Thank you all for your replies.
Arothron hispidus - Is that the Stars & Stripes Puffer?
I collected this beauty (about 6-7") last night from a private seller only a mile down the road from where I live. I managed to get 'her' for £12 - I'm not sure what the 'normal' cost of one would be but considered this peanuts for sucha lovely fish. It was a 'now or never' type purchase so I went for it.
'She' had been kept in a Rio180 with a load of other fish (I recognised a Regal Tang and Yellow Tang in there too!) but despite this, she was healthy, active and playful. I bagged her underwater so as to avoid the risk of her inflating with air (something that I read can be fatal?) and took her home in a box.
I don't think she had ever been fed shelled food (only frozen cubes) as her beak looked a bit too sharp. I used the empy nano reef I have as a 'holding tank' until this morning (I thought it to be less stressfull as it was set up with a lot of hidey-holes etc. and I could use the moonlight LEDs) when I transfered her into a spare 240L (mature water). 'She' appears happy and playful and seems to be enjoying the swimming space and has already shown a lot of interest in the shelled cockles I have offered her.
I guessed this was going to become a big'un but as I plan to keep this fish on his / her own (we've called 'her' Irene anyway
) I will be upgrading once only to a 400-500L (unless 'she' could share in a 6' or 7' community?) and then the time may come to sell her to a responsible keeper or donate her to a professional organisation. However, this is subject to change - She is a beautiful fish and I might actually thin down some of my turtle tanks to keep her for longer. Either way, she seems to be enjoying the greater swimming area she has in the 240L.
I appreciate I maybe could have done this in a more logical and sensible way (seeing as I am still deciding on fish) but I have always loved Puffers (I also have 3 GSP) and knew I could offer 'her' a better tank than what she was in - The time
may come when I sell her and a potential buyer thinks 'Yeah... we'll get her.. she can go in the spare 10'er!)
She seems very friendly and cheerful anyway.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Sam
