Best Looking Fresh Puffer?

[crackmonkey]

Which do you think is the best looking Freshwater puffers you can buy for a 180 litre tank. Im thinking South American Puffers but thats only from seeing the limited photos of fresh puffers on the internet

 

[plainlazy]

Check out pufferlist.com they got pics and info on pretty much every puffer.

 

[smooth_bourbon]

oooh I like that red spotted puffer "Tetraodon cochinchinensis" Super cute.

 

[hairyadam]

Tetraodon biocellatus are cool

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Tetraodon biocellatus are cool

[snapback]917035[/snapback]​

sorry adam, but those are figure 8s--a brackish puffer.

a large colony of dwarf puffers would be good, if you have a good source of live/frozen foods for them. dwarves come in a huge variety of color variations beyond simple dimorphism, including large sapphire spots!

if you want something easier to feed, then SAPs are nice gregarious fish where most specimens can be taught to eat flake/pellets. SAPs can require lots of tooth-trimming if not fed enough hard things; however, since i swapped mine to Schultz ceramic pond soil and a diet of sinking pellets, the growth rate has dropped to easily a tenth of what it was.

T. cochinchinensis is gorgeous, but can be difficult to acquire. It is however quite territorial and is a lazy butt that likes to hide in caves except at dinner time.

T. miurus has an AMAZING red color morph, but is even more sedentary than T. cochinchinensis. Miurus also needs to bury itself in sand and is a piscavore (fish-eater), so it can't be readily kept in a planted tank or with any sort of fish. Not exactly a showcase to anybody other than the obbsessive hobbyist (if you get one, can i come over to see it? )

The Auriglobus genus seems to be in season at the moment as a lot of people have been asking questions about "Neon Puffers". These are very attractive smaller puffers (7-15 cm) that have a beautiful solid gold appearance. Apparently you shouldn't overcrowd them since they tend to grow irritable as they age, but they should be quite active in the middle regions of the aquarium. They are NOT to mixed with other fish as some species will exhibit swarming behavior on victims unable to escape a single puffer's attack (think stereotypical pirahana attack).

if you haven't already begun planting your aquarium, i suggest you get started on adding lots of very tall plants. most puffers value their privacy and need to have broken sight-lines if they are to be successfully kept in groups. plants that i think are great to have in a puffer tank are apongetons, larger amazon swords, and spikey 2"-4 "ground cover. things to swim through and poke around in will really help to keep a puffer entertained, especially if you ever add agile live foods like ghost shrimps or livebearer fry.