What a CRAZY night!

[justinl]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

I know puffing shortens their life span and ruins their circulation, so I hope this 5 1/2 hour puff has not done too much of that.

Puffers puff regularly to make sure that they can still do it... kinda like stretching. More than once a month or so, then the puffing is probably stress related and either the stress or the puffing or both will shorten the puffer's life one way or another.

kudos to you for showing that kinda persistence with the fish treatment. Hope the porky recovers. the normal behaviour and ability to eat so soon after the trauma is encouraging.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by justinl

Puffers puff regularly to make sure that they can still do it... kinda like stretching. More than once a month or so, then the puffing is probably stress related and either the stress or the puffing or both will shorten the puffer's life one way or another.

kudos to you for showing that kinda persistence with the fish treatment. Hope the porky recovers. the normal behaviour and ability to eat so soon after the trauma is encouraging.

It is true that they puff for "practice" but my brother (marine biologist, although he does not specialize in Puffers or anything) was telling me it really damages their circulation. Basically their stomach expands all around their organs and right over their spine which is why they can actually get round. Their spine bends with them but it is not good for them to do unless they need to. Apparently this puts a lot of stress on their circulation and sometimes even their organs.

I guess the air gets stuck above his spine and is hard to get out.

[Lance]

Good for you!
Any idea why he inflated in the first place?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Whew, neither of our puffers ever inflated for more than a minute. Good to hear its recovered.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

That is dedication. Wowsers....

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Der_Iron_Chef

That is dedication. Wowsers....

Yeah he means a lot to me! He my little buddy. The rest of my fish are cool but just kind of there and not like him. He's really important and it did not seem fair to not do all I could to help him. After all, Im the one selfishly keeping him in a relatively small (compared to the ocean) glass cage.

[saltysurfer]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Yeah he means a lot to me! He my little buddy. The rest of my fish are cool but just kind of there and not like him. He's really important and it did not seem fair to not do all I could to help him. After all, Im the one selfishly keeping him in a relatively small (compared to the ocean) glass cage.

I'm really torn about keeping animals as pets. I've thought it out over and over again and I still can't come up with an answer as to if its right or wrong. I read somewhere that some fish (can't remember which) only have a 3m territory, so that makes me feel a little better. I also like to think that they would have a better life in my home than in the ocean.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

Whew, neither of our puffers ever inflated for more than a minute. Good to hear its recovered.

Mine had never inflated more than a minute either until last night. But he also has never inhaled air...which of course they cannot really exhale by themselves.

I have been wondering all day about why he would have inhaled air but I really have no idea. I do know though that it happens in the ocean too. My fiance is from the caribbean and said they used to do that all the time in the oceans near her and then would wash up on shore, still alive until they suffocated. She said it was always really sad but they would put them back in the ocean and they would just end up back on shore. I guess once they saw about a dozen of them washed up on shore, all inflated. No idea why this happens though.

She also said people catch them there by making them puff up. The puffers like the shallow waters and the guys catching them, follow them around and "herd" them towards the shore until it gets stressed enough and puffs up. Then they simply pick them up and put them in buckets. Or she said if they don't puff up, the guys will poke them with a stick so they do. She said it was really sad to watch because the puffers were so curious and would not shy away from people like other fish...making them easy targets.

I hate to think of all the ways our fish are caught and how many die in the process. And don't kid yourself...stores can say they are coming from reputable wholesalers but unless they are in the country themselves, they really have no idea how the fish are caught. One LFS owner here in Vancouver was telling me that although the Copperbands they get in are suppose to be caught properly, he is pretty sure they are cyanide caught. He was saying there is just no way for him or the wholesaler to know whats happening overseas. And no one cares really.

Sorry that got waaaaaay off topic

[Keri]

That's crazy! Kudos to you for sticking with it for that long - your fingers must still be raisins!

Keep us updated on how he does

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

No raisin fingers...I wore gloves If I had not, I would have had bloody raisin fingers because his spikes are very sharp. They punctured my gloves!

He seems to be fine today still.