Pufferfish an odd ball with spikes

To break my blog up a bit and so you don't have get lots of boring budgets, cleaning adverts for shops I've visited I thought I add a little fishy profile. I start of with the fish I'm not going to keep in my tank these will be the fish seen as non reef friendly or will get to big for my aquarium, I'll then add profiles for the fish I have purchased.

So here's the first one.
  

Common Name:	Puffer Fish
Scientific Name:	Tetraodontidae
Origin:	Equator
Diet:	Omnivore
Size (L):	17cm - 60cm (7in - 24in)
Water Type:	Fresh, Brackish, Salt
Optimum pH Level:	5.7 - 6.4
Life Span:	4 - 8 years
Conservation Status:	Least Concern

There are around 120 known species of puffer fish, the second most poisonous creature on the planet after the Golden Poison Frog. The puffer fish is found in tropical waters worldwide, but they rarely go into the cooler waters.

Biologists think puffer fish, also known as blow fish, developed their famous “inflatability” because their slow, somewhat clumsy swimming style makes them vulnerable to predators. In lieu of escape, puffer fish use their highly elastic stomachs and the ability to quickly ingest huge amounts of water (and even air when necessary) to turn themselves into a virtually inedible ball several times their normal size. Some species also have spines on their skin to make them even less palatable.

If a fisherman catches a puffer fish, they will never touch the spikes as they are highly toxic to humans and animals.

Although there are a number of animals that prey on the puffer fish, these predators often meet with a nasty end. When the puffer fish is threatened it inflates it's body with air exposing the long, sharp, toxic spikes which normally intimidates the predator into retreating. If however, an animal does manage to eat the puffer fish, it will often be poisoned by the toxins in the spikes or the toxin that is released from the organs of the puffer fish when it dies.

Despite the toxins in the puffer fish, some animals such as sharks are able to eat the puffer fish without becoming harmed. It is important also to know that not all species of puffer fish are actually poisonous and these species are preyed upon by larger fish, sharks and also humans.

Despite the puffer fish having such a deadly toxin, there are some species of puffer fish whose meat is eaten in Japan and Korea as a local delicacy. Special chefs are trained to cut the fish so that the fish does not poison the consumer. Other species of puffer fish produce and release a toxin into their organs when they die to harm the thing that ate them.

Emmy award-winning filmmaker John Downer was filming the upcoming two-part miniseries Dolphins: Spy in the Pod when he noticed that bottle nose dolphins would gently chew on a puffer fish and then pass it to another dolphin in the pod. He noticed that after chewing on the puffer fish, the dolphins would look very tranquil and dazed. Then it hit him: these dolphins were getting high on the nerve toxin released by the puffer fish.

If his prior knowledge of puffer fish toxin wasn’t an indication of what these dolphins were doing, their subsequent behaviour was a dead giveaway. They spent a great deal of time observing their own reflection on the water’s surface and acting very strange in general.

Downer’s crew was able to get this inside look through creative spy cameras, similar to what has been used for many of his other documentary miniseries. Underwater shots were taken with fish-shaped cameras while above water shots were taken with a camera that looks like a inconspicuous sea turtle. With the dolphins surrounded by cameras that looked like normal, everyday sea creatures, they were more relaxed and exhibited behaviour that may not have been captured with traditional filming techniques.

The smallest species of puffer fish in the world is the dwarf puffer fish (also known as the pea puffer fish and the pygmy puffer fish). The dwarf puffer fish is tiny growing to just an inch in length, which is a few centimetres. Despite the fact that the dwarf puffer fish is related to larger species of puffer fish, the dwarf puffer fish is not found in the sea but in just one river in India.

One amazing little puffer fish has been found to be capable of creating elaborately designed 'crop circles' at the bottom of the ocean as part of an elaborate mating ritual. The behaviour was first documented by a photographer named Yoji Ookata who later returned with a film crew from the Japanese nature show NHK which later aired an episode about the fish.

Even as articles bounced around the web it was still difficult to imagine how a tiny fish could create such a large design in the sand, even when staring directly at photographic evidence. Finally, video has emerged that shows just how the little guy delicately traverses the sand in a rotating criss-cross pattern to create a sort of sub aquatic Spirograph. The textured sand sculpture not only attracts mates but also serves as protection when the fish pair and lays eggs.

Reef Farming

Our reefs are some of the most amazingly beautiful places and also one of our most sensitive ecosystems as well. Changes in temperature, fishing, pollution, our own interest in have reefs in our homes and public spaces have all taken its toll on the reefs of the world.

Recently while searching for corals I found a company in the Uk called Reef Works who work on an one what I would call ethical reef keeping policy by farming corals to reduce our impact on our existing reefs. They have a very interesting process on farming corals which if you want to read more on this can be found here.

"At Reefworks, if a species of coral cannot be grown in a sustainable and viable manner it will not be used. It is for this reason that you will not find certain genera at Reefworks. We do not buy in corals, frag them up and sell them and then buy in another colony to produce more frags. The key for us is to be self sustainable and to produce healthy vibrant coloured corals that have had no negative impact on natural reefs."   

They are also involved in Mariculture more information on this can be found here.

So when your in your LFS then next time ask them about how they source their corals.

change of plans

So earlier in my blog I mentioned a trip to a not so local fish shop to me called Reef Dreams although I though at the time this was only going to be the place where I went to pick out the coral's for my aquarium well this has sort of changed.

Originally my plan was to purchase a Fluval m90 sea a couple of upgraded parts as it slotted nicely into the spot currently taken up by my gold fish tank but while looking around the shop the shop keeper showed me the Clearseal 900. Initially when looked I though great perfect size got home measured it up and the spot was too small I sat down a little dejected. The weeks have passed, I look at the spot the leaflet detailing the the package taunting me.  I scratched my head trying to work out a way I can get the bigger tank and then it hit me with a small change to the room and some new furniture to house the DVD collection.

Here's the new kit list:

Clearseal 900 (180 litres) + sump (75 litres) total of 255 litres which is just short of double the volume of the fluvial.
Ocean Life Over flow System
Jebao 3000 return pump
200w heater although Im tempeted to have 2 100w's incase one fails not so drastic drop in temp
bubble magnus c3.5 skimmer
tmc v2 illumenair 900 this the only thing from my original plan still left
d-d media reactor
v2 power pump for media reactor
tmc v2 auto top up
2 Jebao  wp25 powerbeads with twin controller