Beware the bronze puffer

[Opcn]

okay Ive got a bronze puffer who isnt a very good eater, he eats snails when there tiny and he will eat frozen BS but hes just not very motivated he eats flake too but just little tiny bits. He is in with one ZD (its a fry that untill recently was too small to go in with the others) two endler fry, a male and female endler,a small platy, and a Dwarf frog; a weak ago he bit twice into the platties tail and once into the FE's, Came home today to find all of the FE's fins except the anal gone to nothing more than a few points (the exact size of the puffer beak) thats all of them, no swimming at all, shes been a picky eater since I got her, I'm sure she was raised on Blood worms I put her in my 12 gallon blood worm culture and hopefully she will eat her self to health but she has no fins so she cant swim. I hope she lives, thats what she gets for hanging around with a puffer (they look very similar, different face and he has a shorter body but there the same color and have fins of the same shape) But I'm rambleing, Be careful!

 

[Puffer_freak]

It always annoys me when people will insist on keeping puffers with other fish! You know they are vicous, so why do it?

Puffers are notorious fin nippers and the like, so I'd be very surprised if you didn't know!



Rant over, and sorry for the harsh words, butI feel it something that has to be said.

 

[SirMinion]

It always annoys me when people will insist on keeping puffers with other fish! You know they are vicous, so why do it?
Puffers are notorious fin nippers and the like, so I'd be very surprised if you didn't know!

I have to agree. All puffers are preditory and all puffers are aggresive and bullying towards other fish, especially 'finny' fish .

This is very common knowledge, ignorance is no excuse, so why risk it?

Very occasionally an individual puffer's personality proves the exception to the rule, but this is highly rare and should only be attampted with constant monitoring and a back-up plan.

 

[Opcn]

Puffers are all predatory, but so are tetras and danios; at 3 inches the bronze isnt a piscavor like say a congo and they dont have the reputation as horrid finnippers that GSP's and SA's get and the occasional finnip doesnt concern me (I find that in a situation were my fish are on there toes I get fewer signs of boredom and better colors, which leads me to believe that my fish are happier and healthyer when there is some chalenge to there life) I dont keep "finny" fish because they dont have what it takes to keep away from the puffer, and its not asif my tank is overstocked its way understocked.

Puffers are supposed to be docile at young ages and this one is very young, I bought him about 3 weekes ago and since then he has grown from 3/5ths of an inch to about 7/8ths so hes obviously very young, which Is why I have him in the ten to grow out while I establish the snail population in the 240.

You two act as if puffers have a monopoly on being grumpy, there are lots of grumpy and predatory fish in nature, and in fishtanks, we cant keep them all isolated and shouldnt if we dont have to, solitary confinement is no fun at all.

 

[MAM]

let this be yet another lesson and example to future puffer owners out there that puffers are best kept in a SPECIES ONLY set up, that is if you care about your other fish..........................

 

[Fishy411]

Well i dont mean to argue but i could see someones reasoning if it is less than an inch.

 

[Opcn]

Well the endler died, Her fins started to grow back but she still wouldnt eat and her poo started comeing out all white and stringy, I'm treating the liveing fish for internal parasites and hopeing noone else gets sick. I should have yanked her when she first stopped eating but I thought the problem would correct itself, guess the puffer just couldnt pass up a sick fish for lunch.

 

[a1wonder]

Well i dont mean to argue but i could see someones reasoning if it is less than an inch.

Dwarf puffers are less than an inch but god beware the day that little trogdor ever made it somehow into the community tank I could see within an hour all of my white skirts dead or twitching. There is somthing to be said about all small puffers Little Fish Big Attitude! I think it is also an unfair comparison between a puffer and a danio

 

[J-Money]

My freshwater tank has been up for 4 months or so with the puffers and some of the tigers starting the tank out. Most everything else in there has been in there since late september or early october (except for a few that have been hitchiking in the ghostshrimp bags). So far everyone gets along fine, i've even seen my DP's seem to school around together. Sometimes they chase eachother around but not often. I think my tank being so big and with so many plants and hiding spaces everyone gets along great



hopefully it'll continue for a long time

 

[StingrayKid]

I doubt it will continue to be okay. Sorry to burst your bubble, but, once those puffers get to the full adult size, they will definately go after the other fishes fins.