The Puffer Forum

Hi all,
Twice I've written a two page update, which was lost when the forum asked me to log in again again when I hit the post button. I can only take so much one finger typing on a IPad in a day so our story will have to wait.
Regardless, we will be puffer owners again in about 2 weeks.
Christmas blessings to all of you and your fishy friends.
Robert and Anne

Hoboy, sorry you keep losing that! Type it out in Word & save it 1st! Welcome back!

Welcome!! What kind of puffer will you be getting?

Welcome back.. look forward to the story

Welcome back

Meet no-name-yet, a 5.75" Cyclichthys orbicularis (Orbicular Burrfish) just after release. He was sniped from diver's den almost immediately after listing Monday and shipped from LiveAquaria boxed at 5pm last night arriving 10:30am in Maine, a 16.5 hour trip. Water temperature very close to aquarium, so we dumped him in.

Just kidding. After two hours acclimation using the floating bag water addition method S/he was released. Puffed during a couple bag water additions and once in the tank after net-less transfer in a small Tupperware to avoid the risk of swallowing air. Gill actions normal, both sides. Still very shy. Watches the two Damsel residents. Would not be surprised if they were gone tomorrow morning. Or not. Some ppl have trouble getting this species to eat. This is true of other Burrfish, but I suspect the problem occurs due to feeding unaccustomed foods. We never had puffers refuse freshly opened live clams or small live shellfish. We can get live Maine Lobster for $3 each US, but have never tried Lobster meat as a freshly killed food since we lived in Washington State when we owned puffers in the past.

[image removed, a much better one a couple posts down]

Robert

Edit: fixed the genus name. ~Anne

He/She is very cute

Here is part of our fish keeping background story.
In 2008 I (Robert) got a job out of state and we couldn't move our fish.

Our Burmese Puffers, Spud(nick) and (Dic)tator, were given to a lfs in Kent, Washington where they were put in a large spherical show tank as their permanent new home. Sadly Loki, our Fahaka puffer, was too mean to be in a tank with any other fish, so he was put up for sale and sold immediately.

Loki pic


Anyone who thinks Oscars and Cichlids are vicious, has never seen Loki. Loki was about 12" when he went into a tank with an 18" Pleco. Every morning there would be a few new teeth marks on the Plecos armor plating. The Pleco didn't seem to be harmed and the marks disappeared in a day or two, but we worried that Loki might get stabbed by one of the Pleco's spines. The attacks usually occurred at night but on the couple of occasions we saw one, when Loki bit the Pleco it would knock him back explosively. After a couple weeks things didn't get better so we had to move the Pleco.

Update on the new arrival.

His initial shyness is gone and he is exploring the tank. We've got new pictures and will post them soon.

We may offer him a tiny bit of crab leg of fresh clam later tonight. We don't want to offer him/ her much until the bio filter catches up with the increased fish load, but we don't want to starve him/ her either. To this end, we put some crushed coral on top of the wet-dry diffuser filter material from a mature tank, added a couple pieces of cured live rock, and put a bottle of BIO-Spira in the tank. Hopefully we won't see an an ammonia rise from the added load.

Struggling to find a name. I, Robert, think he is a boy, Anne says girl. I think we should arm wrestle to settle it, but Anne wrestles horses when she trains them for a living and I have a desk job. There is a risk. Anyone know how to sex an Orbicular Burrfish?

Robert

New pic! 6 hours after acclimation:


*She* is swimming around and seems almost to be begging for food. Which isn't impossible, since they must have fed her at Diver's Den. She looks like she's in great shape.

~Anne, trying half-heartedly to get my account back (it's the one with the gallery)

Look at those eyes... great shot

GSP32 wrote:Look at those eyes... great shot

Obviously nocturnal, and the common name, Orbicular Burrfish, is a good fit. We are experimenting with the photos. The color isn't orange but includes both orange and yellow, and isn't blue or purple, but there is some of both.

Yes, wonderful clear shot!
goad to hear you're back in the pufferkeeping business. She looks great! I'd go ahead & deworm her, as soon as she's eating well.

Pufferpunk wrote:Yes, wonderful clear shot!
goad to hear you're back in the pufferkeeping business. She looks great! I'd go ahead & deworm her, as soon as she's eating well.

Doesn't Diver's Den worm them, or are you suggesting as a matter of good practice. I know wild caught fish are notorious for parasite infestation.
-R

Especially, the burrfish species. They often have to be dewormed with different meds, several times.