colomesus puffers?

[hellohefalump]

I'm thinking of getting a colomesus puffer (or two) for my community tank - nine minnows and five balloon molly fry, was also thinking of getting some barbs and/or congo tetras... any advice? would this work?

 

[LittlePuff]

They aren't community fish. As far as puffers go, they will do well in small groups. I'm not sure of the reccommended gal per SAP. Check out thepufferforum for reliable info.


Kim

 

[SirMinion]

Colomesus Asellus, common name is the Assel puffer.

Grows to around 8cm and is one of the very, very few puffers that can be kept in an community tank.

However, they will still eat your molly fry if they catch them unawares, and will fin-nip if they get hungry.

I would also advise against barbs. they don't get along with puffers.

 

[Rory the cat]

I bought a colomesus for my community tank. At the time it held a 10cm scissortail, 6 neons, 1 harlequin and 1 serpae.

After a few days both the scissortail and serpae were minus fins and the harlequin had been eaten entirely. Luckily I had a second tank near the end of cycling and could quickly rescue the others. Sciss and Serpae regrew their fins (eventually).

My advice from bitter experience would be stick to species tanks for any puffer.

Colomesus are messy little fellows too, so I would advise around 10 gal per puffer. I have mine on his own in a 16gal (with a few algae shrimps for clean-up/food). The filter uses polywool and a cleanwater t bag and pumps through 143 gals per hour (about 9x the tankwater). My water readings are always spot on with this method - but I really struggled at first with nitrite and ammonia.

 

[SirMinion]

I bought a colomesus for my community tank. At the time it held a 10cm scissortail, 6 neons, 1 harlequin and 1 serpae.
After a few days both the scissortail and serpae were minus fins and the harlequin had been eaten entirely. Luckily I had a second tank near the end of cycling and could quickly rescue the others. Sciss and Serpae regrew their fins (eventually).
My advice from bitter experience would be stick to species tanks for any puffer.
Colomesus are messy little fellows too, so I would advise around 10 gal per puffer. I have mine on his own in a 16gal (with a few algae shrimps for clean-up/food). The filter uses polywool and a cleanwater t bag and pumps through 143 gals per hour (about 9x the tankwater). My water readings are always spot on with this method - but I really struggled at first with nitrite and ammonia.

There's nothing better than advice from some-one with first-hand experience.
All puffers have different personalities and maybe in some cases it is possible to keep Assels in a community tank sometimes as the Aqualog book I got my info from suggests.

But on the whole, Puffers are a species tank-only fish.

 

[hellohefalump]

*yay* it seems ok... I ended up getting two gouramis, two flying foxes and two small colomesus puffers. They all seem to be living harmoniously... and the babies haven't been eaten! I'm keeping an eye on them though. Hopefully it'll stay ok... my lfs said it would be, and I trust their advice cos I work there and know the guy I asked knows what he's talking about...

 

[SirMinion]

Well good luck! Hopefully you've picked up some puffers with docile personalities.

Puffers personalities vary so much.