The Doll House

PETER the Puffer

how one little fish turned our evening upside down

5:30pm While browsing the local Wal-Mart, Lisa fell in love with a round-faced, polka-dotted, fluttering-fin pufferfish. As a family we decided that we wanted to buy him to be a companion to Fairy Godmother (the male betta) and Kermit (the african dwarf frog) that we've had for over a year. Leave it to Wal-Mart to have the Paint & Hardware guy scooping out the fish. We told him what we had at home and asked if everyone would get along; he didn't have a clue. The only thing he could offer us was that the tank had over 20 puffers at the start of the day and it was down to four when we got there. We decided to get him anyway (did we really have a choice?). He was looking right at us through the tank and even swam to the top when the lid was removed; he was so excited to see us. We picked up a new tank with room for him, Fairy Godmother and Kermit to live. (Our current tank recently suffered severe trauma). 5:35pm We named our pufferfish, PETER the Puffer. 6:30pm At home, Earl started putting together the new tank and Lisa googled "green spotted pufferfish". Here's what was found: Life Span: 10+ years. Hmm, that seems awfully long. I came across a little yellow fish with black polka dots. It had a cute baby face and greeted me at the glass, like a puppy dog, appearing happy to see me. I had to have him. YES, this described my encounter with PETER exactly. I took the little cutie home and everything seemed fine as I went to bed. I awoke to find the rest of the fish cowering in one half of my aquarium, missing fins and tails. The little "sweetheart" was happily buzzing around the other side of the tank, belly full of fins. UH OH! Green Spotted Puffer fish are aggressive predators. They have sharp teeth and prey on shrimp, snails and other shell fish. It is best to keep your puffer in an isolated tank as he will quickly destroy all other tank mates. HMM, I think we might have a problem. We bought a carnivorous fish with sharp teeth; not our puffy little PETER? 8:00pm PETER goes into the new tank, against guidance from the tank instruction manual to wait a full 24 hours. PETER refuses to eat Fairy Godmother's fish flakes or Kermit's frog pellets; they're just not his style. 8:20pm Earl heads to PetSmart for pufferfish preferred food while Lisa is still researching on the internet.Their teeth are constantly growing, much like rodent mammals and providing rocks or coral for chewing on will prevent the teeth from overgrowing, unless you want to take the time to file them down. If their teeth get to long they will not be able to eat. File them down? If puffers are not offered hard food such as snails and clams, their teeth will grow to the point where they cannot eat anymore. If this happens you have to trim their teeth. To do this, fill two containers with 1 litre of aquarium water each. Add 1 - 2 drops of clove oil to one of the containers. Clove oil can usually be found at drug stores. Capture your puffer and place it in the container with clove oil. After a couple minutes the puffer will slow down and eventually stop moving. When this happens trim the teeth with a very sharp pair of cuticle scissors, or some other small sharp scissor. Supposedly, cutting the teeth is like cutting fingernails, but I found the teeth of my puffer to be much more brittle. When the operation is complete, simply put the puffer into the other container. When it wakes up it can be returned to the tank. I have heard that some pet stores will do this operation for you. Of course it is best to avoid this situation altogether by meeting the proper nutritional needs of your fish. AH? 8:30pm Earl calls from PetSmart with confirmation that yes, PETER the Puffer will indeed devour any tankmates. 8:45pm Lisa calls Wal-Mart to ask about returning the carnivorous puffer. They agree to take him back, with a receipt. They close at 10:00pm. 9:10pm Earl removes PETER from the new tank and adds Fairy Godmother and Kermit. Earl and Lisa say so long to PETER and wonder what the girls will say in the morning. 10:00pm Earl returns home with three head & tail light tetras to replace the one puffer. Lisa calls them the Kindergartens (they swim in a school).

**UPDATE** Earl and Lisa explain to the girls that although we all really liked PETER, he doesn't play nicely with other fish and we weren't able to keep him. In his place we got three new fish! They have been named Tabitha, Telly and Tim--the tetras--AKA the Kindergartners.