Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping => General Fishkeeping Chat => Topic started by: Fiona on April 16, 2016, 05:08:26 PM

Title: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Fiona on April 16, 2016, 05:08:26 PM
Well our puffers have definitely all growed up! I spotted a pair mating in the corner today. I got very excited and called my son to come have a look. His reply was that they've been doing it for ages and he had no interest in fish porn  ::)
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Richard W on April 16, 2016, 05:13:53 PM
What exactly were they doing? I'm not sure I'd know if my fish were mating, unless they were livebearers. Was there egg laying going on??
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Sue on April 16, 2016, 05:14:48 PM
These people are very good at deflating our excitement at something new in our tanks  ;D


Congrats on the breeding mating, you must be doing something right. In the tank, that is.




Altered to suit Richard's definition  ;D
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Richard W on April 16, 2016, 06:13:44 PM
It says mating, not breeding.
The two don't always go together, which is a good thing in humans at least, or we really would have a population explosion!
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Littlefish on April 16, 2016, 06:39:15 PM
It is quite possible that your son is a little bit awesome. Fish porn indeed.  :rotfl:
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Fiona on April 17, 2016, 11:23:01 AM
It is quite possible that your son is a little bit awesome. Fish porn indeed.  :rotfl:

He is :)

I spotted them in the back corner of the tank and I'd all ready looked it up on u-tube so when I saw their behaviour I knew what they were doing. The male was very attentive ofthe female, kissing her body for want of a better word. She pointed at the corner of the tank and backed into it, he settled beside her and they did a little shimmy together, egg laid and presumably fertilised they moved off and started again. I found a you-tube video if you want to look.

#Invalid YouTube Link include https#
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: fcmf on April 17, 2016, 12:11:14 PM
Argh! I took a look at the video, then, when it felt a bit too voyeuristic, looked elsewhere on this forum and at another website, but had forgotten to close down YouTube. Several video clips later, and there was a horrific video involving something of the nature of Littlefish's other recent thread - I really wish such video clips could be banned with additional, stringent penalties for those who make them. While the internet is beneficial for so many things, the availability of such horrors and the potential for others to copy what they see (or worse) is one of the greatest downsides to it.
:isay:
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Fiona on April 17, 2016, 12:33:25 PM
Yeah it's weird what comes up sometimes.

The male puffer was also very territorial, chasing off anything that came near. His belly stripe also got very wide and darker than usual. We've only got 1 male in with 5 females so he's spoilt for choice.  :)

The son has decided its time for the clown loach to go, so they'll be going back to the shop in the next couple of weeks.
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Richard W on April 17, 2016, 12:37:33 PM
Are puffers inclined to eat their own fry? They are known to be pretty carnivorous in general which made me wonder.
Look forward to hearing news about progress.
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Littlefish on April 17, 2016, 07:22:40 PM
Well, it seems like spring is in the air here as well. Male dwarf puffer following female, nudging her in the side. However, she was not looking overly happy about it and was certainly swimming away. She was starting to look a bit tired from trying to spurn his advances, so I got the syphon out and started giving the tanks a clean.
There's nothing quite like Mum with the vacuum cleaner to put a young man off his stride.  :fishy1:
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Extreme_One on April 17, 2016, 07:43:37 PM
I hope we get to see photos and videos of baby puffers!  ;D
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Littlefish on April 17, 2016, 08:38:52 PM
I can imagine that baby dwarf puffers would be soooooo cute.  :)

Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Fiona on April 17, 2016, 10:25:36 PM
Puffers eat the eggs and will eat the fry. The fry retain the yolk sack and live off that for a few days.

From the research I've done they aren't fast moving and they survive by hiding in dense vegetation, feeding off micro-organisms.  On the plus side there are places like that near the spawning site and the eggs have been laid in a place inaccessible by the bigger fish.

The problem is, it's my son's tank, not one of mine. He's happy to let nature take its course. I also don't have a spare tank atm. I they're still spawning in about a months time (from further conversations with the son, its been happening for months) I can try and collect the eggs and see what happens. It'll coincide with the end of college too.  :)
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Fiona on May 15, 2016, 01:14:52 PM
Son's away for the weekend so I fed his fish. I decided to chuck some baby apple snails in for the puffers and they loved them. The bumbles tried them and spat them out  :) I'd set a stool up in front of the tank to watch the fish for a bit, I can't really do it when my son's home. Something I had never spotted before was that the males display at each other. I watched one chase away another who was trying to muscle in on his snail, he did it by puffing himself up! I was delighted as I'd not noticed that behaviour before.
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Littlefish on May 15, 2016, 01:49:30 PM
Brilliant.  8)
I don't think I've ever seen any of my dwarf puffers "puff".
Either that or they are not as fat as I think they are and they are permanently puffed.   ;)
Title: Re: Puffers Mating.
Post by: Fiona on May 15, 2016, 05:16:04 PM
First time I've seen it Donna and we've had them quite  while, they get deeper rather than fatter from what I saw.