The Puffer Forum

I just got a mekong puffer in my 55 gallon planted tank. its been about 2 weeks and he seems to love his new home. I have been doing a lot of research on the fish and every photo i have found they are brown with some whiteish spots on them. Mine is green with black spots and looks way cooler! Is this normal? do they change color as they get older? my substrate is gravel but he has plenty of hiding spots. When i can borrow a decent camera and will post some pics (hopefully tomorrow). Also my puffer eats well but im never sure if i feed him enough or too much. What is a good way to keep consistent feeding habits? any info will help! thanks!

Welcome to the forum!! Can't wait to see the pics!

Please give that fellow some sand to burrow in! They are ambush predators. It's not natural for this fish not to be able to bury itself.

he buries himself in the gravel, its pretty fine gravel. pics to come a little later today

I couldnt find anyone who had a good camera so i used my sport camera (which sucks) but you can see how cool he is!

is that Monotrete Cochinchinensis?

ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/T_Cochinchinensis/

dont think so LFS guy said mekong aka arrowhead +a milli different names. he has the arrow on his head but i guess they change to the surroundings. he fits the profile of Tetraodon suvattii. He very inactive, doesnt like tankmates ( ate my plecco RIP). Ambush hunting style, he like to change up his hiding spots and comes out when he is hungry. Anywho i personally think he way cooler than all the other mekongs ive seen =P. One more question are these guys prone to teeth growth? we put some snails the LFS gives us but doesnt really mess with them too much, but he did eat one of my assassin snails ( had 2).

was looking around and it kinda looks like a T. Turgidus
ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/T_Turgidus/

ahhh ok ...

The colors were different that's why I thought it looked similar to the fangs puffer

Not to worry, that isn't a burrower. I was thinking of a different puffer when you said Mekong.

sm1353 wrote:dont think so LFS guy said mekong aka arrowhead +a milli different names. he has the arrow on his head but i guess they change to the surroundings. he fits the profile of Tetraodon suvattii. He very inactive, doesnt like tankmates ( ate my plecco RIP). Ambush hunting style, he like to change up his hiding spots and comes out when he is hungry. Anywho i personally think he way cooler than all the other mekongs ive seen =P. One more question are these guys prone to teeth growth? we put some snails the LFS gives us but doesnt really mess with them too much, but he did eat one of my assassin snails ( had 2).

was looking around and it kinda looks like a T. Turgidus
ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/T_Turgidus/

He looks just like a brown puffer (T. Turgidus) rather then an Arrowhead puffer aka Mekong (Tetraodon suvattii). From what I seen in the pics of brown puffer's, they also have a marking on top of their head. Another member here while back bought a brown puffer that looks just like yours.

That is either Monotrete Cochinchinensis or Monotrete Turgidus, impossible to tell from the pics, from the coloration I would say more Turgidus. A lot of puffers are called Mekong puffers as thats where they are caught. They also have a kind of arrow shaped marking on their head but are very different to Monotrete Suvattii which is commonly known as the arrowhead puffer.

ah thanks for all the answers im going with Monotrete Turgidus. this place seems really helpful and really friendly, hopefully i can be as helpful in the future. thanks again.