Puffers

[chris_1127]

sorry if i've jumped to the wrong conclusion there then, guess i'd assumed wrongly it was aimed at me ) i 100% agree with your comment about taking advice at face value though, i always try and find out from people with actual experience of keeping the fish theyre talking about, as its often very easy for people to regurgitate info they've read about certain species without any practical experience themselves. i dont think you can do too much research before you put anything in your tanks personally. plus, no two setups are ever going to be the same as theres always the individual puffers personality to take into account too.

 

[Fish00]

oh... right.
great avatar sir
have to be british or irish to understand that though.

 

[dulcie]

Are all puffers brackish ?? i have a topaz and put him straight in a brackish as before i bought 2 fig 8's who died within days even though they were sold as freshwater i dont believe them ?? dont puffers swim downstream from fresh water to salt water as they get older and therefore are less likely to be able to tolerate freshwater as they get older was just wondering ??

 

[pica_nuttalli]

no, not all puffers are brackish. f-8s & fluviatilis like increasing salinity as they age, but dwarfs don't like salt at all.

what probably killed off your f-8's is improper acclimation, a very very easy thing to do when increasing salinity levels. i can't remember what a safe adjustment rate is, but i remember that its pretty slow. if you transfer a fish from purely freshwater to a medium brackish environment too quickly, osmotic pressures will become too great for its cells to control -- in other words, most of the water in its body will be drawn from it forcefully, resulting in damaged tissues and sudden dehydration.

too scary for me i don't have enough confidence in myself to run a brackish tank. i really admire anyone who can.

 

[dulcie]

I was VERY nervous putting my topaz in but the went into fresh water and i put a few grains in a day for a week and he is a happy little chap ! my lfs said parrot chichlids in but i dont like them as a fish so i am going to swap them back for 2 fig of 8s which are currently living in brackish. The y acclimatised them for me as my tank was already brackish and they suggested that was why the others died ! sO I am temporarily putting up with the parrots, they are so aggressive, i was putting the plants back into the gravel where they have wrecked the layout of the tank adn they wake me up spitting stones around !! So wont be buying them again, they are pretty but such aggresive fish !

 

[Pufferpunk]

You are not going to keep the F8s with the other puffer species are you? Which puffer exactally is the topaz? Common names are no good most of the time. Look here for scientific name: Puffer List

 

[dulcie]

you have just solved an ongoing mystery, i was told he waqs a topaz by a shop i took pics in as i rehomed him from my lfs who had no clue about him but your site shows he is actually a dragon puffer ! will fig of 8's be ok the lfs said he would be fine. I have had him about a month now and he is pretty docile??

 

[pica_nuttalli]

...so you have a Tetrodon palembangensis? note how the profile says its a FRESHWATER puffer?

figure 8s are NOT freshwater. they will live only a fraction of their normal lifespan if kept in freshwater.

your current puffer seems docile because he's a lurking predator. that means he's not going to do much until he gets hungry; then watch out! he'll make your parrots look like little angels.

you really shouldn't try keeping anything with a puffer unless you are prepared for the puffer to try eating it.

 

[SirMinion]

Pica speaks the truth.
We have three Dragon Puffers and they have the sweetest 'butter-wouldn't melt' faces and big liquid eyes with a 'who, me?' expression.

They spend all day doing nothing but sitting motionless at the mouth of a cave, or hidden in plants until an unwary shrimp swims past or a mealworm sinks down in front of them, then WHAM they suddenly turn into finely tuned and fast killing machines, ripping apart a prawn as big as themselves within seconds.

Early on we tried keeping a couple of bristlenose plecs with them to control the algae in the tank.
We only found the tail of one the next morning and the other lost an eye. (he's now in the community tank and fully healed.)

If you attempt to keep a dragon puffer with any other fish, even one bigger than the puffer (bearing in mind that Dragon puffers grow up to 9 inches) the fish will almost certainly be killed.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Are you sure you have a palembamg? They're pretty rare to find & expensive. Does it have a humpback?

 

[SirMinion]

Are you sure you have a palembamg? They're pretty rare to find & expensive. Does it have a humpback?

Me? Yes we're sure.
We have three t. palembangensis, Big teddy-bear eyes, hump-backs, lurking habits.
They cost us £35 each about a year ago.

Here's a photo of two of them.

 

[Pufferpunk]

No, not you silly!