Friends For A Figure 8 Puffer?

[nikkifro8994]

so i have a 20 gallon tank that my figure 8 puffer is going into soon and i was wondering what other fish i could put in there. i know a few other figure 8's if i break up lines of sight. but what else can i put in there?

salinity at 1.005
temp is 78-82
filter for a 30 gal

so what fish and how many can i house with my 1 figure 8 puffer? preferably fish that eat similar food

 

[divegirl]

Hi, F8's, as with the majority of Puffers do better in a species only tank. There has been some success keeping them with GSP's [Green Spotted Puffers] but in the end the GSP's will out grow them [they also need different sg].
In 20g you could house two F8's....just, as long as your filtration can cope.
The only other alternative that I know of....A friend keeps his one with some Bumble Bee Gobies....but the Puffer may well see them as a rather expensive snack. His F8 is a particularly docile fish.

Puffers are at best solitary fish and do not need tank mates as long as they have an interesting environment.

Lisa x

 

[Dominus_XVIII]

Hi, F8's, as with the majority of Puffers do better in a species only tank. There has been some success keeping them with GSP's [Green Spotted Puffers] but in the end the GSP's will out grow them [they also need different sg].
In 20g you could house two F8's....just, as long as your filtration can cope.
The only other alternative that I know of....A friend keeps his one with some Bumble Bee Gobies....but the Puffer may well see them as a rather expensive snack. His F8 is a particularly docile fish.
Puffers are at best solitary fish and do not need tank mates as long as they have an interesting environment.

Lisa x

I agree with Lisa, cohabing your puffer isnt advised very often as they have the tendency to fin nip. I would also advise getting a much larger tank if you decide to cohab or create a species tank. The general rule for a F8 puffer is 15-20gallons each. I currently own two F8s in a 50gallon bowfront along with a few mollies and platies, they get along most of the time but once in a couple of months the puffers do nip a bit of the molly's fins. The average F8 also maxes out at 3" or 7.5cm but the bigger tank you have the better and faster your puffers will develop and grow. Hope it goes well for you what ever direction you choose and post some pics I would love to other puffers on the forum .

- Dominic

 

[Sara0229]

I had mollies with mine but the mollies were so active it scared my f8's when they were trying to eat snails so they got re-homed. Oh and the puff's killed two. I also tried orange chromides but they are hard to find and very water sensitive. I had a water issue awhile ago and only 1 survived so I have one of these but he is very skittish and I would think too big for your tank anyway. I recently tried some of my son's guppies. The guppies first added were a batch of 9 both males and females just under an inch long (I was thinking, breeding fish = free snacks!). The f8's haven't fin nipped them much but I did add some floating plants for the guppies to hide in. Next, because there seemed to be no other choice- not my idea, we added about 40 tiny guppy babies. I figured they'd all be eaten by morning, and I was ok with that! But 11 have survived. And most of these will be re-homed soon as they get a tad bigger. As for the breeding I have only seen 1 baby and it was gone in a matter of days, not sure who ate it though. The f8's and guppies don't seem to mind each other at this point but I won't be surprised if they turn on them one day. So I guess you could try adding a few, like 2-3 in your tank but because of the size of your tank I would get all males or all females just in case you end up with extras. They do add some more movement to the tank and eat a small amount of algae. BB gobies! Love these guys. I over bought just in case and out of 12 I now have 4. I guess they were the most aggressive of the bunch. They are not afraid of the f8's and even follow them around trying to snatch a piece of snail. They will not however eat flake food but prefer live stuff and mine get frozen bloodworm's. They do have lots of little caves they can hide in away from the f8's, so I'm sure that helps. I would think these may be one of your best choices because they are small. Just be sure to get a few because they do better in groups.

 

[myenigmaself]

I've had good luck with Orange Chromides, although I agree with the water sensitivity comment. I started out with a dozen BBGs with my 4 F8s almost three years ago, and I'm down to 3 BBGs. I don't know if they've died of old age and they were then eaten by the F8s, or if the F8s got hungry and hunted them down, but twice I've seen the puffers swimming around with a BBG head hanging out of their mouth. They also ate the two mollies I had in there with them. Best of luck!