Congo Puffers

[Ralph]

What would be the minimum size tank for a Congo Puffer ?
Are we talking Long or deep?
I know that they are fish eaters, so if kept in a tank with a load of guppies(as feeders) would it pork out and kill/eat all in one session or as and when hungry ?
Also what does LOL mean. Thanks in advance

 

[Erised]

Afraid I cant help you with the congo puffer question here, seeing as I have no experience with them. I'm sure someone will show up later today and help you out though.

I can help you with what LOL means! It stands for Laughing Out Loud

 

[Ralph]

LOL, thanks for that Erised, that made me chuckle on reading it. I can also tell a bloke at work the meaning.

 

[Paul_MTS]

i think you can get away with a fairly small tank as they don't move much, just bury themselfs in the sand ready for an ambush.

 

[Erised]

Finally found something! If its a true Congo Puffer (not a spotted congo puffer) then it should grow up to about 6". The minimum recommended tanksize seems to be 20G for a single specimen

 

[Jason_S]

feeders aren't usually recommended for any puffer. if you breed them yourself then you could give them as an occasional treat, but for the most part you should feed crayfish, mini crabs or fiddler crabs, raw shrimp and other seafood, silversides etc. I doubt they'll mess with snails. the 2 congo puffers I used to have didn't mess with snails at all. IMO you should feed them shelled foods fairly often. Like no less than every other day. both the congos I had ate for a while and then just stopped eating. when the second one died I examined its mouth and I think its teeth might have grown too long for it to be able to eat.

 

[Opcn]

Congos really are piscavores, while a creyfish or crab is a good idea to help keep the teath down in the wild there diet consists mainly of live fish, so we should try and emulate that, other puffers should not be fed fish but this one should, But it will eat every fish in the tank, its stomach is about twice as big as it is and will streatch to an extrodinary size, Good luck

 

[Jason_S]

I know several puffer enthusiasts that have been keeping puffers for many years. I can pretty much guaruntee their congo puffers have never been fed a live fish and are perfectly healthy. In the wild, congo puffers don't have someone around to give it raw shrimp, crayfish etc. they have to eat what's available. I don't see why you'd want to give the puffer a less than nutritious diet. it will be much healthier if fed shrimps, crayfish, crabs, silversides etc. than a diet of live fish.

 

[Puffer_freak]

I know several puffer enthusiasts that have been keeping puffers for many years. I can pretty much guaruntee their congo puffers have never been fed a live fish and are perfectly healthy. In the wild, congo puffers don't have someone around to give it raw shrimp, crayfish etc. they have to eat what's available. I don't see why you'd want to give the puffer a less than nutritious diet. it will be much healthier if fed shrimps, crayfish, crabs, silversides etc. than a diet of live fish.

Do you not think that they are evolved specially (or if you don't believe in evoloution, so higher being created them specially) so that they live on this diet?

If you feed them what they have in their natural home, you can be sure that they will be happy and safe. You won't feed them the "wrong" foods. Its all good to do that from where I'm standing.

Also, they are ambush fish, surely they would be much better off with live foods. It would be better for them to ambush.

Anyway, I think you feed them what they eat in the wild (for once I agree with you, opcn ).

Finally found something! If its a true Congo Puffer (not a spotted congo puffer) then it should grow up to about 6". The minimum recommended tanksize seems to be 20G for a single specimem

you are correct! True Congo Puffers should be kept in a tank of this size. I think they are a bit like rays and they need a big blueprint...but I'm not sure, and obviously you couldn't keep rays in that size tank....I don't think.....

Spotted Congo Puffers are a different matter.

What would be the minimum size tank for a Congo Puffer ? A 20gal tank, as long as you are talking about true Congo Puffers, and not the spotted kind.
Are we talking Long or deep? Long
I know that they are fish eaters, so if kept in a tank with a load of guppies(as feeders) would it pork out and kill/eat all in one session or as and when hungry ? As said bu opcn, they would kill them all in one session.

HTH

Puffer_freak

 

[Jason_S]

I realize they're ambush predators, so are Arrowhead puffers (Tetraodon suvatti). I have an arrowhead puffer and with some training they are more than happy to "ambush" raw shrimp. B) Actually, I was lucky and didn't have to worry about training my arrowhead to eat raw shrimp. first time I dropped one in the tank he gobbled it right up.