Potato puffer/Tetraodon suvatii

[Jason_S]

THESE ARE THEM!!!!!!!!!! yay!! yes, congo puffer

the top pic looks to me like an Arrowhead/Pignose puffer....aka Tetraodon suvatti. the second pic is a Congo puffer (T. miurus).

 

[Pufferpunk]

Is it a ring or a spot/marking? Arrowheads have a spot near their tail sometimes (depending on their mood). What color is your puffer?

I wouldn't put all those (ghost shrimp?) in your tank, as they aren't very nutricious on their own (mostly water). They need to be gut-loaded with something nutricious (I like algae wafers, so my puffers get their veggies) & that can't be done in a tank like that. It will also increase the bioload a great deal, to add that many bodies if the puffer didn't eat them right away. Another thing, you shouldn't engorge a puffer w/food.

 

[hellohefalump]

ahah!

this is EXACTLY what they look like! I did a google image search on 'Tetraodon suvatti' and found loads of them! yay! i have id'd my puffer!

They need to be gut-loaded with something nutricious

are they freshwater shrimp? Could I set up a small tank to keep shrimp in and feed them on algae wafers before giving them to the puffer? I wouldn't just feed shrimp, I'd give all sorts of stuff like cockles, mussel, bloodworm... it's just that the shop does 15 live river shrimp for a pound.

 

[hellohefalump]

found this... interesting stuff! seems like a great fish! *very excited*

The Tetraodon suvatii, commonly sold in the aquarium trade as the arrowhead puffer, Mekong puffer, pig-nose puffer or hog-nose puffer, is one of the most vicious of all puffers. The suvatii is rapidly growing in popularity due to the observable butchery involved in its natural eating habits. However popular this fish may be, it is also highly misunderstood due to the scarcity of information available surrounding the entire Tetraodon species. The suvatii can be and often is a difficult fish to keep and for those unfamiliar with puffer fish in general it is not a good introductory choice.

The suvatii is an average sized fish that grows to a maximum of six inches at full maturity. This specimen is collected from rivers in the Mekong basin of Southeastern Asia, Thailand and Laos making this fish an exclusively freshwater specimen. The suvatii lives in freshwater rivers where there are often muddy and rocky substrates. The native riverine environment of this fish consists of clean, constantly moving, oxygenated water. The aquarist should do closely replicate these conditions in aquaria. This is best accomplished with a high level of aeration and filtration along with weekly 50% water changes. It is extremely important to keep optimum water conditions as this fish is a very messy eater and produces a large bio-load compared to its size. Doing weekly water changes at 50% along with weekly gravel cleaning, the parameters of the tank will remain consistent and eliminate any stress to the fish. Eliminating stress will increase immune function, decreasing the likelihood of contracting bacterial or parasitic disease. Water parameters should remain constant at readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and under 20ppm nitrate. The T. suvatii is a relatively long-lived and hardy fish, rarely developing bacterial or parasitic infection and wounds heal rather quickly. When instances that may require medical treatment arise, it is not permitted to treat this fish with copper-based medications. All puffers are extremely sensitive to medications as a whole and should be avoided if at all possible.

In the wild, the T. suvatii is a specialized hunter, feeding on other fish. The puffer is an extremely effective hunter, who uses the stealth method to surprise and catch its prey. Burrowing down into the substrate, the suvatii waits for his next meal to pass over its nose, at which time it leaps from the sand and devours the animal in one quick motion. Small fish are devoured immediately, with violent chewing movements in the whole. Larger prey fish are first killed, often times disemboweled or chewed in half and then gradually eaten. The suvatii is almost always successful in their hunting strategy and their strong teeth optimize their attack.

In aquaria however, the T. suvatii must be trained to accept frozen foods, as it’s main staple. This is necessary due to the increasingly poor conditions most fish are kept in at many local fish stores. These conditions are consistently worse for "feeder fish" and can be detrimental to the puffer when feeding from these fish. The conditions in which feeder fish are predominantly kept are such that parasites and bacteria are abundantly present. The T. suvatii, along with all other puffer fish, are scale less and without gill covers, making them a prime target for parasitic and bacterial infection. Due to the possible illnesses resulting in the feeding of fish to the suvatii, it is essential to quarantine any and all fish that will become a meal to the puffer. The quarantine period should last for at least a week, with any medications or treatments performed during this period, to ensure proper health and quality of the live food. Feeder fish should not be a staple diet for the T. suvatii but may be given as a treat on occasion, and only after a proper quarantine period.




It may be difficult to train the T. suvatii to take frozen or "dead" foods, but it is crucial to the health of the specimen that its owner do so. Tying a piece of thread around a fat juicy shrimp and lightly bouncing the shrimp close to the snout of the fish, capturing the suvatti’s attention with movement of the food, is a great way to achieve this. Other methods of training include the use of tongs or forceps to gently wave the piece of food close to the fish’s mouth. Depending on the temperament of the specimen it may be enough movement to capture its interest by simply adding the food to the current of the filter inside the tank.

During feeding time, the puffer will shoot to the surface and hastily guzzle down large amounts of food, usually causing the fish to double its size. Due to these large feedings, this fish should not be fed every day. The feeding structure of this fish should consist of feedings every other day, while the specimen is less than four inches in size and once a week at four-six inches. During these feedings, the suvatii should receive any of the following foods, krill, shell on shrimp, crab legs, crayfish, live or frozen mussels, live or frozen clams, live crabs, live ghost shrimp.

When feeding ghost shrimp it is important to gut load them first. Ghost shrimp are not of great nutritional value and by gut loading them important nutrients are added to the benefit of the puffer. Gut loading consists of feeding the ghost shrimp a healthy dose of nutritional foods before feeding the shrimp to the puffer. Foods that are good for this are flake, crab pellets, algae wafers, and many other foods of high nutritional value.

Foods that are unusually high in protein or not related to foods that the puffer eats in the wild are not permitted. Foods such as beef heart, red meat and chicken may contribute to the development of a fatty liver or cirrhosis of the liver, which will essentially kill the fish over time.

Due to their specialized nature as piscivores, this fish should not be kept with any other fish, as the suvatii will not hesitate to make a meal of the fish. When the T. suvatii is presented with an intruder to their territory, it reacts immediately with great persistence, first staring intently at the intruder. When the confrontation ensues in open waters, the suvatii charges the intruder with a threateningly lowered head. The suvatii then opens its mouth and swims slowly towards the intruder. In many cases this behavior is sufficient enough for the offending fish to leave. When the offending fish does not leave after this display, the T. suvatii positions its broadside toward the offending fish and inflates its body. Menacingly, the inflated puffer then swims in a zigzag pattern in front of the offending fish. The head is lowered and the suvatti’s mouth open with the strong sharp teeth displayed. After the display of inflation and warning, the puffer will attack to afflict the offending fish with serious wounds.

It is however, possible to successfully keep conspecifics and similar with this puffer and to successfully breed them. The meeting of conspecifics results in a display of both fish horizontally flattening themselves out and inflating while lowering their heads toward each other while they slowly swim in a circle around each other after which they retreat to their own territories with no damage to either fish. A large, heavily decorated tank with plenty of broken lines of sight and multiple territories helps to keep aggression between tank mates to a minimum. The T. suvatii has been successfully bred in captivity as far back as 1973 by Patrik Recher and is recorded as the first of the Tetraodon species to spawn in aquaria. Although spawning has been observed, there is no recorded evidence of sexually dimorphic characteristics in this fish. The spawning takes place after a courtship in which the male and female perform a dance together. The male fans the eggs while waiting for them to hatch.

The temperament of the T. suvatii in aquaria is commonly quite pleasant toward its owner. This usually inactive fish will quickly swim to the glass to great its owner and beg for food, thrashing around at the surface. While performing tank maintenance, the aquarist should be mindful of his/her fingers, as they resemble the movement of a potential meal to the suvatii. It may be necessary to capture the suvatii in a net while performing any maintenance so as to prevent injury to the aquarist.

The Tetraodon Suvatii is a distinctively appealing fish for the experienced aquarist, who respects its natural power and peculiarity. Hobbyists will be delighted to keep such a maliciously miraculous specimen.

By Heather Cooan

 

[Pufferpunk]

Very good article! If the shrimp are see-thru, then yes, they are FW.

 

[hellohefalump]

yay! I'm going to set up a little tank for shrimp quarentine/gut loading.

 

[hellohefalump]

this is where they live in the wild:

It is the Mekong river in Thailand. Does anyone know the hardness/ph/temp etc? The lfs says they are living in hard water at the moment and seem to be alright in it.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Hardness-doesn't matter. Temp-regular tropical temps (77-80). Substrate-2-3" sand (enough to burrow in), but must be thoroughly stirred every weekly water change, to prevent anerobic pockits (toxic bacteria) from developing. PH-neutral, but can adjust.

 

[keane]

well, since none of the brackish puffers look like angry brown rocks, you should be safe on that one.

good shout Pica!!!

they really do look like angry brown rocks!!!

steve

 

[hellohefalump]

well... my tank arrived, and I've set it up with sand substrate (tonnes keep enough to burrow it!). I filled the tank with 50% old tank water and 50% cold tap water - I was doing a water change on another tank so I just dumped all the old water into the new tank. I replaced about 1/3 of the new filter media with established media from another tank.

When the temparature is steady I'm going to put some mollies in from another tank and leave them there for a week. Obviously I'll take them out again before I add the puffer.

Is this enough time to cycle the tank for the puffer, or should I give it another few weeks?

Now... what shall I call him/her?
Ideas so far:
Spud - cos he's like a potato
Rocky - angry brown rock
Argus - after Argus Filch in Harry Potter.

 

[SirMinion]

As it's an arrowhead puffer, and arrows are used in archery, how about calling your puffer 'Archie'?
Arrows are kept in a quiver, so how about naming it 'Quiver'?
Arrows are shot from a bow, so how about 'Beau'?
Cavemen made arrowheads out of rocks and he's both an arrowhead and an angry rock, so how about 'Flint'?

Or as it's a tetraodon murius, how about 'Muriel'? (ignore this suggestion!)

 

[Pufferpunk]

My arrowhead's name was Hannibal, cause he bit thru his bag & the bag of the puffer floating next to it to eat it! My red murius' name is Punkster, Punky for short.

It depends on how large the puffer you are getting is. It will probably produce a much larger bioload than a few mollies. Why not just cycle w/Bio-Spira?

 

[hellohefalump]

Or as it's a tetraodon murius, how about 'Muriel'?

he's a murius not a suvatii? Isn't murius the congo puffer and suvatii the arrowhead? I've definately established he's an arrowhead not a congo, have I got the names mixed up? *holds head and runs around in circles*

Cavemen made arrowheads out of rocks and he's both an arrowhead and an angry rock, so how about 'Flint'?

I like!

the list is now:
Spud - cos he's like a potato
Rocky - angry brown rock
Flint -Cavemen made arrowheads out of rocks and he's both an arrowhead and an angry rock

It depends on how large the puffer you are getting is. It will probably produce a much larger bioload than a few mollies.

What if I used lots of mollies instead of a few? I've got eleven sailfin mollies (assorted sizes - only four are full grown) in total in all my tanks put together, I could also throw in five danios...

Why not just cycle w/Bio-Spira?

Do they sell them in England? *being dumb* how do they work?

My arrowhead's name was Hannibal, cause he bit thru his bag & the bag of the puffer floating next to it to eat it!

WOAH!

 

[SirMinion]

No, sorry, he's not a murius, I'm tired and had a momentary brain freeze. Ignore that suggestion!

I'm glad you like 'Flint' though

 

[hellohefalump]

oh right! *lol* you had me confused there!