Dwarf/Spotted puffer?

[DragonChild]

Morning all.

The lfs just got in some puffers. The name tag just says "spotted puffer", but the associate said that it's a dwarf puffer. She said that they live in freshwater, not saltwater. I'm a little skeptical, so I figured I'd see what you all thought.

The fish are small, probably about 1"-1 1/2", and have yellow eyes, and teh body is kinda a beige color, with black spots like a leopard.

Any ideas?

TIA

 

[Bioworldmaker]

If it has black round spots in the front by the eyes (both sides) and in the back (both sides) it is probably a figure-8 puffer, which lives in BW. But if it really is a dwarf puffer, they are actual fresh water fish.

 

[madasafish]

If they are over an inch, they are almost certainly not Dwrf Puffers, Tetraodon travancorius, which grow to an inch in size. Here's are two pictures of DPs for comparison:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1720&password=&sort=1&cat=all&page=2
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1907&password=&sort=1&cat=all&page=2

The first one is "normal" in shape, the second has just eaten a HUGE meal of brine shrimp.

Here's a green spotted puffer (the most popular; a brackish water fish), Tetraodon nigroviridis:
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=7763&genusname=Tetraodon&speciesname=nigroviridis
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/puf-nigr.htm

And another spotted puffer (also brackish), Tetraodon fluviatilis:
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=11270&genusname=Tetraodon&speciesname=fluviatilis

They're not always easy to tell apart...

 

[madasafish]

My guess is that you have a Tetraodon nigroviridis. These are the most commonly found puffers in the FW/BW world. They are primarily brackish, and are not suited for a FW setup. However, they do spend some time in full SW, so are sometimes put into SW tanks!

 

[DragonChild]

Okay, I'm not 100% sure that this is the fish, after all, it's now been 3 hours since I saw it, but i think this might be it:

I'm going to take a picture of it tomorrow at the lfs, see if I can't get a good shot.

 

[madasafish]

Pretty sure that's T. nigriviridis, the Green Spotted Puffer (not dwarf).

 

[cdawson]

That's a green spotted puffer, it's a SW fish. It's spends the first 2 years of it's life in high end BW and swims out to sea when it hit's 3-4".

read this before you get into something you aren't prepared for.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/gspsart.htm

 

[DragonChild]

Yup, that is these fish to the letter...what really caught my attention was the 'puppy behavoir'...

Thanks, I know now that I should just leave the fishes alone...I'm not going into salt water just yet.

Thanks everyone!

cdawson, I LOVE your signature!!