something else that we've not realised yet. I'm sure they are happy, and I'm beginning to think they are a male and a female (although who is who, I don't know) because of the way they interact with one another, they are just too close. Would be nice if they were a real pair. They are definitely one of my favourite puffers now -- even though I have several "favourites" (it's hard to pick just one when you have as many as I do, I love them all!)

I've turned the lights on in the middle of the night and my Fig 8 would be darker and more uniformly-colored, I assume part of a stealth mode.

I just wanted to chime in that this is absolutely amazing (w/ the before and after pics)... just such visual evidence to point people to.