The Puffer Forum

I am a breeder of african cichlids, and recently picked up a pair of puffers, which i would like to breed, but Im having trouble identifying them. they are dwarves, from new guinnea, and my importer told me they were quite rare. i cannot find any pix, nor do i have any as of yet, and no latin name for them either. All I can tell you is that they are maybe 1 1/2 inch long, brown on top, white sides and bellys with a black lateral line, maybe a hint of yellow. i would love to breed these and share them! any help would be appreciated! thanx

is there anyone who can help me i.d. a dwarf freshwater puffer? i was told it is very rare

Not rare at all. One of the LFSs carries them all the time, and the other one got them for me within five days. As for IDing, check the PufferPedia. They're quite distinctive.

Dwarf puffers are becoming very popular and I'm seeing them more and more at LFS' that never stocked them before. Makes one wonder how many are being taken from the wild when I see loads and loads stuffed into little tanks at different LFS', they must breed quite prolifically. The price is really being driven down too, that's about all the good that's come out of it.

Yes, check out Pufferpedia & there is an article on them in our Library.

Wait - DPs come from India, right?

PufferPedia - "Southwest India, Malabar, (Kerala). The freshwater river Pamba."

A picture would really be helpful. Maybe one of your friends has a usable camera?

hi,
the fish that you probably have is a tetraodon erythrotaenia: http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSumm ... throtaenia
it is right that they are quite rare, but it is no "dwarf"-species: they grop up to about 8cm.
martin

I'm guessing they're irrubesco. If that's what they are then they'll get another 1/2 or so bigger.

hi,
there are no carinotetraodon-species living in papua-new guinea.
the only puffer-species in that area that is also entering freshwater not only occasionally is t. erythrotaenia.
by the way: he has also made a perfect decription of that species.
martin

Wow Martin! You're a genius!