Long Distance Tanks, Twinning, Micro Rasbora & Dwarf Puffer Appreciation Thread

I love those teeny rasboras, they're what ideally I would like in with the shrimps. The guys at MA reckon that if I can get my nitrates really low, they might cope with my hard water but coping isn't really enjoying life, so I'm resisting the urge to try.

Some day, I'll get a second tank with some micro rasboras which can be your "long distance tank" as well as Sue's. In the interim, your and Donna's dwarf puffer tanks are my "long distance tanks" in light of dwarf puffers' needs for harder water than I have.

Brilliant idea. I especially like the bit about taking a trip at the tax payers expense to visit the twinned tank. 

to the "twinning" idea on our "long-distance tanks". 

Love the idea!  I'll see if I can borrow my sons phones to make a video.

I was watching the puffers yesterday AGAIN  and I noticed that 3 of the males have the same colouration but the other is different, 3 males are khaki and brown with the same patternation, the biggest male also has a yellowish belly, the fourth male has blue iridescent spots in his markings and irridescent crinkles round his eyes. The females look a wee bit different too, one has just dark patterns, one has dark patterns containing iridescent markings and tiny black spots.

I wonder if they're separate species? Knowing the mix up there was with the rainbow stiphs I had turning out to be 3 separate species, it has got me wondering.

My dwarf puffers also have some differences, mainly markings/iridescence.
I've read something about this, but can't remember where. I've had a search and although I can't find the original article I have found some information.
Dwarf puffers (C.travancoricus) and Dwarf Malabar puffers (C. imitator) are very similar. In the article that I can't find, I remember it saying that in most LFS the stock is a mix of both. Apparently (according to wiki) the dwarf Malabars have a brighter yellow colouration, but lack the iridescent lines behind the eyes.
When I look at the ones in my tank some look a bit sparkly and some don't.
Hope that helps. 

Since the topic has now gone well away from the subject of whitespot, yes please, do start a new puffer thread 

Now why didn't I think of that     

Quote from: Sue on May 20, 2016, 06:56:26 PM

Now why didn't I think of that     

I'm glad I got the opportunity to do it. It was a guess/hope that "Split Topic" would do what I was hoping it would do and I did it with bated breath, hoping it wouldn't send Thinkfish into some technological meltdown. Such a relief and sense of achievement for it to have worked as I'd hoped. 

That's how I felt the first time I did anything as a moderator 

Fiona, dwarf puffer info from wiki as follows:

Carinotetraodon imitator,[2] commonly known as dwarf Malabar puffer, is a species of pufferfish found in rivers in the Western Ghats of India. It resembles the closely related C. travancoricus.[1] It can be distinguished from its congener as the males have brighter yellow coloration than males of C.travancoricus as well as lacking the iridescent blue lines behind the eye. Females are less brightly colored and possess a fine speckling of black spots in place of the larger black blotches of C.travancoricus.

The dwarf pufferfish (Carinotetraodon travancoricus), also known as the Malabar pufferfish (leading to easy confusion with the related C. imitator),....Sexing of juveniles is impossible because these fish "choose" their sex as they mature. Once one puffer begins becoming a male he excretes hormones to prevent the other puffers from becoming male. However, if two fish start to mature into males at the same time one will become the dominant male.There is also a dorsal crest, but it lacks special colouration when not erected. Both crests are displayed during courtship while the male circles the female. They also will have more yellow colouration.

Both sexes are primarily yellow with dark green to black iridescent patches on the flanks and dorsal surface, but as with other members of the genus, sexual dimorphism is apparent in mature fish, with males being more brightly coloured than females.[3] Males can also have a dark stripe down the centre of their pale belly and iridescent "eye wrinkle" patterns that females do not have. Females are more rounded, tend to be a bit larger than males, and may or may not show more smallish spots between their larger dark markings.

Hope that helps you with working out what you have. 

Not sure I'd put that I was dating Daniel Radcliff if I was making up a page, but each to their own.

I was looking at my puffers this morning. They've been hanging around the front of the tank a lot today because I'm not feeding them quite as much as I was, some of them are looking a lot rounder than is probably good for them, so I've cut down on the bloodworms. They are at the front of the tank looking very sad, but I'm trying to be strong. There are some baby snails in the tank if they could be bothered to look. Anyway, there are definitely some duller ones, but they wont stay still for long enough for me to have a good look and compare male, female, sparkly, dull, and markings. Some of them are also sulking at the back.

I'm going to be upgrading my tank whenever the new one arrives, so that is probably my best time for having a really good look at them.

Or I might have a good look at the little ones at MA next time I go in.

Before anyone else wonders what is happening with this thread, I've just realised it was in the Fish Health section where the original thread (Whitespot etc) was located. As this offshoot of that thread no longer deals with health issues, I've moved it