mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 (edited) Initially identified Pao abei by exporter and eventually found to match Pao fangi and not Pao turgidus as it looked to be in the aqualog puffer references. There are numerous field guides and studies over the years that have identified Pao puffers as multiple species however after reviewing everything found over the past months I have now identified these as the Pao fangi with high confidence. I am far enough along now that I have enough pictures to start this thread. Looking forward to learning as they develop. Adult male non-breeding pattern Adult male breeding pattern Adult female breeding coloration Females seem to have a longer distance from eyes to mouth than males 29 April 2024 - eggs laid today female coloration and behavior outside spawning cave. male is seen inside cave guarding spawn (left edge of photo) +/- 20 eggs harvested from cave to coop container with methelyne blue and slow air bubbling through an easy flow sponge filter collar. based off Pao palustris egg collection I left a portion with the male so he had something to defend. Egg Container floated in 20 gallon tank for temperature stability. It will be replaced by a german breeding ring once the fry are all swimming 29 April 2024 (Day 0 egg development) 30 April 2024 (Day 1 - egg development) 1 May 2024 ( Day 2 - egg development) 2 May 2024 ( Day 3 - egg development) 3 May 2024 (Day 4 - egg development) 4 May 2024 ( Day 5 - egg development) 5 May 2024 (Day 6 - egg development) First fry hatched on day 6. Seen below "jumping out of egg," More updates to follow as they develop.... Edited June 11 by mountaintoppufferkeeper 6 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tlindsey Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 On 5/5/2024 at 10:17 PM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said: Initially identifed Pao abei by exporter and subsequently found to match Pao turgidus in the aqualog puffer references. I am far enough along now that I have enough pictures to start this thread. Looking forward to learning as they develop. Adult male non-breeding pattern Adult male breeding pattern Adult female breeding coloration Females seem to have a longer distance from eyes to mouth than males 29 April 2024 - eggs laid today female coloration and behavior outside spawning cave. male is seen inside cave guarding spawn (left edge of photo) +/- 20 eggs harvested from cave to coop container with methelyne blue and slow air bubbling through an easy flow sponge filter collar. based off Pao palustris egg collection I left a portion with the male so he had something to defend. Egg Container floated in 20 gallon tank for temperature stability. It will be replaced by a german breeding ring once the fry are all swimming 29 April 2024 (Day 0 egg development) 30 April 2024 (Day 1 - egg development) 1 May 2024 ( Day 2 - egg development) 2 May 2024 ( Day 3 - egg development) 3 May 2024 (Day 4 - egg development) 4 May 2024 ( Day 5 - egg development) 5 May 2024 (Day 6 - egg development) First fry hatched on day 6. Seen below "jumping out of egg," More updates to follow as they develop.... Awesome @mountaintoppufferkeeper 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 7 Author Share Posted May 7 6 May 2024 (Day 7 most have hatched) ( Day 1 Fry) The first to hatch were already starting to hunt today so vinegar eels were added to the container. 1 fry did not survive the night and was removed. I pulled the collar off an easyflow sponge filter and pushed poly filter in the center to force flow over the resin absorber. This was to try and start pulling excess methelyne blue or organics out of the water and keep the parameters in the container a bit more stable while hatching finishef 7 May 2024 (Day 2) moved to a short german breeding ring with some vinegar eels and infusoria / copepods for food options. Most fry starting to swim today 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 11 Author Share Posted May 11 (edited) 8 May 2024 (Day 3) A portion of this batch are eating bbs, or grindal worms, or vinegar eels, or copepods. All four options are being fed twice a day 9 May 2024 (Day 4) 10 May 2024 (Day 5) The first baby brine shrimp bellies Edited May 11 by mountaintoppufferkeeper 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 12 Author Share Posted May 12 11 May 2024 (Day 6) Action shot day 6 on the bbs hunt 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 13 Author Share Posted May 13 12 May 2024 (Day 7) 1 fry lost who would not eat. I will be adding in MW BW and WW options to future batches and attempt to limit that issue. Of +/- 25 eggs pulled +/- 3 did not hatch 2 did not make it past day 6. I still havent counted the total fry but nearly all of the remainder look great, look to be feeding well, and growing quickly. 1 or 2 are much smaller than the rest and they might not develop to adults 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 14 Author Share Posted May 14 (edited) 13 May 2024 (Day 8 ) 14 May 2024 (Day 9) Edited May 14 by mountaintoppufferkeeper 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 Nothing better than orange puffer baby belly’s!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 15 Author Share Posted May 15 @Beardedbillygoat1975 agreed cant beat an orange puffy fry belly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 15 Author Share Posted May 15 15 May 2024 (Day 10) Day 10 patterns beginning to develop. I expect to move the (at least 17) fry to a larger breeding ring this weekend to give them more room to grow and then into a 20 gallon with good plant cover 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 17 Author Share Posted May 17 16 May 2024 (Day 11) 1 or 2 are a little smaller but every puffer in the group is eating well. Spots ar3 coming in quickly now 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 21 Author Share Posted May 21 17 May 2024 (Day 12) 18 May 2024 (Day 13) 19 May 2024 (Day 14) eyespots now fully visible 20 May 2024 (Day 15) 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 23 Author Share Posted May 23 21 May 2024 (Day 16) 22 May 2024 (Day 17) 23 May 2024 (Day 18) Release day. Batch now has the full 20 gallon their breeding ring was floating in. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 25 Author Share Posted May 25 24 May 2024 (Day 18) Heavy feeding of BBS and grindal worms twice a day. To assurr they have enough food and to cause a population increase of scuds and snails 25 May 2024 (Day 19) patterns coming in daily now 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 Whats the tank maintenance schedule on this 20 gallon? Are you changing much water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 25 Author Share Posted May 25 (edited) On 5/25/2024 at 9:38 AM, Chris said: Whats the tank maintenance schedule on this 20 gallon? Are you changing much water? I personally base it off of behaviors of fish and visual cues. I do try and avoid water changes on fry until at least 1/4" long if at all possible. For the most part I use lots of live plants and light stocking levels help with limiting water changes and the parameter changes they csn bring for me. I use polyfilter ( id guess any color changing resin based similar media would also work) to provide insurance and a visual guage of water quality in fry tanks. I can watch the speed of the color chage to indicate how much excess nutrients are present. I run duckweed, water lettuce, brazilian pennywort, and subwassertang to help eat the excess nutrients up and maintain stability. This polyfilter has been in the tank for 48 hours with flow going past it. In my application for fry tanks it will go from white to light brown to dark brown as it absorbs excess organcis. It absorbs other concerns in other applica5ions and changes to different colors depending on what it is absorbing out of the water. I do swap out the filter floss in my boxfilters as needed that is normally every 4 or 5 days I also use ACCR powder as a conditioner normally and have used that many times to block any ammonia spikes due to meds etc https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/water-care/products/fritz-a-c-c-r-water-conditioner Edited June 11 by mountaintoppufferkeeper 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 27 Author Share Posted May 27 26 May 2024 (Day 20) The "UFOs" flying around like the ones bottom center to the top right and bottom center to bottom left are scuds. They will be less plentiful when the puffers get to 1/2" TL or so 27 May 2024 (Day 21) 15 fry counted today. They tend to hunt and relax in the subwassertang until the cloud of brine shrimp and grindal worms appears twice a day 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted May 31 Author Share Posted May 31 (edited) 28 May 2024 (Day 22) The markings on the fry nose and chin on the fry facing the camera were not present in Pao palustris fry; these markings may be unique to the fry of this species. 29 May 2024 (Day 23) 30 May 2024 (Day 24) Edited June 11 by mountaintoppufferkeeper 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted June 1 Author Share Posted June 1 (edited) 31 May 2024 (Day 25) Pretty social so far 15 fry going well. Two of the 15 fry have that keyhole eyespot. Edited June 11 by mountaintoppufferkeeper 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted June 3 Author Share Posted June 3 1 June 2024 (Day 26) 2 June 2024 (Day 27) 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted June 5 Author Share Posted June 5 3 June 2024 (Day 28) 4 June 2024 (Day 29) 5 June 2024 (Day 30) I started to add whiteworms to the grindal and bbs feedings today. 15 pao turgidus doing well and so far fairly social. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tlindsey Posted June 5 Share Posted June 5 On 6/5/2024 at 8:01 AM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said: 3 June 2024 (Day 28) 4 June 2024 (Day 29) 5 June 2024 (Day 30) I started to add whiteworms to the grindal and bbs feedings today. 15 pao turgidus doing well and so far fairly social. Awesome! @mountaintoppufferkeeper 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted June 10 Author Share Posted June 10 6 June 2024 (Day 31) Wandering through the subwassertang jungle hunting for foor 9 June 2024 (Day 34) First scud hunt recorded 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted June 11 Author Share Posted June 11 (edited) I am now not certain on the species I have spawned but will be shortly. The asian puffers can be tough to identify. I have found a few more field collection guides for Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and one for the Indochinese Mekong which all have some references and photos of Pao puffer species in the region. Based off of that info that i uncovered this morning, these are Pao fangi. Edited June 11 by mountaintoppufferkeeper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountaintoppufferkeeper Posted June 13 Author Share Posted June 13 12 June 2024 (Day 37) White worm and blackworm feeding. Puffers move in fast forward when a sibling tells them to clear the way 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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