I've been wanting a pet animal for some time now. Either a dog or cat but I figure my place is small and not pet friendly. But mom suggested I get an animal to relax a bit and for it to persuade me to stay home more instead of out riding my motorcycle all over SoCal. (She is definately not a fan of motorcycles!) I really don't want to clean up after any animals and feeding the thing? Well, lets just say I'm glad I have plants since I only remember to water them once a week, if that.
We went to Chinatown and I saw the cutest fish ever. It looks like it's smiling at you whenever it looks at you. I've always wanted a puffer fish ever since I was a kid so I bought 2 since one would probably be lonesome and I figured two can keep each other company. We got a starter aquarium and in went the fish. They looked really bored with each other and mom suggested I get 2 more. One big happy family... yeah not quite.
The original 2 are figure 8 puffer fish. I named the Puffer and Puffy. I should have done more research before purchasing the second 2 since these are green spotted puffer fish, which I named Shiny and Sinky. Supposedly the green spotted are very aggressive and it's suppose to be 1 puffer of any kind to 10 gallons of water... you can say the small space made them enemies from the start. But in actual the figure 8 puffer is way more aggressive. Puffer bit the fins and tale off of Puffy and eventually Puffy died even after being segregated for recovery. Shiny and Sinky kept getting their fins bitten but knew to swim out of the way or at least try to. Then Shiny and Sinky got some sort of bacterial infection that took almost a month to get rid of.
With a new huge tank, I ended up getting a Chinese albino algae eater to help keep the tank clean. Al sure does a good job cleaning! He's got his fins bitten but he's also a fast swimmer and knows to fight back. Now that Shiny and Sinky are well, I placed all 4 fish in the same tank and of course Puffer nipped tails within just a few minutes. Unfortunately, I had to segregate them so Puffer currently has his own tank and the others live happy ever after.
For the green spotted you can tell when they are happy or stressed. When happy, their head is iridescent - hence, Shiny's name. Sinky was named because well, when I got him home he kept sinking to the bottom of the tank. His belly was black but after a few days it turned white. When stressed, they turn black. They are all fascinating to watch since they all have different personalities. You can tell though, Shiny is my favorite.
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| Puffer - Figure 8 puffer fish... he swims so fast it's difficult to get a photo without being blurred! |
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| Al - albino Chinese algae eater. He keeps the tank sparkly clean! |
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| Figure 8's - Puffer and Puffy... RIP Puffy. |
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| Puffer eating his meal of blood worms. |
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| Green spotted puffer fish - Shiny and Sinky. |
