need help ID on this black puffer

[COreefer]

I picked him up today and he inflated. He has gone back to 90% normal but still has a bulge. This is my first puffer so if anyone can ID this for me and let me know how to get rid of the bulge I would appreciate it.



http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showp...t=1&thecat=500

[moggyhill]

The thing about puffers is that they should NEVER be out of water. This means at the lfs it is placed in their tank underwater, to your bag underwater, and at home underwater. It looks ok now.

[zemuron114]

color morph or anthron puffers. Masked puffer i believe or black puffer. It might have air caught in its stomach. If it still has that bulge in a couple days you have to rub it out or it will die. Massage it gently rubbing down towards the tail and it should work its way out.. be gentle i had to do this with my prorcupine a long time ago

[COreefer]

Are these guys pretty hardy? He seems to be eating but can't find a whole lot of info on these guys.

[unleashed13]

you have to be very careful with puffers they only inflate do to stress or illness puffing to long can be fatal I had a stars and striped puffer for 2 yrs he was fine one morning a few hrs later he puffed up and died showed no signs of illnes at all.one thing i can tell you dont treat him with coper for any reason it will kill him

[unleashed13]

he is a black dog faced puffer my LFS just happened to have one in today I asked him what he was.he kinda reminds me of stimey from the little rascals.with that toothy grin

[COreefer]

Well, I massaged the bulge out of him...it was like he belcthed air. He is doing fine again, eating fresh clam and krill. Thanks for the info on the ID...I have found some good information on puffers in general.

This guy appers to be a black spotted puffer with an all black color morph.

[Absint Reefer]

looked nipped up a little in the pic did you get a good deal on him

[COreefer]

Yeah, he has a chunk taken out of his fin...it's on the mend though. He's been at the LFS for about a month. $80

[zemuron114]

i'm glad the you got the air out of him Anthrons are usuall more mellow then porcupines and spiney boxes (so i've heard/read) Make sure you buy clams at the grocery and feed it to him WITH the shell. It will help him keep his beak from overgrowing Have fun! puffers are great

[unleashed13]

if you have sand and not crushed corals as substrates i suggest placing some crushed coral in the tank also even a couple hand fulls will help mine chewed on it daily his teeth never grew large and his normal diet was krill squid shrimp and scallops and an occasional turbo snail and a few of my hermits he was over a ft long.oh yeh just as a precaution for you feed him before feeding the rest of the tank they do tend to be very agressive eaters and mistakenly nip other fish during a feeding frenzy.you will learn to love this guy anthrons have great personalities almost doglike they will bond with its feeder

[unleashed13]

oh yeh another tidbit for you if you have any artificial plants like plastic or silk id remove them nowI made that mistake i placed about 75 bucks worth of silks into the tank looked great for about a month.8 months later im still cleaning bits and peaces of them out of my tank and filter

[COreefer]

thanks for the valuable info zeumeron and unleashed...I fed him a couple of clams on Saturday and he chipped his over sized beak. I think I'll throw a couple of more in there to help him grind it down more.

[Misfit6669]

Cool looking fish Eric and lots of good info guys.
Brian