Toby Puffer displaying

[small alien]

My blue spotted toby likes to display. At me, at the glass, whatever. Tobies have many derived characters including loss of the first dorsal fin. But when the fish displays it makes a really cool ridge there and on the ventral side as well. And the tail flaring is part of the display as well as a darkening of the orange around the mouth.

Cheers.

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[gbru316]

beautiful fish

 

[Mikefallen13]

Very pretty! I have been thinking if purchasing one for quite some time but I was always concerned about it eating my corals. So does it ever pick at any of your corals?

 

[DustyReefer]

Very cool video! Thanks for sharing

 

[rssjsb]

Very pretty! I have been thinking if purchasing one for quite some time but I was always concerned about it eating my corals. So does it ever pick at any of your corals?

While you're waiting to hear from Paul, I'll chime in to say that my toby has never bothered the softies in his tank. He has, however, eaten every snail that's ever come into his line of vision. I strongly suspect that he also ate a peppermint shrimp that eluded me when I tried to remove it before adding the toby.

 

[small alien]

To follow on Robin's observations, mine is well behaved with softies, leathers, shrooms, etc. I have no feather dusters but I think that was a filefish I had a while back. Pervagor melanocephalus I believe was the name.

Back to the puffer, I introduced about a dozen small nasarius snails and the toby was super interested. They're all definately gone. Also, a few larger snails as well. If my Astreas stay stuck on the glass they seem okay. But if one tips over, it's gone. Also, my cleaner shrimp has extremely short antennae and I suspect the puffer. I don't know how it would be with LPS and SPS.

The fish itself is just simply awesome. The way the tobies swim and explore is so cool. And those green eyes, so alert. As many of you may know, tobies are part of the order Tetraodontiformes and this is the single most derived order of fishes. So, smart and highly specialized=cool behaviors. Also, it's extremely peaceful. Eats out of my hand. And I actually don't mind some carnivory in my tank as long as no fish are getting eaten. I'm uncomfortable with the short antennae. I don't want animals to suffer in my care. Hopefully the shrimp will get wise. But a little eating of inverts seems natural and, for me, it's acceptable that a toby would take a snail or shrimp now and again. Oh yeah, forgot, no more sexy shrimp.

Pretty easy to catch if you have to remove it. Cheers.

 

[Mikefallen13]

Very cool! I think I may have to pick one up for my self, thank you!

 

[small alien]

I think a 37 tall, if that's your current tank, is borderline in terms of size for a toby. The bluespot is one of the smallest ones. Some are up to 5". I think a 40 breeder footprint would be better. Mine is all over the tank. Some may have another opinion on that. Cheers.

 

[humaguy]

such a trigger-like profile....great fish...

 

[bazr57]

I want their names to both be Jeffery.

 

[small alien]

:hmm3:

I want their names to both be Jeffery.

:hmm4:

 

[Mr.Saltz]

I have been thinking about getting a toby for a while and I think this pushed me over the edge.

 

[small alien]

Little update on the poofer.