The Puffer Forum

I finally got to pick them up today!! When I went to get them, I asked that they be caught with the bag rather than netted. The guy helping me said sure, and then Lillian went and tried to bite him. Once they were in bags side-by-side, I got my first really good look at them.

Lillian is smaller with fewer cirri (she's about 3"), while Phillip is about a half inch longer and a little bigger around with noticeably more cirri (keep in mind that since they can't be sexed with any degree of certainty, I'm just going with the one with less hair being female). Lillian (Lil) is a pretty pink and dark grey, while Phillip (Phil) is darker.

Once they were put into the 55g, they started showing different personalities. Phil is quite the busybody, wandering all over the tank, swimming through the shrubbery, constantly on the move. Lil sank like a stone and turned into a rock. She's moved about a bit, but very, very slowly. However, within 5 minutes of being put in the tank, she'd eaten a guppy fry already! So far, she's had three and nearly had a ghost shrimp as well. She hasn't been chasing any, but any that come near her are fair game.

The LFS said they'd been eating frozen worms, krill, mysis shrimp, etc., so feeding shouldn't be too much of a problem. Planning on feeding them mainly frozen shell-on shrimp as a staple, with other things occasionally too.

Now to convince hubby to move the sofa and TV in there and the kids furniture and TV in here, so I can stay in there and watch them and Justin, the palembang.

Nice one Tina, got any pics of them in your tank yet.

Unfortunately, I loaned my camera to a coworker so she could take pics of her motorcycle she's trying to sell. Won't be able to get pics until Monday night.

Update: Lil has become very active. She's got a rather large tummy now, as I just tried to see if she'd eat some frozen shell-on shrimp. Not a problem! She tore into it. I let her eat a couple of bites but then took it away, as I don't want her to overeat. Phil just looked at it. He's now taking to resting on some of the plants. Nearly gave me a heart attack though, he was laying sideways between a plant and the glass and I thought he'd puffed up! I tore open the tank and reached down and he rolled over. Damn, he must have eaten before I got him today. He doesn't look like he's overeaten, but he's definitely been well-fed.

Justin still hasn't eaten any shrimp. I'm not feeding him anything else, even though hubby wants to throw more guppies in for him. Figure if he gets hungry enough, he'll eat. He hasn't eaten in a couple of days now so hopefully soon.

Sounds like you have some fun, fascinating fish!

I'm so pleased with them! Phil has finally found his cave and is now snuggled up in there. Lil, silly bugger that she is, is actually laying ON TOP of her cave! Phil's color lightened up a bit, too. He's pink but a little darker than Lil. Man, I really hope they live. Can't see why they wouldn't, the tank is cycled and I took my time acclimating them. I'll be heartbroken if I lose one though.

Congrats!
No sign of aggression beetween them?

Waiting for pics...

Nope, not a smidge of aggression. Of course that could be because there's a divider. They share the tank but not space. At that price, there's no way I'm risking it!

Awww...
Suspecting that T. baileyi might be breedable,
and would really like some data on sexing them.

You planning to remove the divider at some point (if all goes well)?

I'd like to try. We figured we'll let them get settled in and establish their territories so they don't fight over the same cave. Then in a month or so, depending on what we see of their personalities in the meantime, we'll remove the divider for short periods of time while we're home and can watch, hopefully eventually being able to leave it out permanently.

They were housed in the same tank by the first girl who had them. THREE of them were in a 20g! These two apparently were getting along but both were harassing the third one so she gave the third one to someone else, then decided she couldn't take care of these two so she took them back. So I'm hopeful that they'll be okay with each other.

Sensible approach.
Be sure to have a camera present when you try to pair them.

Good luck!

I wonder if I'd be able to tell that they were mating and not trying to kill each other. For some reason, I'm picturing Klingon mating rituals.

Mating behaviour will probably be something close to that of the Arrowhead.
(Just educated guesswork.)

Well, that's like saying its somewhat like the mating behavior of yeti, as I've never seen either.

My esteemed friend and colleague Mistah Rocker posted this link some time ago.

Click here to watch Suvattii's mating.