The Puffer Forum

Okay... The puffer I'm planning on getting for X-Mas, as it says on my Avatar in Puffer Care. Is going to be an Abei or Fang's Puffer.

I was wondering what is the difference? I've looked at many photos and the only thing I distinguish between them is coloring. The Fang's seems to look a little be darker as the Abei looks a little bit lighter.

Can anybody tell me the difference and how you can tell.

My Fang's tends to be somewhat greyish-blue with orange spots on his body, which can change from lighter to darker, depending on his mood. And my Abei tends to be almost a brownish with red spots and one bigger "target" towards the tail. They look completely different. As for their personality, I would say they are a little similar, but the Fang's, my Fang's anyway, is a little more tolerant to tank mates than the Abei, although both of them did kill a tankmate that was put in with them.
There's also a difference in eventual size, as the Abei will grow to be 4", and the Fang's only reaching 3" (mine must be a super Fang's then, because it seems a little bigger (but I think that's girth, not length).

Don't you have pics you could post next to each other to see the differences in appearance?

Yes .. I don't know why i didn't think of that (thanks PP )

Okay, here's Hymie, my Abei, looking very fit (hee hee)



and obviously this is another Abei that I didn't realise was an Abei!! Imagine my surprise at that!!



See, we learn things every day, and I'm learning that ID-ing the target puffers is harder than you would think

Excuse me but that 2nd pic is also an abei.

Here is my turgidus. Only difference between this & a Fang's is the Fang's has a red dot by it's tail:

When I had described the 2nd pic to you before, you told me I had a Fang's puffer! The dot by the back tail is not "red" as my Abei's colouration is and they look totally different to me.

I had originally thought the puffer with the orange dots was something else, and when I described to you that he had orange spots, you told me it was a Fang's puffer. How can they both be Abei's when one is basically brown with red dots and the other is a grey-blue with orange dots? They never, ever have had the same colours at all. Just when I think I know what I have, the rules change and now I'm being told I have something different!!!

The second picture is definitely a Monotrete abei.

Puffer #1 looks also like a Monotrete abei to me. Target puffers with orange or red spot (or dark with silver) and longer snouts are all called M. abei right now.

There's some variability in what today is considered being a M. abei (well, I do not have the same color Tyra Banks has, still we are one species and could spawn). Maybe one day it is shown that the M. abeis of today are two distinct species. Or it is shown that there are only transitions in these characters and that they are all really one species.

On a adult Monotrete turgidus the target spot equals the other spots in size. M. turgidus also has a shorter snout than Monotrete abei. A typical turgidus is Woland's specimen in the pufferpedia.

It's so weird .... I bought a turgidus that I thought was a Fang's but ends up being an Abei! I bought 2 Fang's that ended up being turgidus' !

I got a puffer from someone that thought it was a Fang's and ended up being an Abei

The only ones that didn't confuse me are the Cutcutia, and I'm still pretty sure that they are actually Cutcutia!

That's a same case that I had with my red belly, remember. Its weird all right.

I do not have the same color Tyra Banks has, still we are one species and could spawn

LOL, well put! Many species of the same animal (incuding the human ones), have different shadings/color patterns.

Now I don't see any difference. Is there any way to tell other than the length when they're fully grown?

Sentinel138 wrote:Now I don't see any difference. Is there any way to tell other than the length when they're fully grown?

Well I made a mistake ... I thought I had a Fang's puffer, but it's turned out to be another Abei ... so I can't show you the difference between a Fang's and an Abei, but from what I know of my Abei's and what I've seen in the Aqualog book on the Fang's .... the Fang's is green with a red spot towards the back and the Abei aren't green at all. That's the easiest way I can tell you the difference between them. Now that I know I don't have a Fang's puffer, I want to get one. Of course, now that I want one, there aren't any available!!! (I was asked if I wanted some a few months ago, but back then I thought I had a Fang's puffer, so I didn't think I needed one ... figures I'd miss out again).