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I currently have a species tank with what I was pretty sure were Spotted Green Puffers. Now I am not so sure if they are Spotted Green (Freshwater) or Green Puffers (Brackish). Is there any way to know for sure?

The tank itself is relatively new. Tis a 30g with killer filtration and heating, overall a nice setup. I had it cycle for several weeks and the puffers have been in the water now for about 15 days. They seem very happy, active, and hungry. I'm just not too sure which they are.

When I was younger and got into aquariums, my third tank was a species tank with two puffers. They are what I thought was spotted green puffers. The tank was and still is strictly freshwater and the puffers are still swimming happily in the tank back home with my parents. It's been nearly 5 years and they are still at it. I assume I did something right and would like to continue that here. Any help on differentiating?

Thanks

If you could describe them to us or provide a link to a picture of your puffers, that would be very helpful in identifying them. If I had to guess though, I would say they are probably Green Spotted Puffers, or T. Nigroviridis.

Also, if you visit http://www.thepufferforum.com, they could also provide you with some answers as well as a wealth of information on care!

The white on the bottom and light greenish-yellow to green on the top half. Black spots run all the way across the top half of the fish and are very dense in the area they are located. It seems to me there is a spot on top of their heads, just behind the eyes that is like flourescent greenish-yellow. It is much shinier than the res of the them and brighter as well. More yellowish than green I suppose. Kind of like somebody used a highlighter around the black spots in that area.

How often do you think pet stores mistake the two? Is it there fault or their breeders/suppliers?

Well, the most common thing is that they call the green spotted puffer (T. Nigroviridis) names that it isn't. There is a lot of variation within this particular species and this has created some of the confusion. They are often labelled T. Fluviatilis (the Ceylon puffer) when really they are not. So, I would venture a guess that yours are GSPs and would definitely recommend reading the article below. They are high end BW fish that eventually require full SW conditions in order to thrive. In the proper water though, they have been known to live well over a decade.

I would say it is not any one person or company's fault, there is just simply a lot of misinformation on puffers out there.

Here is an article on GSPs with some pictures as well.

There is only 1 "spotted" puffer--the BW green spotted, T nigroviridis.

I was more just wondering which of these it is:

http://www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/fw/profile.asp?id=Tetraodon+fluviatilis

http://www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/fw/profile.asp?id=Tetraodon+nigroviridis

This is where my confusion began.

Last edited by Iriscience at 11-Oct-2004 21:00

The fluviatillis is a green puffer
The nigroviridis is a green-spotted puffer

according to Dr.Ebert

Kim

For some reason, I can't edit my posts.

They are both brackish.

Kim

Common names are a pain in the butt. A fish can have several common names, and several fish can share a common name. This is why they each also have a scientific name or a temporary name (such as the L catfishes that have yet to be described). There is also a lot of misinformation on puffers around the internet. I include Dr. Eberts work with this, as it is riddled with ecological inaccuracies. I use Fishbase and the World Fisheries for most of my ecological information, and they establish whether a fish is brackish or not by it's catch records. I personally can't think of a better way to determine if a fish belongs in brackish, fresh, or marine conditions.

Except that many BW fish are born in FW, live some of their lives in BW & then live out their adulthood in SW, only to swim back to FW to lay eggs. So how can where they are caught, determine where we should keep them throughout their lives?

That profile is wrong, as the fluviatilis is the Ceylon puffer, which looks nothing like that photo. Did you read that article you were linked to? It explains about the large amount of misinformation written sbout these fish--especially the misidentification of them. Here it is again: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/gspsart.htm

Also some info about puffer confusion at fishbase: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/fwbracpuffaqs.htm

I am interested to know what are the ecological inaccuracies in Dr Ebert's research.



Last edited by pufferpunk at 12-Oct-2004 15:04

I thank all of you for the info. As always, neither this site, nor the frequent posters dissapoint me.

Thanks again.