The Puffer Forum

So I've seen some marine puffers in LFS around here. And I've seen Dwarf puffers. And I've seen F8's, GSP's, and a colosmus asellus (the common name slips me). But today when I went up to the LFS at which I "work" (read: scrub algae), I saw one in the freshwater section that must have come in a recent shipment which I recognized and which I had never seen around the LFS. I couldn't see it too well since it was hanging out at the back of the tank, lying on the gravel, this (well, by lack of other description) "ugly" brown blob. It was probably around 3" in length. I asked what kind it was but the store is mainly marine and the guy who ordered the freshwater wasn't in. Looking in the galleries, I have deduced it is either T. baileyi or T. suvatti. I am leaning towards baileyi because of the shape and I think I remember seeing the "hairs".

How uncommon are these guys? What are they priced at? I was a bit excited because I had never seen one in person before.

Around here the hairy friends are non-existent so far as I have seen. The T. suvatti show up with some regularity and are not chep, but not astronomic. The T. baleyi are much more expensive as special order arond here, with no sizes stated.

I'm going to try to get a ride up there this week to return the seaclone skimmer they sold me (didn't open it - impulse buy but atleast had the sense to read up on them before I opened it). I'll ask about the puffer, and a price and stuff.

seaclones arent terrible skimmers, if you can afford a better skimmer then I would go with that. I use a seaclone on my 55 gal, and it works fine, you just have to makea bubblecatcher out of some filter floss and a rubber band.


-John

RTR wrote:Around here the hairy friends are non-existent so far as I have seen. The T. suvatti show up with some regularity and are not chep, but not astronomic. The T. baleyi are much more expensive as special order arond here, with no sizes stated.

RTR, they are existant in MD just not cheap... I saw how much they were running for at wholesale and WHOA! These guys I can tell you will be running at about $200 each atleast.

Yup, when I asked, I was told I could get one or more, but the price was too much. No wonder they are not seen in stores.

Don't worry. I'm sure WalMart will have them for sale soon, right next to the GSP section.

EVIL

Just statin' the facts ma'am!

I know, that's why it's so evil...

RTR wrote:Yup, when I asked, I was told I could get one or more, but the price was too much. No wonder they are not seen in stores.

Saw one for the first time today. Aquarium Center had an emaciated one come in on its new shipment (today) aswell as a brown congo. I tried to barter with the guys about getting them for a cheaper price cause they were both new/sick but the guy said it was up to the manager...and he was out to lunch... So sadly I think 2 puffs are gonna be going to the porcelin grave in a day or two...