Avacado Puffer

[ARXC08]

Hey just went to my LFS, usually filled with really unique fish but anyway i saw an avacado puffer. Been on this site for awhile and never heard anything about them. But of course they have bad help and don't know anything about the fish. They guy said he thinks its freshwater that thats about it. So just wondering are they freshwater or brakish and can they be kept in a ten gallon.

 

[SirMinion]

Although it's most commonly assosiated with tetraodon cutcutia, 'Avacado puffer' could refer to any one of half a dozen species, it's a fish store name that dosen't mean much.

Can you be more specific with a proper common name or better yet, a scientific name?

 

[ARXC08]

I pretty sure its not a tetraodon cutcutia. But here a picture of the avacado puffer I saw.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Umm... a bronze puffer, maybe? Thats what it looks like to me. try www.pufferlist.com (i think thats the address)

 

[Fella]

Looks like an auriglobus modestus to me. Not sure on the minimum tanksize but I think they get less active as they get older, and they're hunters, that chase their food till it tires out, then attacks it. Pretty feisty. They're also freshwater.

The pufferlist page for it is here - http/www.pufferlist.com/puffer/puffer2.php?puffid=0 a great place for all things puffer related.

 

[nmonks]

Well, if that's the fish you saw, AVOID. Possibly the nastiest pufferfish out there. A mean, short-tempered, aggressive, territorial, predatory, fin-nipping little bastard. Other than the fact they are psychotic, they're otherwise fine aquarium fish .

These puffers are in Ebert's Aqualog puffer book if you want to read up on them.

Cheers,

Neale

I pretty sure its not a tetraodon cutcutia. But here a picture of the avacado puffer I saw.

 

[SirMinion]

I pretty sure its not a tetraodon cutcutia. But here a picture of the avacado puffer I saw.

That picture is definately one of the auriglobus species some of which are freshwater and some are brackish.

As I said before, common names are useless. You need a proper name to be sure. Untill you ARE sure, steer well clear.

 

[nmonks]

SirMinion is of course correct, that there are several possible species in the genera Chonerhinus and Auriglobus. I, for one, find it very difficult to distinguish these at genus level, let alone species. You need to count the rays in the fins... not easy when they're alive and swimming about. Otherwise they are virtually identical.

Either way, these remain violently unpleasant fish, so whatever the fish, you're going to end up with just one, in its own tank, with no tankmates. I suppose a low salinity (SG 1.003) would be safe enough even with the freshwater species and perhaps enough for the brackish water ones. You'd have to see how the fish behaves and what its health is like before deciding whether to raise or drop the salinty.

There are very few fish that I would advise against keeping, but this is one of them.

Cheers,

Neale