The Puffer Forum

Hello everyone! I thought I would introduce myself.

I am new to fishkeeping as of March 2011. I dived into this hobby full throttle! I started off with a 10gallon tank where i put a few danios and guppies in. About a month later I loved the hobby sooo much that I purchased a 37g Tall. I moved the guppies and danios over to this big tank adding a few apple snails, nerites, clown pleco, and PLANTS (first planted tank!) From this point I started looking for things to stock my 10gallon with and literally stumbled across some dwarf puffers. I absolutely fell in love with my first one Piggy. He was by far the coolest fish I have ever owned. I loved the fact that he would chomp viciously on snails and super curious of my every move! I accidently scared him one morning because i ran into my bedroom with my hair up in a towel! I stopped at his tank and he came out to greet me.. and he ran and hid! So cute

Piggy died from what i think was internal parasites. He ate so super much all the time and stayed skinny winny. The fish store i bought him from likes to act like they know about puffers but they had no clue. Sad about my puffer I started researching other puffers I might like. I then ran across a Tetraodon Cutcutia at a fish store (whom i named Fluky because it was by fluke i found her!). I immediately had to have her. I brought her home and she shockingly laid eggs on one of my plants that night!! I was not ready for eggs yet so i let them get eaten. So i called the fish store back and asked if they still had the tank mate that was in her tank with her. They said yes so i ran and got him to.

I bought a 37gallon long and i'm in the process of setting it up for these guys. I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas or suggestions for me? I'm going to try to get them to breed again! all advice would be much welcome! I know about food and maintenance and all the basics, but any advice about breeding would be very helpful. Or even any suggestions for a name for the male would be helpful too!!
On the pictures the male is in the bag and Fluky is down below checkin him out

I'm afraid I have bed news. Most species of FW puffers don't play well together & there is a big chance they will kill each other. Especially if they are the same sex. But even if you have a pair, they may spawn but will still eventually start fighting. A lot of the killing happens overnight when you're not watching.

yes, I am aware of this.

I have it very heavily planted and they have determined their territories already. The two were tank mates in a zero planted tank for 2 weeks before i bought them and didn't kill each other.

I plan to put a divider in the 38 gallon as soon as i get it set up. I'm hoping the newness of it all will keep aggression down until I get their new tank set up this weekend.

So far the oto is still alive too. I have made a make shift breeder net incase i notice any nipping on the fins. I will move fluky to the breeder net until i can get the 38g up and going.

I have a plan... hopefully they will cooperate with my plan! lol

I have made a few observations though.. the male seems to be darker in color than the female. The male also has a very defined target spot on his sides. The female does not seem to exhibit this same target spot. She has a metallic green shimmer to her sides. They both have the red tipped tail though.

How do you know you have a male and female. The eggs that were laid were most likely unfertilized eggs.

I hope they cooperate until you get the new tank cycled and ready for them.

There was a fellow here who very closely documented his pair, including the many times they spawned. I believe they were together for quite some time before they killed each other.

I see a group of cutcutia's at my LFS. Most of their tails have been nipped off from biting each other. Its the same store that I bought mine from, but I ended up rehoming him at another LFS.

Even with a divider, your 37gal tank is on the small side for 2 cutcutias because they will rarely swim to the top portions of the tank. It would be big if you have a long tank vs a tall tank. You could try it, but I think you may end up setting up a new tank for both cutcutia in the future. That is what happened to me. I'm upgrading all of my puffer's tank to 36" long tank or longer. Its a pain.

yes, the new 38g is a long instead of tall..

I currently have the male in a DIY breeder box that is about 3x the size of a regular breeder box. I added plants and stuff in to make him more comfortable.

His tail is healing and he is finally eating. (Fluky nibbled at his tail quite a bit before i got him in the breederbox)

I couldn't find any information on sexing the two. I know i have a girl because Fluky laid eggs on one of the leafs of my plants. I know they were unfertalized because I had no male. They also got eaten because i have no male.

There was a guy that had visited the fish store before i got there and he said told the employee that it was a male because of the defining target spot. I was unaware that this is a way to sex them. I also know that the male is much darker than the female (if he was right about the two)

I will search up this post you are referring to about their breeding. Since they don't particularly get along I am wondering how I will get them to breed. Are you saying that they breed like angels where the female lays the eggs then the male fertalizes them? I know the male guards and fans them..... any advice is appreciated

They should be kept in separate tanks next to each other. they they show interest, put them together for spawning & keep a close eye on them. After this event occurs, move the female back into her tank.

I'm so jealous that your LFS had T. cutcutia! I would snap one up in a heartbeat if I ever saw one here.

Yes, i love my cutcutia! I am going to try to put them in the 38g with a see through divider in the middle. hopefully i can get them to spawn after a few months of being next to each other.

Make sure the divider is in there nice & tight. We want pics!