[Puffer Pita]

I had a juvenile SAE in the 10g with the DPs. He's been with them for quite some time. He was in the smaller tank with them and when I moved them to the 10g, he went with them. I tried to get him out a few weeks ago to put him in the larger 55g with my other SAEs, but couldn't catch him without uprooting all of the plants. So he stayed with my two DPs and three otos.

Well, I redid the plants in their tank yesterday. I removed all the wisteria and sunset hygro that were choking the tank and replaced them with anubias and other larger leaf plants. It looks much better. Unfortunately, it seems that it also left my SAE a little too exposed. When I went to look in on them and see how the dust was settling in the tank from the Flourite being disturbed, guess what I found. Yes, my SAE was dead, with a good part of its belly missing. *sigh* Its only been a couple of hours since they were fine.

Please let this be a warning to those of you who keep saying "well they are getting along fine, no sign of problems at all." There were no signs of problems between my DPs and my SAE either. Not a single nipped fin. Nothing. And yet now it is dead. It can happen in an instant. This is precisely why we recommend against tankmates for puffers. I'm considering removing the otos now as well.