The Puffer Forum

After a recent conversation about Congo puffers (T miurus), and thinking about when I acquired my Biscuit, I am beginning to wonder if he's not stunted. Does anyone have any ideas about the growth rate of Congo's ? I bought Biscuit last year, sometime around summer I think (will find out exact date tomorrow) - and he was very small when I got him. His appetite has always been good and he is very keen on eating my guppies that I breed for my piscivore puffers, but he will take other foods too (unlike my other Congo). His body is nice and rounded, not thin in any way.

The thing is, Biscuit doesn't seem to be growing much. He did get bigger initially, but he seems to have stopped growing. He's never been cramped since being with me, but I was talking with doraemon, and I mentioned that Biscuit came from Wildwood's. Well I've never been to Wildwood's personally, I've only done mail-order with them, but doraemon has been there and she tells me that they keep their puffers (even the bigger ones) in very small tanks. She even described them as being like the small little tanks that Betta fish are kept in. So I'm now wondering, could it be possible that Biscuit might have been stunted before I got him?

I'm just unsure. I mean, I guessed that he was young when I first got him due to his size, but what if he wasn't young? How do you tell? Thinking about how long I've had him and the fact that he's not grown much at all in that time, just has me wondering. My other Congo, Orangey, well I think he's pretty much his maximum size, or very close to it. Shame there's not some guide you can go by to determine age on this cute little puffers.

Even if Biscuit doesn't grow, I will still love him. He's one little fish-eating machine that's for sure. I put 5 guppies (a couple medium and 3 very small) into his tank yesterday, and today they are all gone, compared with Orangey who doesn't seem that interested in the fish, and will only take one every so often.
Just another aspect of pufferlife to ponder.

I have to say I reluctantly bought Smooch from Wildwoods and although I can't answer your question, their tanks they keep the puffs in are indeed very dull and tiiiiiny

I like to think I rescued Smooch from his hell and brought him home to a worthy tank, but I don't know if they can be stunted. Like the goldfish theory perhaps?
I don't know how long Smooch had been in the tank but he is tiny too and I am told he'd only been in the little display tank for a week. I do know their stock tends to deplete rapidly through the shops (puzzling) popularity. Maybe it's because they get rare fish in that they sell so rapidly...everyone wants them.
I wonder if puffers are like us and that genetics play a part in size?

when i tried to order a fahaka thru wildwoods, they were charging a whopping £40 on top of the price of the fahaka for shipping.

in the end, i had to be refunded as i didnt live on mainland UK.

you think they could/would treat their fish better while in the shop, as they do sell alot of them and make profit from them.

the better care they give their fish, the better shape they are in when sold to the public.

While I do think it sad that there puffers are in little cubes and not allowed to swim much, are the cubes actually bowls, or are they on a connected filtration system?

It could be a lesser-of-two-evils thing. While it sucks for them not to be able to swim about much, if there is a total of 30 gallons of shared water between the puffers, isn't it better for them to be in separate little cubes where they won't be biting each other all the time and each get their full share of food, rather than having twenty of them in a single tank of the same size like most stores keep their puffs?

Well yes, you do have a point Nick, but it's still sad to think of a biggish puffer stuffed into a little cube. I've not been there myself, but I think it's a tank with dividers in it. And yes, it is better that they not be hurting each other, but on the other hand, don't you think that it would be nice for a 6" Mbu to be allowed to move about a bit more than what a Betta tank allows? Now I'm just going by what my friend told me from her visit, but it didn't sound very nice.

A week of cramped quarters won't hurt them one tiddly bit. Poor water quality or aggressive tankmates could kill them.

Highly unlikely that a week or two in a cube won't stunt them. The growth inhibiting hormone shouldn't have that profound of an affect that rapidly in that small of a fish. If we were talking MBU or Fahaka there would be concern. It all has to do with the amount of dilution proportional to the size of fish. If there was an continuous exposure I'd worry but in a case like this I'd find it highly unlikely.

I believe jennybugs smooch had only been there a week but there has been other puffers like a mbu and fahakas in the same tiny tanks with little turning space or non at all, ive spoken to people who work there and specifically ask how long some of their puffers (mbu & fahakas) have been there and one time a girl said to me the 6inch mbu had been there for about 6 weeks!! with no turning space! there was one red congo about 5inches in one of those cubes..no substrate no nothing and had been there for 2months and it looked so sad..the last time i was there,there was a palembang about 6inches with worms on its fin,uneaten food that had gotton mouldy and had fungus in it..its tank was also full of poop..yes they must use a central filtering system but they obviously dont clean their tanks very well..

Wildwoods is well known to get very rare species and can order at request but that doesnt mean they know how to care for puffers or other rare species.

Wharf aquatics on the other hand wins many awards and their puffers are usually in much bigger tanks than wildwoods and the people who work there are very knowledgeable and helpful..they also quarantine new arrivals themselves and i have never seen a dead fish or sick fish from there.

PPG had her congo before me and when i first aquired ziva everyone saw her skinny she was and with some tlc Ziva is much more healthier i would say fat lol but when i saw Biscuit i was puzzled on how small she seemed in length compared to ziva...ziva has grown 2inches in length shes now approx 3.5inches not including tail..but biscuit altho healthy looking in width is much smaller in length thats why i think Biscuit could possibly be stunted..

PPG had Biscuit by mail order she has no clue in how long biscuit was under wildwoods care and even if she asked them will they tell her the truth?? most experienced fish sales personell will say last week or 2 weeks ago to make sure they sell the fish and the guy that deals with the mail order is also the manager i believe.

why i believe jennybugs smooch was only there for a week is because 2 or 3 weeks prior to her getting smooch there was no congos there and i even asked about it as it was listed on their website that they had one in stock..i check their stocklist frequently and they never had any in stock up until jennybugs brought hers..therefore smooch is very lucky that jennybugs found her

IMO all larger fish ordered in smaller numbers should get their own 10 gallon tanks, just to protect the value of the fish...

To add, Wildwoods don't just have one puffer in each of the cubes at times. Smaller puffers like C. lorteti, for example, were in the same cube so there is even less space for them

That's too tight period. I do think the cubes are conceptually a good idea though... if you have a ten gallon and 6 GSPs, one each in 6 cubes might be more boring for them, but at least they'd be less injured and stressed, and nobody would be bullied out of food.