The Puffer Forum

I cant believe how gutted i am. got up this morning and did my usual rounds to the 4 tanks, livingroom, then the 125, then the Snail/Betta hospital tank. Lastly over to my pride and joys my 2 Salivators. Expecting to get the usuall heads poping out of Java ferns in interest to see if i was bringing food.

Nothing!!!

hmmm.....thought ok they are sulking, went for a shower etc...came back still nothing...panic

so running out of time as work was looming....then the males head pops up and appears "Hurrah"

still no female, cant see her anywhere, so last thing shirt rolled up and arm in tank moving bits of wood etc...still nothing, absolute panic now..


but i have no time left, have to goto work...so closing the tank and picking up towel i see a black thing on the ground between the Puffer tank and the 125.....wtf is that?

looking closer, cant believe it...............heart broken, its the female body dried up and dead!

How the hell did she get out of the tank?

im absolutely gutted

Sorry for your loss

Sorry for your loss! Salivators are so beautiful puffers.

Sorry for your loss. I can imagine how devistated you are.

Mary Anne

Aww, I'm sorry. Its amazing how they can get out of holes much smaller than you think they could.

As I was reading this I though the male had decided to kill her and then when I got to the end that is gutting especially since yours were still getting along.

My male jumped out once through a tiny gap, just blind luck I heard him flapping on the condesation tray.

Sorry to hear that.

That is a shocker, I feel for you deeply

Wow, sorry to hear that.

sorry about your loss.

...Sorry for your loss!

That so sucks for you....sorry to hear about it.

Thanks everyone, ive never been so attached to a fish as i was with her and still am with him.

Since the females death, the male has been colourless and very distant, so today i thought id completely overhaul his tank try to make it "his" rather than whats left over from when the 2 shared it. So i got some rather lovely Java Ferns and gave the tank a clean out, 50% water change and stuff.

Plopped the little fellow back in and my god, how his colours have come back, he is swimming about exploring the new plants and stuff...im rather happy he seems to be liking his new tank.

I need one more piece of wood and Java ferns and thatll be it i think.

Here is a quick (blurry) pic of the new tank, still needs something to the front right though...

I think the tank looks good, I love the pearling on the java

I'm so very sorry for your loss, I lost my beloved gsp Wasabi (also a jumper found to late) a couple weeks ago

DarkEntity wrote:Since the females death, the male has been colourless and very distant, so today i thought id completely overhaul his tank try to make it "his" rather than whats left over from when the 2 shared it. So i got some rather lovely Java Ferns and gave the tank a clean out, 50% water change and stuff.

Plopped the little fellow back in and my god, how his colours have come back, he is swimming about exploring the new plants and stuff...im rather happy he seems to be liking his new tank.

I wonder whether the male was just distracted away from his having expectations of seeing his female friend, or whether he might have "thought" that he was in a new area (of a river, say), where the female no longer was.

Please don't take my wondering about this too seriously, as I realise that there are too many as-yet unanswerable questions about the cognitive faculties of puffers (and other fish, and animals in general). However, do tell me your own thoughts on the matter, speculative or creative or empirically based on downright mystical as they may be.

How is the male doing now?