Does the community freshwater Puffer exist?

[andywatkins]

Hi all,

My wife and I are quite new to tropical fish. We have a 30 gallon tank with 3 gourami, 3 guppies and a Zebra Peckoltia in it.

We would love a peaceful freshwater Puffer to go in the tank.

Generally the advice we have heard in the shops is "you can't have one!" We get told most puffers are brackish water fish and all of them are aggressive to other species.

I have seen someone on this forum suggest a south african puffer is not too aggressive?

Because of the size of tank I guess a Puffer that only grows to about 3-4 inches would be a reasonable size.

So basically my question is, is there such a Puffer?

Thanks

Andy & Jill

 

[diVer]

There are no community puffers, they all like to nip fins and have very powerful jaws to do this with. Some people have had success keeping puffers in a community tank though. If you tried it you would probably have the most luck with the South American, but you're still taking a chance. If you do decide to try the SA you need to make sure its fed snails and the teeth need to be filed down every so often to prevent them from over growing.
If you really want puffers I suggest starting a species only tank.

 

[andywatkins]

Thanks for the reply, guess it's either south african puffers or a separate specied tank then.

Presumably if I go for the species tank I am far less restricted on puffer species.

If I got a moderately small 10-20 gallon tank could I put 1 or 2 larger 6-10 inch puffers in it?

Is it basically better for one big puffer or 2 medium puffers? O get the impression they fight a lot between themselves?

Thanks

Andy

 

[diVer]

Puffers are very territorial so you need to be careful on how many are in a tank together. Puffers are very messy and need 3-5 gallons per inch. 10 or 20 gallons is too small for any puffers larger than 3 or 4 inches. For the 10 gallon I wouldn't put in anything other than 3 or 4 dwarf puffers, or 1 SA.