#congo puffer

Here he is.

Please LOOMK

PLEASE

Fishuary 2024 - Day 7: Pufferfish @fish-daily

I switched out his light for a smaller, more concentrated one.

Oh! There he is!

So you wish to know the inner workings of yam? Come closer, I will whisper.

1. What is he?

A Congo pufferfish, also known as a potato puffer! T. Miurus potatos come in a variety of colors including white, yellow, shades of brown, red, and orange. Yamuel is somewhere between red and orange. I have noticed he will change color intensity with mood, lighting, and substrate color through! They are native to the Congo River Basin. We’ve had Yamuel since 2021, and he’s about 4.5 inches long snoot to tip of tail.

2. What’s wrong with him/why is he Like That?

He is perfect! As mentioned before, evolution has made these sleek potatos perfectly shaped to bury himself in the riverbed and become a perfect ambush predator. They move like little helicopters. Yam is very good at bury and SNATCH!

He is also shaped like a handle held vacuum, good for sucking up prey.

3. Can he have a friend? He is lonely!

Yam prefers his own company- that is to say, he will murder any tank mates, as potato puffers are piscivores. Anything he can fit in his mouth, he can, will, and has devoured. Anybody bigger than him would likely just stress him out.

(Most, but not all, puffers do best as solitary specimens)

4. What does he eat?

In the wild, any unsuspecting small fish they can catch! In my sunroom, he is offered his choice of plump nightcrawlers, Dubia roaches, shrimp, salmon, tilapia, and the occasional treat of squid or clam. Now that I’m more informed, I try to avoid feeding my freshwater puffers ocean foods that are high in thiaminase as it can cause vitamin B1 deficiencies. I will not feed live feeder fish as it is unnecessary and risky to his health. I think earthworms and squid are his favorites.

5. Does he just sit all day?

Mostly! He will come to the front of the tank to beg at me though when he is hungry, and generally seems interested in what I am doing if I’m hanging out on the floor nearby as i often do. He has spurts of activity where he will “yell” and me and wiggle and dance if I’ve opened his tank without handing food. But for the most part he is a couch potato and you can find him buried in the back, lounging in his plants, or staring out with an unknowing look of longing. He loves to sun him facebody around 4 pm each day. He feels safe enough at night to not sleep buried!

6. How smart is he?

I don’t really know! He seems to recognize my face, our routines, and has enough brain cells to plot Yam Antics or be offended. Puffers in general are pretty active, social fish with their owners. Other species of puffs can recognize patterns/faces, and be target trained, but I let the Yam be lazy.

7. Have you ever seen him puff up?

Nope! We go out of our way to not stress our puffers into doing that (though sometimes puffs will do it just for fun/practice/to stretch. Mine don’t because they’re LAZY or they do it when I’m not home). I did get to see his predecessor, Potota, puff up once when she got scared of a worm dropped on her head.

8. What’s up with his eyes?

Most specifies of puffers have a layer of connective tissue that does things I don’t really understand, but creates the beautiful holographic look to them! They are brownish gold underneath, and he can move them independently! Always Loomking!

9. I want one! What do I need??

Thorough research! I am not going to go into full detail here, but- you need a fairly solid understanding of fishkeeping- they are not beginner fish. Minimum 20 gallons, and a tank with a longer footprint is appreciated. Deep, soft sand bed to bury in (3-4 inches), slow water flow, temp is usually 78-80 degrees. Vertical space is not used a whole lot (though when he lived in the 45, Yamuel would often take bubble baths in the filter output and massage his potato body. He still often buries near the filter output flow so I think my weirdo likes flow)

Access wide variety of meaty foods, possibly tongs if you value your fingers. Puffers are scaleless fish and thus more vulnerable to bad water quality, so please stay on top of your water changes and understand the nitrogen cycle! It is a good idea to choose a filter rated for double your tank size, as puffers are messy eaters and produce a lot of waste.

10. Does he know I’d die for him?

Yes, but he’d prefer you live a happy, fulfilling life fueled by love of weird creatures like him, spite for the evils around us, and rapture of tasty food.

This is also my life philosophy.

11. Can you pet him?

Depends on his mood and how quick I am. There are definitely times he is more amenable to my fingers in the tank. Sometimes I need to scoot his soft potato facebody out of the way so I can clean, adjust plants, position the siphon during water changes, etc. Sometimes this is acceptable and the yam is scooted, sometimes we try to eat my fingers with the earnest nature of a rabid underfed Victorian child with four buck teeth hidden by luscious lips.

I do not hold him, as that would be stressful and mess with his slime coat, making him more susceptible to illness. There is an another popular potato owner on insta who does this with a spatula and sometimes hands, and it makes me sad for the potato, who looks unbothered but probably doesn’t like being handled.

12. Where else can I find Yamuel content?

I only really post him here! Occasionally he shows up on my private instagram and Facebook, but the Yam Fam is here. We’ve been a part of Fishblr for a long time and I love the community. There are many other potato puffers out there on Insta and TikTok, a few which we are friends with.

I’m going to start a YouTube channel for chill yam and other fish vids, but with school starting that is very much just going to be a slow-paced side project.

13. Is Yamuel the only puffer/tank you have?

Nope and nope! We have 4 other puffer tanks of other species. Waldo is much bigger now. We also have two axolotl tanks, a shrimp tank, and a 56 gal community tank with angelfish, an opaline gourami, a red bristlenose pleco, and too many platies as well.

14. Horse lips?

HORSE LIPS I GIVE YOU HORSE LIPS