Dragon Puffer Info

[StingrayKid]

Hey all, I'm on the brink of a big tank conversion and I'm going to have a matured 55 gallon tank available for a new resident. My tropical community that live in this tank will be going to a 46 gallon tank which currently is my marine reef, which is being upgaded to a 90 gallon. (I've got a lot on my mind ) I've been thinking about it and I decided I'd like to go with a predatory type of oddball that would live alone in this tank, with also in mind that I really love puffers. So, I came across the Dragon Puffer (Tetrodon Palembangensis) on a website I visit. These look like what I'm looking for, and I would like to know some basic care for the puffer and what type of environment they prefer (low lighting or high lighting, water perameters, decor, diet, etc). Any help would be appreciated.

 

[nmonks]

These aren't especially difficult fish, but as your probably realise they can't be kept with tankmates except possibly armoured catfish. They can and do eat small fish, though they happily take mussels, krill, bloodworms, and so on. Live river shrimp and snails are probably the optimal diet as these will help wear down their teeth (though fish-eating puffers don't usually have the same problems here as, say, South American puffers).

They are fairly territorial towards one another, though some people have kept multiple specimens in large aquaria, so don't fall into the category of "psychotic" fish like some other Tetraodon spp. I believe they have been bred in captivity a few times. Not very active, so don't need a lot of swimming space, though as with puffers generally anything you can do to maintain water quality (such as providing lots of water and filtration) will help.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[StingrayKid]

Okay sounds good. I'm running a fluval canister filter in there now so to be safe I'll add another canister for extra water filitration. Thanks for the info.