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These are being sold as FW puffers, but I'm not convinced. They seem to have similar problems in FW as the bumblebee gobies, clouding up and losing their appetite etc.

A few minutes after I took this photo, the shop guys moved them all to a marine tank, which I'm guessing did them no favours.

Any details you have would be appreciated.

As best as I can figure, they might be native to north QLD/NT?

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For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Please excuse the quality, I was trying to be really discreet with a phone camera

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For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I dunno Callatya, could get a little closer??

Colomesus asellus?

They look like that when young, it would also explain why there are so may together not actually killing each other, theyre fairly laid back for puffers.

I'd second that http://pufferlist.com/puffer/freshpuff.php?puffid=4. Either way they definitely look like a freshwater puffer to me and they probably won't survive the night in full saltwater.

There are actually more small freshwater puffers than there are saltwater or brackish puffers. Pufferlist has over a dozen freshwater puffers listed. You just don't see them as often in stores compared to species like figure 8s and green spotted so everyone gets set on puffers needing at least brackish water. I got into it with an employee at a large fish store once. He tried to tell me all puffers are brackish and that I was killing my dwarf puffers by keeping them in freshwater. I ended up walking out and getting my puffer food elsewhere cause he had his mind so set he wasn't going to listen to a word I said.

If they have been moved to a marine tank, they're dead.

Colomesus asellus is an Amazonian fish species.Here is a page devoted to them.

I really wish people would do the damn research before acquiring things like this - ESPECIALLY DEALERS.

These fishes are wonderful little guys (though they put on a spot of body mass in time if they're looked after) and provide the puffer specialist with endless hours of fascinating fish watching. They deserve FAR better than they get at the hands of some people.

Poor puffers. If they've been dumped in a marine aquarium, they're dead in about 12 hours.

This is the sort of thing that makes me want to do a Terminator on some of the idiots in circulation.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

poor fishies

I know they were on the wholesale list as FW, I just wasn't sure as we NEVER see figure 8s or green spotted puffers here. In the past, the best I've seen have been toadfish.

If I see them again, what sort of stocking would be recommended (based on a 20g)?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Damn shame they went to a saltwater tank..

At a potential 3 to 6 inches ( size seems highly variable in regional populations) that would be one or two in a 20, perhaps 3-4 in a 55 absolute max. It will depend on compatiible individuals too, they are placid compared to some puffers , but its important to bear in mind that most freshwater puffers tolerate no cagemates whatsoever, and usually consider them food at best. They can be territorial too. Only the tiniest species are remotely suitable for community, and even then sometimes not.

This is not at dwarf species, and fights arent limited to fin nipping. This fish can kill other fish in minutes, thankfully though, they are one of those puffers where you have a chance to try a few other robust fish with them. Just the same though, and aggressive specimen will likely command its own tank, and tolerate only a mate, and perhaps not even that. Depends on the type of tank and decor, but basically imagine a dwarf puffer scaled up at 6 inches and a 100 times the mass and weight and think what it could potentially do.

Roomy species tanks are probably the best way to go. The "relatively peaceful " label comes with the understanding that most puffers are irrepressible, territorial predators.

Any chance you could print this off and tell the guy at the shop he's and idiot who knows nothing about puffers from me? I wouldnt mind a bit

Also, bear in mind that Colomesus asellus, being an Amazonian species, requires soft, acidic water (in contrast to numerous other puffers encountered in the hobby) and would probably appreciate a planted aquarium with bogwood root decor of the kind you'd set up for Discus. Peat filtration may be beneficial also, though this might not be strictly necessary. Basically, if you wanted to try and keep more than one in the same aquarium, breaking up lines of sight as for aggressive Cichlids, using strategic dense planting in various spots, and arranging bogwood tangles so that they also possessed their own epiphytic plant growth (if you're not concerned about a true biotope setup, use Java Moss and Java Ferns) would also be a useful stratagem, so as to ensure that the fishes weren't constantly glowering at each other. Even so, given the known territoriality issues with puffers, even ones described as being relatively mild mannered such as Colomesus asellus (and with puffers, just as with some Cichlids, "mild mannered" is a relative term) taking steps from the outset to deal with possible internecine warfare (such as having a second aquarium on standby or the ability to insert a sturdy divider) is always wise.

This is probably going to be one of those species that needs a decent proportion of live snails in its diet. Snail cultivation specifically to feed the puffers would be practically mandatory in my view. The puffers would probably also appreciate some crustacean flesh in the diet, given that they share the same native waters as some Macrobrachium shrimps, which would probably form part of the wild diet. Set up a 10G to cultivate snails and one of the smaller Macrobrachium shrimp species, and supply the puffers with these as live food, and chances are any Colomesus asellus you decide to take on board will, given such largesse, go on to be cherished pets for 10 or 15 years.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Those sure do look look like C. asellus.

FWIW, they need huge amounts of snails in their diet, or you're going to be doing a lot of puffer dentistry. Also, they're highly adaptable in pH (6-7.8). And, they do not get to 6 inches, Colomesus psittacus which is often mistaken for a C. asellus when young gets up to 12", and that sometimes leads to confusion...asellus is a 3" fish SL, tops.

Eric