Colomesus Asellus

[cane76]

a friend of mine is going to university and wants me to take his tank off his hands(2 ft)and his south american puffer if i put him in my 50g what sort of tank mates could he have?

 

[CFC]

Rocks, wood and plants are great tankmates for puffers, anything else is likely to be nipped and harrassed continually.

 

[cane76]

oh i read they could be kept with hardy species whatever they are.oh well he can stay in his little tank then thx m8

 

[CFC]

I must admit i probably exagerated a bit there, there are some tankmates that "can" work with puffers but 9 times out of 10 it ends badly. You could try fish such as banjo cats, farowellas and other small nocturnal catfishes which the puffers may not even notice in the tank.

 

[Fella]

I'm a keen beliver that each and every puffer will have a different personality. What I'd do in the circumstances is get the puffer first, and slowly introduce a new fish if you're confident that he won't attack them.

The SAP is said to be the most placid of all the puffers, who will tolerate tankmates easiest. I wouldn't be surprised if this hasn't got something to do with their schooling nature in the wild but I wouldn't expect it to be totally related.

With my SAP who is pretty dozy, I currently have 4 Oto's, a South American Bumblebee Catfish, and another catfish (who is to be rehomed). He has shown no interest whatsoever in eating any of the other tankmates, at all. Sometimes he and the Otos swim together, and he will shoal with them (in a way). However, that doesn't mean I'm not prepared for the worst if it comes to it. I'm well aware one day he might eat the other fish for the sake of it, but of course, all indications have shown otherwise so far.

Also, with a fifty gallon, it might be a possibility for you to keep him with 3 other SAP's, but of course, the danger of a falling out is magnified.

 

[cane76]

as far as i know he has always had the tank to himself do you think this may make him less likely to tolerate tank mates?

 

[Fella]

as far as i know he has always had the tank to himself do you think this may make him less likely to tolerate tank mates?

It'd be impossible to tell really, each temperament would be different.

 

[cane76]

ok thx also will a 2 ft tank be adequate for a adult sap?
i picked him up this afternoon

 

[Fella]

ok thx also will a 2 ft tank be adequate for a adult sap?
i picked him up this afternoon

I don't know about sizes, but 15 gallons is the recommended minimum for SAP's.

 

[cane76]

fascinating fish i could watch him for hours.he likes to swim into the water stream just where it comes out the filter he gets launched half way round the tank then he goes back to do it again

 

[cane76]

i put 2 serpea tetra in his tank yesterday to see what happened and he just ignored them.but when i looked today he has nipped the fins on both of them

 

[nmonks]

Bit more likely the two serpae tetras nipped one another. These are notoriously "nippy" fish. I suppose if you kept twenty they might be fine, but two or three... forget it. Nip, nip, nip. With this species, I think the behaviour is actually as much predation as aggression, with many other characins (particularly among the Serrasalmidae) being known as predators on the fins of larger fish.

Cheers,

Neale

i put 2 serpea tetra in his tank yesterday to see what happened and he just ignored them.but when i looked today he has nipped the fins on both of them

 

[cane76]

yeah but i got these two serpea off my mother in law and they have been sharing a tank for weeks.no nipping at all and then one day with the puffer and they have quite bad damage its gotta be him aint it?anyway im gonna take them back to her(even tho she is over stocked)coz i dont like the thought of them getting hurt

 

[nmonks]

Not necessarily. Oftentimes fish exhibit different behaviours when they are moved or you add new fish to their tank. The disruption 'resets' their hierarchy, and the fish have to fight again to decide who's the boss.

Cheers,

Neale

its gotta be him aint it?

 

[cane76]

also when i fed them the puffer seemed to get quite aggresive