Tokey puffer?

[stellablu]

Hi, I am wondering about something...

I went into Pet Supermarket this afternoon for salt and came out completely flustered. I was just casually checking out the fish, as I usually do on visits to buy salt. I noticed they had killed off the rest of the GSP's...they had 40 of them at first, then a week later half died off, when I bought mine there were 10, then they all turned black and stopped hanging out, the end. Anyhow, that is a completely different story.

I was tank browsing and noticed a tag that said "Tokey Puffer." I immediately called over the LFS worker and inquired. "Tokey? What on earth is that? He looks like an Arrowhead...actually I am positive that is an Arrowhead. I have never heard it referred as a...what...Tokey?" The guy proceeded to tell me that the distributor sold it as a Tokey puffer and gave them a sheet with the scientific name and care. He also told him to feed it nothing but live guppies. I am about to explode at this point. I mentioned how hard it was to keep puffers and that this store was not equipt with the tank needs or knowledgeable personnel to keep ANY type of puffers. I, then, told him that if they got in another order of puffers to get in Dwarf because they are a bit easier, no worries about brackish, and the store probably wouldn't kill them off as easily. Mind you this guy was still in high school and acted like it, but he seriously treated me like because I didn't have a badge with my name on it that my information was invalid. Grr!

My question (now that I'm done ranting) is if anyone has heard of the Arrowhead or (God forbid I am wrong) any other puffer being called a Tokey? I Googled it to no avail. The scientific name matches the Arrowhead.

I plan on printing out information along with pictures to give to the store. I had to do the same for GSP's because they were completely clueless. One lady listened, the rest ignored the paperwork...seeing as only the woman on Thursday and Saturday got the paperwork. *sigh*

(P.S. Sorry my first post is a rant, but boy do some pet stores seriously need a clue )

Thanks for any input!

 

[SirMinion]

Never heard the Arrowhead (t. suvattii) called a Tokey.. there's an aggresive large gecko called a Tokay, but not a puffer.

Arrowheads are very aggresive and certainly not for beginners to puffers... and they're strictly freshwater too...

/edit.. and welcome to the forums!

 

[stellablu]

Exactly! Maybe there was some freak mix of names or something...err.

Thanks, glad to be here!

 

[Jason_S]

Here is a picture of my arrowhead puffer

Is this the puffer you saw? If so this is the Arrowhead/Pignose/Hognose puffer...scientific name is Tetraodon suvatti. I've never heard the term "tokey puffer" but that's why scientific names are usually better than common names.

Tetraodon miurus is the Congo puffer, also sometimes called the chameleon puffer I believe due to its ability to undergo drastic color changes to match its surroundings.

 

[jflowers]

Here is a picture of my arrowhead puffer

Is this the puffer you saw? If so this is the Arrowhead/Pignose/Hognose puffer...scientific name is Tetraodon suvatti. I've never heard the term "tokey puffer" but that's why scientific names are usually better than common names.

Tetraodon miurus is the Congo puffer, also sometimes called the chameleon puffer I believe due to its ability to undergo drastic color changes to match its surroundings.

Thats one brave snail

Jon

 

[Jason_S]

there are about 20-25 small snails in that tank. he doesn't eat them. I've even seen snails crawling across his snout when he buries himself. He just watches them...I've never seen him eat one. Now, let a crayfish get that close to his mouth and well

 

[SirMinion]

That's because the Arrowhead Puffer and the African equivelent species the Congo Puffer, are the only puffer species that rarely, if ever, eat snails.

 

[Jason_S]

That's because the Arrowhead Puffer and the African equivelent species the Congo Puffer, are the only puffer species that rarely, if ever, eat snails.

never kept them before, but I'd imagine given they are also ambush predators that T. palembangensis would be included as well.

 

[SirMinion]

That's because the Arrowhead Puffer and the African equivelent species the Congo Puffer, are the only puffer species that rarely, if ever, eat snails.

never kept them before, but I'd imagine given they are also ambush predators that T. palembangensis would be included as well.

We had a Congo puffer untill recently (killed by a pH crash thanks to a ChacaChaca catfish) and indeed he was an umbush predator. 90% of the time all that could be seen was a pair of eyes above the sand.

Here's our Congo Puffer (T.Murius), may he rest in peace.

We also have three Tetraodon Palembangensis which are a lot more active & visible than the Murius ever was, but are still very lazy and would rather wait for food to come to then rather than to go out hunting.

Here's two of our Dragon Puffers (T.Palembangensis)

 

[Jason_S]

Sirminion, those puffers are awesome. I'd really like to find a dragon puffer one of these days...they are really cool. I had 2 congos for a while but lost both of them. I feed them shelled shrimp every 2-3 days and they just gradually kept eating less and less until they finally stopped and died. One of them was red and the other came in brown, but when I put him in the tank with a clay pot and some wood he turned an orange color. T. miurus is definitely a very cool puffer.

 

[chris_1127]

Found this page today which shows pics it calls "tokay puffers". http/aqualandpetsplus.com/Brackish%20Water%20IV.htm
Any ideas from the pics what it might be?

 

[SirMinion]

Yep, those are Brown Puffers Tetraodon Turgidus which are freshwater puffers, not brackish. We have two of them.

Please tell me that the site's author was kidding with that first photo of a top down view of a figure eight puffer and his caption " Called a figure-8 puffer for some reason "

 

[jflowers]

Please tell me that the site's author was kidding with that first photo of a top down view of a figure eight puffer and his caption " Called a figure-8 puffer for some reason "

LOL, I think that must have been sarchasm.

Jon

 

[SirMinion]

Please tell me that the site's author was kidding with that first photo of a top down view of a figure eight puffer and his caption " Called a figure-8 puffer for some reason "

LOL, I think that must have been sarchasm.

Heck, I hope so!