You Lot Are Puffer Mad

[SirMinion]

do they puff up ?

Yes they can.
All species of puffers can inflate but some are more likely to do it than others.
There two main reasons for a puffer to puff:

1. Extreme stress than cannot be gotten away from - Like most fish, a frightened puffer will first attempt to escape and they can swim surprisingly fast over short distances and will even jump to avoid predators. If the puffer is cornered it may inflat to appear larger and therefor less edible. A puffer removed from water will also inflate but with air instead of water which can be fatal NEVER EVER ATTEMPT TO STRESS A PUFFER INTO INFLATING
2. Some species of puffer will inflate to impress mates or ward of other fish invadiding their territory. We have seen this behaviour in three of our puffer species; Brown Puffers (Tetraodon Turgidis) and Humpback Puffers (Tetraodon Palembangensis) both of which regularly display at each other when defending territories.

There also seems to be a third reason for puffing in captive specimins of the larger species such as Fahakas and Mbu Puffers. Many owners of such fish, including myself, have observed them puffing for no reason other than to apparently attract the attention of their owners.
Our Fahaka Puffer, Martha has on several occasions inflated when we've been tardy in switching her light on in the morning or feeding her on time. As soon as the light goes on or we drop a prawn in the tank she begins pumping the water out again and deflating.

We managed to get some photo when she did it once - Let's face it, if you see this in your tank, you're not going to ignore it!

 

[daspricey]

i've got to say, thats one hell of a puffer!!!!!!!!
that is a cool picie!
i'm hoping to get a 10g tank with a trio of dwarfs!!!!

david