Palembangensis

[erythrinus]

I was fortunate to acquire a small group of these fish. I kept 2 in a community tank 25 years ago but I was new to the hobby and overstocked the tank, losing most of the fish 6 months later. They never bit other fish or each other hand became very tame. I always wanted more but didn’t know what they were. Now I’m sure they were palembangensis.
I have 5 coexisting in a quarantine tank and no fights or biting have occurred. I have a small sucking loach in the tank to help with algae and they have not touched it either. I’m curious if others have kept this species. I think I will keep the group together unless they show signs of aggression.

 

[Chicxulub]

Good looking fish! Nice pickup

 

[Fat Homer]

Palembangs have been known to be able to co-exist with each other or T.Suvatti as long as adequate space and hiding spots are given for the amount of fish...

I used to own a pair that became a mated pair and would find the occasional bite mark(s) that would appear on the females body even in larger tanks, which i presume was probably part of their breeding behaviour...

They are cool fish in their own right but can also be very much like owning pet rocks at times as well...

Another good thing is you dont need to worry about wearing their teeth down as they are pisivores by nature...

 

[erythrinus]

Just to update, I still have 6/7 individuals. One died suddenly but had good body condition and no signs of trauma. All coexist in a 20 gallon tank and there has never been any aggression. They also tend to hang out clustered together on one side of the tank. I plan to move them to a 40 but they seemed so content I didn’t bother moving them out of quarantine.
Interestingly, some are dark brown with uniform color and others are the More typical reticulations and spots of brown to red. I was worried it was stress but the dark ones are more confident and they all eat well so I dunno.
Hopefully some will pair up when moved to the 40 gal.

 

[Fat Homer]

Just to update, I still have 6/7 individuals. One died suddenly but had good body condition and no signs of trauma. All coexist in a 20 gallon tank and there has never been any aggression. They also tend to hang out clustered together on one side of the tank. I plan to move them to a 40 but they seemed so content I didn’t bother moving them out of quarantine.
Interestingly, some are dark brown with uniform color and others are the More typical reticulations and spots of brown to red. I was worried it was stress but the dark ones are more confident and they all eat well so I dunno.
Hopefully some will pair up when moved to the 40 gal.

cant say for your case, but mine changed color when i changed substrate, on dark substrate they were very dark brown throughout...

Then when i changed them over to a light substrate they went really light brown with more of their patterning being visible...

so my take is that in my case they were just matching their surroundings to be more camouflaged but in your case maybe it has something to do with the darker ones being more dominant than the others in that tank...

 

[spotfin]

https://www.liveaquaria.com/divers-den/product/507659/humpback-puffer

 

[erythrinus]

Wow that’s expensive!
I think mine were around $15-$20 each.