The Puffer Forum

Today at my local fish store i saw two marked "fahaka" puffers. Looks as if they are starting to have red spotting though. could they possibly be a pustulatis? my local fish store owner is almost positive the one is and i am currently having him hold it for it. It appears to have both characteristics of a fahaka and a pustulatis. Does any one have any info on small pustulatis or pictures so i can see and compare?

I think a lot of cross rivers turn out to be fahakas. You willing to take the risk?

I would love to have a cross river. Best of luck

Well i am good friends with the owners.. and he used to have almost every species of puffer in his basement tanks(he currently has about 50+ with a variety of rare plecos) and he said he is almost sure its a pustulatis and he is going to keep it on hold for me until he finds out and is 100 percent sure.

DNA analysis? That's the only way to know

you mean there is no one that has had a cross river and a fahaka baby at the same time to compare? Or photo documentation of development?

I guess what i really want to know is that is there a very dramatic difference between a fahaka and pustulatis when they're young? I have owned baby fahakas before and this one seems to have similarities to a fahaka but it has developed slight reddish blotting and dots behind it's fins. I have found a picture on google. I'm not sure as to how big this pustulatis is, but i do know that this mysterious puffer doesn't have as prominent red markings as this guy in the picture. I just wish there was more info on young pustulatis puffers out there!

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... 13&bih=568

The one you just linked to is clearly a young T. lineatus in my opinion. Such spots are not rare on young T. lineatus.

Try a forum search for T. pustulatus (which is the proper spelling) and you'll find a lot about how to differentiate them, and also a lot of discussion if they are a separate species at all.

Sorry about the spelling error. I think i am picking up the puffer this friday and am i going to watch it grow over a few months. It resembles the picture i linked above and even if it is a young Fahaka with red spotting it will be a cool addition to my collection of puffers. Corvus do you have any knowledge as to if the red spotting becomes more prominent or fades with age?

No problem with the spelling for me, but the search engine of the forum will only get you useful threads if the name is spelled right.

The red spots turned into lines at all T. lineatus and T. pustulatus I know.

Here are two threads with hopefully interesting information (and further links):
viewtopic.php?f=56&t=24162&p=262941
viewtopic.php?f=56&t=16616&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Well thank you Corvus, you've been very helpful about this all. My local fish store owner said it's mine for 40$ and i currently already own a full bred fahaka, but this one isn't as typical as mine was when it was young, so I am for sure buying it, turning it down would be a bad idea on my part wouldn't you think?

If you've got the room & the tank is cycled, go for it.

I didn't mean to indicate this fish was not worth buying it. I just wanted to point out, that it is reasonable to expect it to develop lines with time. If you like this fish and have the space go for it, species should not matter anyway.

With a freshwater species spread over the African continent that far, partly in river systems with little to no connection, it is probable that there are regional variants or even subspecies that look different.

I already have a 20 gal that's been cycling with a variety of live plants in it. I figure I'll throw this little guy in there for a couple months and then transfer him to a bigger tank i have.

Well i currently have this little fish swimming around in my 20 gal. planted tank, he shows both signs of both species of puffer. I measured the little guy yesterday, not even three inches long yet. I will wait for the next few months to see his development, he does have some very prominent red spots though around the dorsal fin area. approx about 4-5 reddish "dots" not lines. So i am hoping this is a good sign, even if he isn't a full bred pustulatus, he/she will still be awesome to raise! I'll post some pictures if anyone is interested in checking it out!

a fahaka grows very very fast, an inch a month. It needs to be in a 4x2 asap