kiwijaydee

My puffers started on live food, then I slowly moved them to dead. If you're concerned for his health, and he needs a feed (concaved belly etc) then I would say chuck in a bit of live food. If you he'll be ok, try doing the dead food on a string thing.. when I first started doing it, I might be there for 30 minutes before they'd strike. Also, don't forget the snail option, since puffers need snails in their diet, it might pay to chuck in a few snails that are slightly smaller than his mouth.. he'll just chomp them up and spit out the shells.. :lol: And atleast it's a snack..

Did the old owner tell you what he was being fed on? If he's only used to live food, it will be a long drawn out process getting him to eat dead food. I'm *still* needing to tie cut onshell prawns into pieces and putting them on a piece of string.. mostly now I drop it in the water and within 10 seconds it's gone. Only one puffer will eat treat pellets that I drop in, and he has to see them and be ready for them... Also, puffers don't need to eat all that often.. mine eat on average once every 4-5 days.. depending on size, naturally. Overfeeding is always a big issue with puffers....

I know.. it seems totally ridiculous doesn't it.. :lol: Bloody gourami.. :roll: I'm only worried because it was removed from it's lifelong home, since he's had it since it was only a wee thing. It didn't live with other gourami's, just guppys and platys etc. So maybe it's like "Oooh big fish, must be life partner!" hahahaha Hm.. ok well in that case I better try and find out what sex it is and go from there... ..I gotta stop taking in strays!! :lol: :roll: Thanks for the info...

That's hilarious. :lol: Sounds like what mine is trying to do to the birchir. I admit, the birchir at first was REALLY put off, because the gourami has much more bulk, the birchir thought it was on deaths door.. but now the birchir doesn't seem to mind. So... does this mean that I can separate them, and get the gourami a *different* less... piscovore friend? Or a magnetic tank cleaner? :lol: I just don't want to break a pudgy fishes heart.. he just looks so enraptured. :oops:

I went to drop off a fighter to my mate, and he offloaded his gourami on to me, as it was eating all is guppy babies in his community tank. (The gourami is about 4-5 inches long, I think it's Opaline, not sure) So I brought it home, to save it from a horrible fate, and had really no community tank to put it. The Red Devil would kill it, so would the puffers, so would the single recently widowed convict (who is very bitter), and it couldn't go in the Front tank. So I thought my best option was to put it with my polypterus palmas.. it can't fit in the birchirs mouth, that was my logic. Well, after 2 days, it's obsessed with the birchir. It follows him around everywhere. If the birchir settles itself on a flat rock, the gourami swims over and settles down next to it, usually making physical contact. At times, it settles facing it. If the birchir moves slowly, it follows. If the birchir darts and the gourami loses it, it quickly swims in circles almost like it's paniced.. until it finds the birchir and swim after it. At first I thought it was aggressive chasing.. but now it just looks like obsessed love. :lol: Are gourami's social fish? Is this gourami just lonely? I'm rearranging some tanks, and the birchir is going into a bigger better tank.. but.. should I move the gourami in with him since he's so attached now? I'm a little confused.. as I'm not used to having gourami's.. not since I was about 10. :-? I'm just amazed to watch the attachment, in all honesty... I'm confused... Advice?

hahahaha... yes, that's sounds about right. Very.. uhm.. hungry and determined little hunters...

.. Very lucky, I am indeed jealous. ...and yes, I think it's fishy_t that has one as well... Theres a possibility for some puffer lovin' if you two have different sexed puffers.. arrowheads are one of the few puffers that can actually be bred in captivity! :bounce:

Thousands to DNA test one fish of the many fry around NZ? How useful would that be? As in, would it be cost effective if lots of people with the fry chipped in for a DNA test.

If people wanted to get really picky, how much would it actually cost to DNA test a fish? And who would do it? I'm just really curious, I've never struck this before?? :lol:

Theres always lots of options, if you DON'T want em to breed.. :lol: But when it comes down to it.. I guess I'll do what has to be done, whatever works best at the time. I adore my Fronts, wouldn't change a thing. I especially adore my lil 7 bar/6 bar munta. But.. alas... I really don't think I'll keep *too many* of their children.. considering their huge life span. :lol: Good excuse to turn the Front tank into a Tang tank though!! :bounce:

If theres any question of hybrids, and all that sort, I've got no issue with them all breeding and doing their thing, but the babies won't leave my house. It sounds horrible, but I have plenty of fish that wouldn't mind a live meal.

Recently, it's been a good way to tease ME! :lol: But I finally got my pics, so my mission in completed now. Will have to find something else to occupy some of my free time with.

Well, it took me long enough, but as promised... first pic is the 7 bar, close up. And second pic is general progress report. As I said before, it's only 7 bars on one side, 6 on the other.

You'll be able to let us know what it really is then.. :lol:

Now that I'm staring at them.. I'm noticing that there are a couple of different colours in there. The 7 bar is the most common colour amongst them. Theres one that's about the average size, but has very light bars, and a very light almost transluscent blue body. The biggest one is hella darker than the rest. :lol: Yah.. I never really stared at them like I did tonight but.. theres a few really distinct ones that never seemed distinct until now. Yay for ultra close observation!

I finally found the 7 bar tonight, and I realized why I could never find him. All the Fronts like to point ----> in the tank. And guess what? He only has 7 bars on <------ that side. So it was a fluke that I found him.. it took some extra yummy treats to get them all to turn. :lol: So yah.. 6 bars on one side, 7 on the other. I didn't get pics, sorry. Don't have the camera tonight. (Work camera)

No, they're all alone in their big wide world. :lol: I wanted to give them their space, and let them go about their own business. I figured that next year, I would move them out to an 8ft (have been enquiring locally about getting the tank custom made and think I have definately found who I want to make it) and then leave them with that. Then I can re-arrange all my tanks, and maybe make a smaller Tang setup somewhere down the line, so I can actually get some variety, instead of just species tanks. Guess it depends on what's on Redwood Aquatics next stock list/order.

From memory, yes to the 7 bars on each side, but I'm not 100% sure. They were in an AR850 while I was getting this tank sorted, and I didn't give them as many hiding places, so I watched them all the time to my great enjoyment. Now they're in the 6ft, I never see them, and they spend all their time hiding, much to THEIR enjoyment. :lol: I will try and watch them a little more this evening, and see if the 7 bar makes his way out, and see if I can get a look at both sides. Might have to borrow the camera again... Will let you know as soon as I can spot the 7 bar.

Well, I started off with 10, but mysteriously the smallest one is no longer as of about 3 weeks ago... so I now only have 9. :-? I do have a 7 bar, only one out of the 10. I never saw the original photo of the other 7 bar, so I wouldn't know what was classed as clear, and smudgey. I've gone through all my photos but the 7 bar seems to be totally elusive, as I don't have a single photo of it. Sorry I couldn't help there. Heres two pics, with the two different lightings of the other little guys. They're nearly impossible to find, as they're no bigger than about <-----------------------> and they're in a 6ft half full of dolomite rocks piled high with lots of hiding places. The 2nd photo is blurry cause using the flash killed the colour so I just dealt with the blur...

Wish I had noticed them earlier, I've been wanting them for so long, but atleast I got my one (dubbed Fido). Fortunately, this particular birchir is the "smallest" one, and usually maxes out at 12". Tomorrow, hopefully, I'm grabbing the camera and can take some better photos of the puffers. I'm using it to take photos of the 6' we set up last night, may grab a photo of the birchir too. :lol: I'm still not ready for brackish, so the F8's must wait. Nope, every empty tank basically has a plan already. :lol:

They're all together still, but it did take some time to work out how to keep them from having a go at each other from time to time. Also, feeding time was a major to sort out, for awhile I thought I would have to rehome the largest and most aggressive one. But things all worked out. Basically I had to give them LOTS of cubby holes and plants covering entrances etc. The plants have all been destroyed now, these guys are quite rough at times. Lol. Basically each has a favourite spot. The medium anti-social and hard to feed one (Helga aka Starvin' Marvin) prefers the place under the filter. The largest and piggiest one (Harry) prefers the spot behind all the cubby holes. And the small and now most aggressive one (Gertrude) picks and chooses whichever cubby hole she likes. :lol: They're growing fast though, and are moving into a 4FT once I get the lids sorted, so they have more room lengthwise.. at the moment their in a higher shorter tank. I went in to Redwood this week and didn't see puffers but I *DID* come home with a new addition... which I didn't even realize I could get in NZ.. so I was pleased because I have wanted one for so long now..... Polypterus palmas! There was only one left, so I missed out on the others. (Apparently they had been there when I purchased the puffers, but I must have been so excited I didn't even see them!)

All three came from Redwood Aquatics here in CHCH. I went in to get some dolomite chip for another tank and saw these guys in a tank. Couldn't forget them, so I setup a new tank and picked them up later. They were retailing $120 each. The staff at Redwood were lovely and very helpful and it was great excitement bringing these guys home.. I'm waiting to hear back about what other puffers they have available for import, as it's been a few months since I got these and all I can think of is more darling puffers.. :lol:

As requested, here are some pics of the kids. They're not good, but I can always get better ones this weekend with the better camera. Personally I can't help but love the look of sheer excitement when they spot food, especially Harry, the big piggish one. Lol. He's like a little kid when he realizes it's feeding time. Hope you enjoyed.

Only very very bad ones. Lol. The camera isn't good enough to handle it.. but I'll be borrowing my mates camera hopefully this weekend and will snap a few of them and post them.

I got my three Palembang Puffers (Humpback/Dragon/Black River) from Redwood Aquatics here in CHCH. I've fallen in love with puffers.. these three are amazing little guys and after working things out, are all well behaved and relatively easy to look after (once you get the hang of it). I'll be talking to the guys at Redwood again soon, as I am interested in getting other freshwater puffers, if they're available and able to import them. (I've got some spare 200L tanks empty and waiting!) So if you guys want, I can let you know what the verdict is with them... :-? FYI - There was a load of Figure 8 puffers at Petworld on Ferry Road (last weekend) in CHCH... I didn't get any though, as I'm not 100% ready to go brackish.