The Green Puffers have been recently splitted from the catch-all genus Tetraodon and placed in a genus on their own, namely Dichotomyctere. Usually three diffenent species can be found in the trade: the Palembang or Figure-8-Puffer (D. ocellatus, formerly known as Tetraodon biocellatus), the Spotted Green Puffer (D. nigroviridis), and the Real Green Puffer (D. fluviatilis). There do exists further species, but they are hardly ever found in the trade.
Despite coloration the three species mentioned differ basically in respect of the size they can get. D. ocellatus is the smallest species, it hardly ever grows larger than 6 cm, D. fluviatilis is the largest and can reach 20 cm. D. nigroviridis is in between and grows to 12-15 cm. All three species are typical brackish water fishes that tolerate as well pure freshwater and pure seawater. If kept in freshwater one must keep in mind that the water should be hard and (this is of real importance!) that the pH should not sink below 8. In such a water the biological filtration is essential. Puffers are heavy eaters and if the biologcal filtration does not work well there is a great danger of developement of highly toxic ammonia.
Green puffers are usually peaceful, as well against conspecifics and against other fishes, but sadly sometimes individually fin biters appear that can be a real plague for the whole fish community. To avoid this it is recommended to use as large aquaria as possible, to keep the puffers in social groups (4-8 specimens), and to feed heavy and diverse, but sadly no guarantee can be given against finbiters.
The actual green pufferfish (D. fluviatilis) is only found in India and offshore islands (e.g. Sri Lanka). We regularly offer this beautiful species, but only seasonally and in comparatively small numbers. Now, for example, some very pretty specimens of 3-4 cm in length have come in again. Some of the pictures in this post show these 3-4 cm long specimens, but some also show 5-7 cm long specimens from an earlier import.
For our customers: the fish have code 461702 (3-4 cm) and 461703 (5-7 cm) on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
