This puffer is either
Chelondon patoca or
Takifugu niphobles. Both a basically grey/brown with small white spots and dark patches across the back and flanks. Typically, the bands on
Chelondon patoca are complete and fairly thick, with one running from eye to eye, another across the pectoral fins, and another through the base of the dorsal fin. On
Takifugu niphobles these bands are often incomplete and commonly nothing more than a black spot on the base of each pectoral fin and another around the base of the dorsal fin. The band between the eyes may be absent. However, there are plenty of
Takifugu niphobles with well developed bands, and such specimens can look very like
Chelondon patoca. One distinctive feature of
Chelondon patoca is the presence of a yellowish region along the "throat" running along the lower half of the head. Because your specimen lacks this feature (as far as I can tell) my best guess is that this fish is
Takifugu niphobles.
Chelondon patoca is fairly big (~30 cm), hardy, and tolerant of both brackish and freshwater and may be kept at anything above SG 1.005. Some aquarists have found this species to be peaceful but others report it to be a fin-nipper. I'd tend to exercise caution before mixing this fish with things like scats or monos. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to be territorial and can be kept with other specimens of its own kind or other brackish water puffers.
Takifugu niphobles is really a marine fish and shouldn't be kept at less than SG 1.010 and preferably needs at least 1.012 over the long term. It can potentially get to 80 cm in length and cannot be kept at tropical temperatures for long, being a temperate zone fish. It's best kept at 20 degrees C or less. During the summer temperate zone fishes often suffer, dying from heat exhaustion because of the lack of oxygen in the water.
http
/filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/Speci...ary.php?id=6610
http/www.fishbase.org/summary/speciessummary.php?id=13077
Regardless of the species, unless keeping a fish-eating puffer, using feeder fish is unnecessary. Are you breeding the rosy red minnows? If not, you're merely introducing parasites and bacteria into the aquarium, and
Takifugu spp especially are well known for suddenly dying for "no apparent reason". Given that, using live feeder fish is a pointless risk. Instead, stick with snails, cockles, mussels, and unshelled prawns. With coldwater fish it is important not to overfeed them during the winter, and ideally let the tank cool down a bit so they can keep to a natural cycle. This is what people do with koi and goldfish in ponds, and it works well with coldwater marines, too.
The best mudskipper web site is probably Richard Mleczko's, here:
http/homepage.mac.com/nmonks/mudskippers/goby.htm
Mudskippers of the genera
Periophthalmus and
Periophthalmodon aren't difficult to keep. They will tolerate a wide range of salinities (though not freshwater) and are largely indifferent to water quality since they spend most of their time on land. So provided you have a covered tank with lots of land, high humidity, basic filtration, and brackish water between 1.005-1.015, there really isn't much more to worry about. All species are territorial, and some get quite large, so identify your 'skippers before purchasing them.
Cheers,
Neale
)
