The Puffer Forum

This question is mainly for people who work/have worked at a LFS before. I was at a LFS the other day and I asked him if he could special order fish. He said yes, but when I said puffers he started talking really fast about how he can't get in Mbu puffers because they're too expensive to feed (I think, it was hard to understand him. He had a really thick accent.) After that, I asked about Figure Eights, which he was fine about, but then I asked about SAP's and he freaked again, saying that they were really hard to get or something (once again, I'm not entirely sure, thick accent). So basically I'm just wondering if there are any difficult processes needed for getting SAP's or if they're just difficult to get, etc.

Ours rarely has SAPs but they almost always have DPs, F8s, GSPs, porcs, dogfaces, etc. Even had a mbu a few weeks ago but it didn't survive, and they currently have baileyis (only saw one there last time).

I've never seen a sap in an lfs.

Bah. I can't find them online anywhere or in any stores. But I'm not entirely sure I would want to deal with teeth trimming on that scale, either.

I've seen them at Old Town Aquarium & Living Sea.

I bought one from my LFS once but he got sucked into my filter because I had lost the intake cover thingy.

Yeahhh. I guess theyre not as plump as some other puffers so it was easier for it to happen... Did get a cover on it after that, though.

I'm trying to convince my parents to get a big aquarium for the house (told them I'd clean and feed, but it would be "theirs" [i wouldn't have to pay for any of it]), and I would LOVE to put a group of SAPs in there. If I could find them anyway.

A single SAP would be very hard to take care of, with the teeth care and all...are you sure you want a group of them?

Puffer supplies seems to go in waves... I've seen SAP's show up out of nowwhere then disappear for months again. Right now, there seems to be a huge amount of modestus puffers on the market, a fish I've rarely seen in stores before.

I'm guessing it has something to do with breeding habits and how they are caught in the wild, or where the supplier happens to be "hunting" at that time of the year.

I can't even imagine trying to catch an entire "herd" of SAP's to trim their teeth. They swim a heck of a lot faster than you think they can!

haha well I've just heard that they seem to do a lot better in groups rather than on their own.