Arrowhead Puffer

I was out in Ashbourne during the week and got myself one of these delightful little fish.
Put him in an african tank with 7 1\" Yellow Lab fry and he just sat on the sand motionless.
Fair enough I thought, let the guy settle in.
The lab fry started to pick at him and be generally inquisative.
One got too close to his mouth and well, I have never witnessed such a viscious attack!
It was over in seconds as the Puffer literally tore the fry to shreds and ate every scrap. It got two more overnight.
Now I'm not terribly upset at the loss of the fry, I have loads more and the parents breed like rabbits, but wow, nature always surprises you when you least expect it.
I thought the fry were big enough and fast enough to be safe.
I know different now!
Anyone ever kept this fish?

All I can say is \"Didi you muppet!!!!\",

Only joking, but they are crazy aggressive predatory homicidal maniacs.

Get rid of him or set up a solitory tank for the little beast.

Hi Didihno,

Is this the fish you got? It sounds like a ferocious one!!!!... Scary!

www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/t_suvattii.htm

\"The puffer is an extremely effective hunter, who uses the stealth method to surprise and catch its prey. Burrowing down into the substrate, the suvatii waits for his next meal to pass over its nose, at which time it leaps from the sand and devours the animal in one quick motion. Small fish are devoured immediately, with violent chewing movements in the whole. Larger prey fish are first killed, often times disemboweled or chewed in half and then gradually eaten. The suvatii is almost always successful in their hunting strategy and their strong teeth optimize their attack.
...
Due to their specialized nature as piscivores, this fish should not be kept with any other fish, as the suvatii will not hesitate to make a meal of the fish. When the T. suvatii is presented with an intruder to their territory, it reacts immediately with great persistence, first staring intently at the intruder. When the confrontation ensues in open waters, the suvatii charges the intruder with a threateningly lowered head. The suvatii then opens its mouth and swims slowly towards the intruder. In many cases this behavior is sufficient enough for the offending fish to leave. When the offending fish does not leave after this display, the T. suvatii positions its broadside toward the offending fish and inflates its body. Menacingly, the inflated puffer then swims in a zigzag pattern in front of the offending fish. The head is lowered and the suvatti’s mouth open with the strong sharp teeth displayed. After the display of inflation and warning, the puffer will attack to afflict the offending fish with serious wounds.
...
The temperament of the T. suvatii in aquaria is commonly quite pleasant toward its owner. This usually inactive fish will quickly swim to the glass to great its owner and beg for food, thrashing around at the surface. While performing tank maintenance, the aquarist should be mindful of his/her fingers, as they resemble the movement of a potential meal to the suvatii. It may be necessary to capture the suvatii in a net while performing any maintenance so as to prevent injury to the aquarist.\"

Sweet holy mother of God!!!
I've bought Satan in fish form!

Anyone want a puffer?

On a plus note, I think I just found out what I'm going to keep in this tank.
Might be fun.

Might be fun until you have to reach into the tank to clean the glass............. Then bye bye fingers.............

Sounds like a cool little fish.

I have kevlar gloves.

And titanium tongs for feeding.

Even then I might stand in the other room, just incase he jumps.

nice fish i am a puffer collecter i would like to come across one of these dont get much my way living in cavan if you ever think of selling him give me a shout thanks

Will do Tony.

Hi,

I am not sure whethere this is an arrowhead puffer, but quite scary all the same ...



\"Dinner Time !\"


Make sure to watch it until the end

Valerie

I don't think that is an Arrowhead Puffer Valerie.

Its not easy to tell from the video but I think its the Congo/Potatoe Puffer, Tetraodon miurus.

They are very similar though, they both have the standard shape of an ambush puffer. They rarely actually chase their food like this one in the video, tending instead to bury themselves from view (like this one does at the end) and then using their upturned mouth to grab anything unlucky enough to pass overhead.

Thanks for sharing the video.

These puffers can actually be bred Didihno, I was recently talking with a guy in England that is selling a breeding pair! He was even featured in PFK last year because of them. He just got lucky though, they are hard to sex and same sex pairing usually end in murder.

They are nice interesting fish as long as you can dedicate a tank to them, enjoy.

D these Fish have teeth like you or I there savage

They actually have more like a beak.

The have two teeth on the top and two on the bottom which are fused together to form something akin to a parrots beak. They are very powerfull however and can crack open shells and disembowel other fish quite easily.

In a lot of puffer species the teeth actually continue to grow throughout their lifespan and so they need hard food in aquariums to keep them from growing too large. This particular species doesn't have this problem however, it is only the puffer species that actively hunt prey as opposed to ambushing it that have this genetic trait.

This puffer is thriving at the moment and is a blast to feed.
It is now taking food right from my hand and that is scary I tell you.
I'm feeding mealworm, giant mealworm (warrior worms), Waxworms alternating between them.
I intend on getting some unshelled shrimp, fresh mussels maybe even live shrimp to feed it too.

I bought a baby Mbu puffer to share the tank.
I read the article linked on the first page and it say it will share tanks with conspecifics and similar.
Now I'm a bit worried though about leaving the little Mbu in there, I hope its still there when I get home.
Some articles I've read say that the Arrowhead cannot be kept with anything!

Be vary careful keeping it with ANY fish, especially a baby Mbu, I have seen a pet shop keep arrowheads with small fakaka Puffers and the fahakas were all killed. If the Mbu is of a similar size or bigger it might get away with just some fin-nipping but i still wouldnt do it myself.

Too late, when I got home it was dead.
Gutted.
My stupidity and trusting internet articles caused this.

I'm getting rid of this puffer and will get a less violent one instead, perhaps a bigger Mbu.

Anyone interested in this entertaining but violent fish pm me.

Sorry to hear that Didihno. Good luck rehoming him.

Didihno,

I don't know you, I've never met you & please don't see this as a personal assault.

But.. I feel I must say something as to be honest as I find that post rather upsetting.

With fishkeeping, something that is always foremost in my mind is that these fish are living creatures
that I am responsible for. I don't take chances with their lives & I take the needless death of anything very seriously.

Impulse buys are not the best idea. Impulse buying a puffer that kills your cichlid fry, then buying an arrowana
which will grow to 5 foot, then an mbu puffer which will grow to 2 foot & putting them all in a small tank
takes impulse buying to a whole new level.

These are specialist fish & deserve proper care, attention & respect.

I am not the fish police. You might think it's not my place to voice my opinion like this.
To be honest I don't care. I feel something needs to be said, this is not the example to set for anyone
on a public forum. You are dealing with living things here & you need to take it more seriously.

That mbu puffer was a rare, long lived & beautiful fish which has been hauled out of its natural habitat only for it to end
up dying in a ridiculous circumstances at your hands. That should rest heavily on your conscience.

I implore you to get rid of the puffer, get rid of the arrowana, ditch the notion of buying another mbu & get some suitable
fish for the tank.

Again, please don't take this as a personal assault - I have nothing against you I just feel someone
needs to speak out for these animals.

-Patrick

2poc, point taken, I am one to make impulse buys and thats not likely to change.
Anyone that knows me will tell you that I take the care of my creatures very seriously.
A few points. I was mis-sold the arrowhead puffer as a figure 8 puffer.
I'm not blaming the shop for this, but I knew a little bit about a figure 8 and not about the arrowhead.
I should have known better.

I know exactly what I am doing with the arrowana. I intend to keep this fish in its 3' home until it is about a foot long at which time I will seek to rehome it.
I have something specific in mind for this magnificent fish.

The baby Mbu died not at the hands of the arrowhead, there was no sign of physical aggression or damage, I think my ph might have been a bit high at 8, even if i was told it was kept in 7.8 in the LFS. Also the voyage home took its toll on the poor thing, the bag leaked and the water (what was left ) was quite cold, it wasn't happy at all. I am confident that I can keep another Mbu, I just need to take greater care in its shipping.

Rest assured I am very dissapointed by this, and well pissed of at my own stupidity.
We live and learn, I appreciate the sermon.

Your PH at 8.0 should have been fine, (they are from Lake Tanganyika after all!), they are quite adaptable as far as PH goes, 7.00-8.2 perfering 7.5 and above. However as with all puffes water must be pollutant free, even small traces of Ammonia and Nitrite will harm them, becoming pale and sitting on the bottom only moving there eyes. Nitrates should be below 20ppm as well so regular w/c is important. We had a 2ft+ specimen in our 950L counter display for a few years, but he sadly died for no apparant reason! They are intelligent fish, each have their own personallity, we have had \"shy ones\" who would only eat when we left the room (eventually they lost their shyness), some can be very aggressive others remarkably docile for such a large fish with intimidating beaks!!!
If you choose to get another mbu, hope it all works out, (for you and the puffer)!

Thanks for that Drew.
Must drop out to you soon.