joannde said:
ColdMachine - I love that photo ! Yesterday I was at the LFS and saw both a Green Spotted Puffer and Figure Eight Puffer. I've been wondering where I could fit those brackish tanks now ! LOL.
Its the EYES - when you look into those eyes you KNOW that there's something going on in that brain .....
They are incredible little things aren't they! The only downside is the size of the tank needed (30G for just one GSP!) for only one fish, and the fact that it's really hard to keep tankmates with them owing to puffer behaviour. People have housed mollies and gobies (e.g. BBGs) with them successfully for a year only for the puffer to turn around one day and decide to have them for dinner
Possibly the most interesting, cute, and intelligent fish though. I used to be obsessive about loaches (which I still think are extremely intelligent), but puffers are 'it' now!
They really do watch what's going on outside of the tank as well. Mine used to follow me from one side of his tank to wherever he could get the best view of what I was up to! I'd be typing away on this forum and turn to check him out only to see he was in the far corner watching the monitor!
They can be naughty little things too though lol. They are known jumpers, and whenever I cleaned the tank he would be fine UNLESS I was near his little rocky hideouts and even if he was on the other side of the tank if he saw me go near them to clean he'd bob up to the top as if to say "you mess with my home and I'm outta here!" lol.
The LFS where I shop used to keep a mbu puffer in a large display tank. He was about 2' long I believe, and called Tommy. The lady who kept him actually taught him how to smile (b/c she regularly grinned at him and talked to him, he just copied the expression) which freaked out customers no end! When she cleaned the tank she used to pat him and he'd go over to one side so she could clean the other, and then she'd pat him again and he'd move over so she could clean out the remainder!
All depends on personality though: like cichlids, a puffer is a puffer so they are prone to aggression, but you can have very peaceful sociable ones like the mbu and my F8, but others can be real moody characters!
It was originally believed that low water current suited them best, but a lot of people - myself included - have found they love playing in bubbles!
Great fish, everyone should keep one if they've got the right sized tank and have done their research: extremely rewarding pet. The only downside, like I say, is that you'll grow VERY attached to them in a VERY short space of time and losing them is devastating