Do Dogface puffers puff up?

[Joeballz]

My friend has a Dogface puffer i never saw it puff up. do they puff up?

 

[Stormvillefish]

Hi ... I've only had one for a few weeks now ... and I believe the only time they puff up is when they are stressed ... mine only puffed up when I took him out of the bag with a net ... they hate nets ... it was kind of sad because he was definitely stressed and kept floating to the top ... good news the next morning he was fine and has been great since ... like a puppy dog any time I go to the tank ... begging for food ... one of my favorite fish so far!

 

[rioshilo]

I wonder this as well. I've had my black dogface for a while now and have never seen him puff up. However I have seen him spike out a few times like when a door slams or someone runs by the tank and spooks him. He gets covered with these white spots, like goosebumps. They can cover his face, body and allmost all the way back to his tail... sometimes he will only spike out like half or a quarter of his body... usually within 5 minutes it goes away

Here is what it looks like...

 

[AquaKnight]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15682019#post15682019 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Stormvillefish
... it was kind of sad because he was definitely stressed and kept floating to the top ...

He did that because when he inflated, it was out of the water and he ingested air to puff up, instead of water. This is a terrible idea because puffers, as documented by yours, have a terrible time getting the air out when they try to deflate. All puffers should be kept in water at all times, even when transferring tanks. The stress from trying to regurgitate air, can easily be life threatening to the fish...



OP, a puffer that is not stressed or threatened, and has a happy home has no real reason to inflate. All puffers can inflate, even Tobies, but generally unless there's a reason, they won't. Occasionally, you might catch yours 'stretching' by inflating though...

 

[sedor]

+1 do your poor puffer a favor and use a specimen container next time. Back when I first started researching puffers that's one of the first things I read.

Now all we need is someone to come on and tell us how they pinch their puffer to get it to puff Sorry, reefcast.com reference there.

 

[fish stalker]

I have a large dogface puffer and i have only once seen him puff and not fully. The light in the room was put on by another member of the family early one am before the tank lights and he got a fright. +1 Always use a container to catch these guys and anglers too.