Does anyone here have Freshwater PUFFERS ??

[blemay]

I'm wondering if any of you have Freshwater Puffer fish, and if so, do you keep them alone, or have you had any success in keeping them in a community tank???

My hubby loves puffers, but I have read that they are best kept in a species tank. I did read that one lady was successful keeping them in a community tank, but that is just one person.....LOL

They certainly are "interesting" fish to observe.

[MB75]

I have a 50 gallon tank with 2 different puffer species, altogether 11 pufferfish. I used to have one more puffer species but I gave them away.
There are also several small plecos in the tank.

[nyxWild]

i had dwarf puffers before. all i have to say is that they're aggressive. i thought it was just a thing where they do it when they're aggitated but mine went out of the way to take a good chunk out of another fish's fin. i even made sure the tank was not crowded with fish too to prevent it but it didn't work so yeah. just thought i'd warn you that you should not plan on absolute success with puffers because they are known to bite other fishies.

[TBFilly]

I had dwarf puffers and they were mean so I never tried anything else besides bumblebee goebies but since the lfs store told me the bb's were freshwater, I didn't have a problem. Unfortunately bb's are brackish and adding salt to my tank would have killed the dp's. DP's are so specialized in their care, I had a hard time keeping them due to parasite problems they always brought in. I couldn't keep a batch parasite free so I gave up. I still have the gobies, they are fine, it's been about a year. I feel horrible that they are in freshwater, but they are still alive, eating, and looking good. I wouldn't advocate going out to buy bb gobies, but maybe another gobie would work? I don't know about freshwater gobies or if they would do well with the puffers. I picked bb's because they were small and seemed to have similar color patterns as the dp's. I think that's why they did so well together. Good luck!

[nyxWild]

i agree that they are interesting. mine were really cute. it was cool because they swam differently than many other fish too. from what i've read they're good with otocinclus and possibly ghost shrimp, but a species tank would probably be most successful. they like tanks with lots of plants and not ones that are open because the plants prevent them from seeing the other puffers and reduces aggression. anyhoo. hope you have fun. cheers!

[garfieldnfish]

I have 3 dwarf puffers in a 15 gal with a Chinese Algae eater. No aggression between them. But the puffers bite me whenever I mess with the tank. I feed them ponds snails and I have one freckle on my forearm. Whenever I put my arm in the tank to do anything they come and bite the freckle. I believe they think it's a snails, because they always go for the same spot, but the point is it hurts. I would not add them with any fish. My CAE is large and aggressive himself. Had to move him out of my community tank and got the tank for him. I added the puffers as an afterthought and it worked out well. No competion for food and they stay out of each others way.

[myles]

well i have a nile puffer/fahaka or banded puffer. and i cant keep him with enything else but hes a very interesting fish iv never had a fish befor that looked at you as much and almsot damanded attention its hard to explain haha, but even more so than oscars even this fish blows my mind ahha. but i do keep him with guppies, it acualy seems to make him more active and swim around more with them but ofcorse if he gets hungery they do tent to disipear. also he is a compleatly freshwater puffer, i use no salt, apparenty they can live brackish but they actualy do better in freshwater. Only draw back is they can reach up to 17 inches! so not alot of peaople are willeing to dedicate a whol tank to one fish.

[Mr Aquarium]

I use to have I think a dwarf puffer ina f/w community and he didn;t bother anything,
stayed his self mostly.
If it was me, I would get a nice tank like a 55g add a few Green Spotted Puffers {GSP}
and then add some mollys, Argenta's and a Colubian Shark or two.
My Nieghber has a set up like that and his fish bother nothing else, unless he drops a fedder in there,
then the argenta;s are like frickin wolfs trying to catch the feeder, and they are super quick fish.
I think he has 5 Puffer, 4 Argentas, two colubian sharks.
I am trying to do a Brachish tank "got two of his puffer off him, but seems something isn;t right,
one puffer don;t even act like it did in his tank and won;t eat.
We bought another off him yesterday hoping it was just a lonely thing and needed a tank buddy,
So we'll have to wait n see.

[hawkjm73]

I keep a pair of dwarf puffers in my 45gal community. You can see my fish list in my sig. I have had no real trouble with them, though they are a bit difficult to get fed. They won't eat anything for me but bloodworms. (I use frozen.) I have to feed flakes to the majority of the fish, then give the worms. My faster fish tend to gobble, so I have to give a lot so the puffs can get some. They are neat to watch. They stalk the worms, line up with one end, then suck them in like spagetti. They are very well camoflaged. It can take quite some time to find them, even when they are out in the middle of the tank.

[Jason_S]

the truth is most freshwater puffers are extremely aggressive or at best relentless fin-nippers. most puffers do best in species tanks. the only puffer I've ever seen recommended in a community setup is the South American Puffer...Colomessus assellus but these can also be nippy. You could keep extremely quick fish with any puffer but there's always the chance the quick fish will be caught sleeping and be eaten. I have an arrowhead puffer alone in a 20 gallon. He/she is a very cool puffer but also extremely aggressive.

Mr Aquarium, the only problem with your friend's setup is that Colombian sharks grow to ~18" or so and require full salt as adults. Then again GSP's also require full salt, or at least high end brackish, as adults so in that respect they are compatible. However the sharks (well catfish really) will eventually need a larger tank. One other thing, what is an Argenta?

[rohape]

i have two dwarf puffers in my community tank also. they dont bother anyone, just keep a good supply of snails to keep them happy which is what i use them for is snail control. i would say it just comes down to luck of the draw.

[Zcyther]

I used to have one several years ago and he got along well with the other fish in my tank 29 gal. mainly cichlids. I got him cause he was "cool" looking and didnt know he was brackish in my freshwater tank I had two or three planets and a small cave he didn't seem to mind it though grew into my favorite fish very quickly and I spoiled him rotten i'd feed him alot of live foods starting with black worms to brine shrimp to guppies to rosey reds sometimes giving him snails, I was young at the time and thought if he liked worms so much why not the huge night crawlers that would come out after it rains and gave those to him as a treat and indeed he enjoyed them he'd even eat some foods from my hand. There was only one fish that he didn't like in my tank and that was a Green Severum that would pick on a ocsar I in the tank and would end up defending it from time to time. I guess it's true when it is said to be a exception to every rule. I also had plecos, fire mouth, convict.

[DUSTIN323]

Have you visited dwarfpuffers.com? It has some good info. I've always heard they do best either one alone or one male & two females. The only tankmate for them that you can find alot of info on is otos. Though I have heard of them being with other fish. I believe on aquahobby.com I had read someone said they had them with some type of bigger tetras I believe lemons.

[Lydia]

Just FYI this thread is almost a year old.

[DUSTIN323]

OH. HAHAHA. I didn't pay attention and saw it had a new reply. I knew that was some weird usernames.

[micstarz]

lol Dustin