Puffers

[shelbidavis]

Is there such thing as a 'freshwater only' puffer fish?? I see a lot of brackish water, and I've heard that their are a few that are completely freshwater. If so, what is the species!?


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[jetajockey]

I keep 3 kinds of freshwater puffers.

I have a fahaka puffer, dwarf puffer, and some amazon puffers.

I think the amazons are the best as far as being able to be in a relatively small tank (29g+ preferable) and they are actually fairly community friendly, unlike most puffers.

 

[shelbidavis]

So pure freshwater?! sweet! I have a 46 gal tank. They are pretty aggressive right? I have two angels one gourami and red tail shark. Probably won't work with my mix huh?:/


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[jetajockey]

Most puffers are, although the mbu (think 1000gal+ tank) and amazon (stays small 5"ish max) are the most community friendly of the bunch. I have 5 amazon puffers in a 40b with a platy, small angelfish, and male guppy right now. Call them test subjects if you wish, but all has been well for several weeks now.

 

[shelbidavis]

Music to my ears! haha I'm getting one for sure, gotta let me know if something goes awry with them lol


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[jetajockey]

Will do. I think they'll be OK though, I decided to try them out after reading up on them quite a bit. My Fahaka is actually sorta community friendly also, but he does chase the other fish now and again. He's huge, though.

 

[azmodan]

I'd also suggest red eye puffers as they stay pretty small and you can do a single one in a 20g and possibly a few in a larger tank. Definitely a species only fish though, so they wouldn't work with your current fish. Could be a good reason to pick up a new tank! I had one for about a month until it succumbed to internal parasites and have never seen them locally since. From what I understand they're pretty uncommon but they're definitely worth inquiring at your LFS to see if they can order them.

Here's a great site for info: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/portal.php?sid=68bf4aa53ffa9a4544df2c0ffc5e7de2

 

[azmodan]

Will do. I think they'll be OK though, I decided to try them out after reading up on them quite a bit. My Fahaka is actually sorta community friendly also, but he does chase the other fish now and again. He's huge, though.

Got any vids of your fahaka? Love seeing those big puffers!

 

[jetajockey]

I'm moving him from the 120 over to a 55 by himself, I'll try to get a vid once he gets settled in.

 

[wildroseofky]

Here is a great site about all things Puffer. The Puffer Forum • Freshwater Puffers It was a big help when I got my puffer.

 

[Rivers2k]

red eye puffers or dwarf puffers are the only FW puffers I recommend unless you have a HUGE tank. I don't recommend SAP puffers (amazonian) to new puffer keepers. I used to belong to a puffer forum and kept puffers for over 10 years. All of us agreed they were difficult for the most advanced puffer keeper.

1. They need to be in groups of at least 5 or the stress
2. Even in groups they stress easy
3. Beaks grow faster than any other puffer so manual clipping is required even if you feed snails and other shelled food.
4. Water needs to be pristine and they don't handle fluctuation well.

 

[Rivers2k]

Oh I also recommend Avacado or Bronze puffer (same fish different names) You can only keep one per tank. Meanest fish I have ever seen but beautiful.

 

[shelbidavis]

Mm maybe I shouldn't get a puffer ? I don't have a tank for by itself and I'm kind of a newbie at fish keeping. Thanks for the input guys!


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[wildroseofky]

Puffers are hard to keep. Most are wild caught and do not easily adapt to captivity. I researched for a year before getting my dwarf puffer and still lost him. I cycled my tank for 6 months with a molly, heavily planted the tank, and made sure there was a healthy colony of various snails, and had frozen bloodworms and earthworms ready to feed him. He would only eat the snails and freaked out every time I tried to give him worms. He lasted about three weeks. He just lost weight and developed a fungus. I am going to wait until I can find a captive bred one. That way they will be used to tank life.

 

[MatthewsDyer]

I have some South American puffers


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[Pamiam]

I have 2 malabar puffers, 1 in a 55 gal and 1 in a 30 gal.
Puffy, a female (the one in the 55 gal) is housed with gold gourami, 2 dojo loaches, 10 cories, bristle nose pleco and spotted raphael catfish. They have lived together over 6 years.

I recently came across another malabar puffy, a little boy and I put him in the 55 gal. I thought they might get along since she is only 1 inch long, a female and in a 55 gal. She attacked the little boy immediately, biting his side and she would not let go until I pulled her off.

That is why the little boy is in the 30 gal with a betta and a few other cories.

From my own experience, Puffy gets along with everyone but her own species. And the little boy puffer is getting along with his mates. I have to assume the only way to keep multiple puffers together is to buy them at the same time.

 

[jetajockey]

Got any vids of your fahaka? Love seeing those big puffers!

 

[azmodan]

Awesome puffer! Nice to hear he's an active guy too. Thanks for sharing!


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[jetajockey]

Thanks. He's really tame, when I moved him from tank to tank I picked him up by hand and carried him. He didn't squirm a single time.

 

[lindenthaler.9]

Puffers are hard to keep and very few work well in communities. The South American may, but they have to be kept in groups. They also have the fastest growing teeth of all the puffers so you would need a huge colony of snails started before you purchased any. Like mentioned above, you'll likely end up having to manually trim their teeth and that's a last resort for anyone.

In general.. All puffers are wild caught. Always quarantine for a few weeks first, internal parasites aren't uncommon and they have to be treated. They're extremely smart and get bored easily so they needs lots to explore and a large tank. Even the dwarfs have a minimum of 5G/puffer. Lots of filtration. A lot find their diet to be the hardest to provide- food like shrimp, crab legs, mollusks should be given. As well as frozen foods like blood worms, krill and chopped squid.

In the future when you can supply them with their own tank, I'd recommend puffers. They really are great to keep if you know how to care for them. (They're also addicting, I started with pea puffers and now have several brackish puffers, on the fast track to saltwater)