Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => General Fishkeeping Chat => Topic started by: Fiona on May 19, 2016, 12:24:33 PM
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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.
Eventually I'll find something, cpds are still an option but as I already have a colony in the 200l I'd prefer something different.
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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.
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I like that idea, a bit like towns twinning but where as they are meant to twin with somewhere similar we could twin with someone who has completely different fish to us due to their opposit water type. :cheers:
Then we get to go on a jolly ... Sorry fact finding mission, at the tax payers expense to visit our twinned aquarium - sorted. ::)
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Brilliant idea. I especially like the bit about taking a trip at the tax payers expense to visit the twinned tank. :cheers:
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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.
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:cheers: to the "twinning" idea on our "long-distance tanks". :fishy1:
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:cheers: to the "twinning" idea on our "long-distance tanks". :fishy1:
:cheers: to the twinning :)
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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. :)
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Ooo interesting. The big male without the iridescence is the one that I've seen spawning, I just can't remember which female it was. I don't suppose it said anything about females that you can recall Donna?
Maybe we should start a new thread for this, I'm sure we can't be the only people with dwarf puffers that might be interested?
edited to add: Seriously Fish list C.travancoricus and the Malabar puffer as the same fish and C. Imitator as being a separate fish. They've only got 1 piccy though :(
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Since the topic has now gone well away from the subject of whitespot, yes please, do start a new puffer thread :)
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As the "Whitespot then fungus" thread had gone very off-topic and could potentially have caused confusion, I've exercised my "global moderator" rights and split this into a separate topic at the most suitable point.
Fiona / Donna - you can either continue on this thread or set up a separate thread dedicated to dwarf puffers. :fishy1:
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Now why didn't I think of that ??? ;D
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Now why didn't I think of that ??? ;D
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. :)
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Now why didn't I think of that ??? ;D
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 :)
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Thanks, that's very helpful.
:cheers:
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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. ;D
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I saw this thread and thought what the heck! I must be going barmy, I don't remember starting that :o Now all has become clear thank goodness :)
I must confess I'm deeply suspicious of wiki, I'm not saying the info is wrong, its just that anyone can write on it and therefore the information is unreliable. A girl my son knows once started her own wiki page and she wrote complete and utter crap on it, she fabricated an acting work history and said she was dating Daniel Radcliffe ::) All of it was complete and utter tosh.
Lets see if we can verify that info somewhere Donna.
My big khaki male without the iridescence is the only one I've seen spawning. The less brightly coloured bit is throwing me somewhat as both my females have more striking markings but if khaki and dull yellow is colourful then yes I suppose the females are. One female has smaller spots but she also has large spots. The big male has a belly stripe which darkens when spawning. I have 3 males of this type. I need to work out which female the big male spawns with I think.
The other type I've only got 1 male and possibly one female but she's not bigger than the male.
Hmmmm observation time methinks.
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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.
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Found some infor on the puffers, but it's not much help. The second link has pictures of male and female of both, but they all look irridescent, so no idea where our duller ones fit in.
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/puffers/171581-dwarf-puffer-species.html
http://puffernet.tripod.com/travancoricus.html
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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 :)
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Ta Sue.
and you're right Donna, it doesn't help :( My big male definitely looks like the picture of T. travancoricus, except he doesnt sparkle like the one in he pic, he's completely dull.
curious and curiouser
PK has 2 articles on them but they both use the same stock photos.
I've also found conflicting advice about tooth care, some say they need to wear their teeth down on snails and some dont. However I have noticed when I feed them snails they don't actually bite the shell, they just eat the part protruding from the shell which makes me think that actually they don't need snails in their diet.
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I'm fairly certain, after watching the tank today, that my 2 largest puffers are dull males (aren't they all ;) ). They did a bit of puffing and circling today. I have 3 females and at least 2 of them are iridescent. I have at least 1 large and 2 young iridescent males. That accounts for 8 out of 11.
When mine eat snails they suck them out of the shell. I have noticed that if I don't feed them snails regularly they do get bits of food, or bits of fluff or something, stuck on their mouths. When I asked Steve he said that it happens with his South American Puffers when their beaks need trimming. I think perhaps it's that snails are just tougher meat than bloodworms, rather than the snail shell keeping the beak down.
I've given up on telling the difference between types, so I'm just labelling them all as "adorable". ;D
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Im going to see if I can hijack my son's phone and shoot a video today. :)
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Im going to see if I can hijack my son's phone and shoot a video today. :)
Careful - GCHQ are probably scanning your computer right now after reading that combination of words! ;)
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Im going to see if I can hijack my son's phone and shoot a video today. :)
Careful - GCHQ are probably scanning your computer right now after reading that combination of words! ;)
:yikes: Good grief I do hope not, a gal likes her privacy.