The Puffer Forum

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone can help identify a puffer I bought at a fish auction for a local aquarium club. He's been in my brackish tank since March and seems healthy and happy. He was sold as an orange saddle fugu but doesn't look like the orange saddle fugu I see online.

I know buying a fish without researching first is a bad idea. Nobody seemed interested and I may have had a touch of auction fever.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Wow, cool puffer! My guess is some sort of Takifugu but my puffer book is packed.

Thank you! He is pretty cool. He's big too, about four inches. I think he's grown since I got him. He eats everything I put in the tank, especially raw shrimp. He burries himself in the sand at night and likes to play in it sometimes too. He kicks up little puffs of the sand.

I don't know much about any puffers other than GSPs and figure 8s so I appreciate your suggestion. I'll continue googling. I'll look forward to any ideas anyone has.

Irregular color morph of Takifugu ocellatus. The label was correct. I've seen them sometimes with such or comparable coloration.

http://i61.tinypic.com/13zvkop.jpg

Here are the normal and one like your puffer together with a GSP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2PdSDYCsp0#t=18

They are best kept in SW.

Thank you Corvus. That's definitely a much smaller version of him in the video. I feel like the morons who "rescue" bettas from Walmart. From what I've read (there's really not much info aside from speculation and people on forums repeating what bits of info they've seen on the internet) they come into brackish or fresh water to breed then head back to full salt water. That probably explains why he's done so well in my brackish tank. One site said they aren't reef safe and can't be with any other tank mates because everything will become lunch. On the same site (I think) it said these are the guys with the neurotoxin that kills diners if not prepared properly and that the toxin is also on their skin. Is that true for all puffers? I guess I better figure out something. Thanks so much for figuring out what he is!

I'm no expert, but he definitely looks like some kind of fugu to me. Interesting coloration, too.

Please also see here for some information on this species:
library/puffers-in-focus/takifuguocellatus/

Thank you! The site in your link says all puffers are poisonous. Interesting, I'll have to remember never to eat my GSP I watched some videos about the poisonous puffers they eat. Definitely not the same fish!

There's a lot of puffer species that are eaten. Takifugu ocellatus is just one of them.