Looking for a puffer

[untilitsleeps]

Does anyone know what puffer is going to go well in my community tank? my local fish shop told me a buna/abnu/abu or something along those lines would go in my tank ok. i looked in the sticky at the top but didnt see it listed so i assume ive got it totally wrong lol. i know puffers dont usually go well in a community tank but he said this particular species will be ok with my current fish. size isnt too important but he has to be big to be ok in my tank.

1x snakefish
1x porroon shark
2x pangasius catfish
1x suckermouth catfish
1x tigerbarb
1x silver arawana
1x south american stingray

I was thinking of getting a fire eel, but would that mean the end of my tiger barb?? he's doing ok, he's tiny and is small enough to be eaten by most of the fish in with him but he's survived?

 

[CFC]

What size tank do you have? Unless it is something in the region of 500 gallons then i wouldnt advise adding a MBU puffer to the fish you already have. MBU's are the largest growing species of pufferfish and can reach sizes of around 36" in length, they are one of the least aggressive species and can be combined with fish that are too large to eat but too small to been seen as a threat. Since the fish you already have are all large growing species (the arowana alone needs a 300 gallon tank) then adding the puffer would just cause problems IMO.

 

[untilitsleeps]

The tank is around 650 gallons, (not in my home) i understand im currently at its stocking limit for the fish i have, but what do you think about adding one to a tank of this size? my fish dealer thinks a couple of tiger oscars will look just as good, but im worried they are too agressive.

 

[CFC]

IMO a couple of oscars would be a much better choice of fish, using puffers in communities is a dangerous game as they can do extreme ammounts of damage to other fish in a very short time should the mood take them. Oscars are not a aggressive fish unless placed into tanks that are too small, a adult oscar needs at least 75 gallons to call its own as a territory which in 650 gallons is not going to be a problem.

The other thing that worries me slightly is the snakefish, do you know exactly what species of fish it is? If the fish is a snakehead then your tank could be heading towards a bloodbath, some species of snakehead grow to huge sizes and can literally rip other fish into pieces if they are hungry or feel there is not enough room for the both of them.

 

[untilitsleeps]

The snakefish is actually a reedfish or ropefish depending on what name you use, its only small and doesnt grow to large, the tank is a display tank in a resteraunt and at the moment, looks silly with 2 very small fish and a few large ones, so we want to even it out about, having read up on the MBU (i can do that now i know what is lol) i dont think ill be going for that, i dont fancy the oscars either mate, because they dont look that fantastic or exotic compared to the other fish.

do you have any suggestion for a big fish? i think ive ruled out any puffer now, but i certainly want to ad another oddball or two, in addition to another odball i was thinking of a 5 or 6 elephant nose fish, to get something shoaling in there, is this good with this set up?

 

[CFC]

A fish i would fully recomend for a set up such as your would be a group of Satanoperca jurapari (usually sold as Geophagus jurapari), these cichilds grow to a reasonable size of around 10" and have the interesting habbit of continually sifting through the substrate looking for food, they also look stunning and unlike most large cichlids only get better looking with age.

For a shoaling fish what about a group of tinfoil barbs? These get to around 12" and are constantly active, so much so that in smaller tanks their movement becomes annoying They look great as a shoal of around 10 fish in a large tank.

 

[untilitsleeps]

Ive got two tinfoil barbs at home i have them in my 300l tank and like you say they they never stop

will look into the other fish mate, thanks for all your help.

 

[Opcn]

Not to disagree with CFC's advice but there are larger puffers in salt water. As I recall the blue dot puffer (I dont know the real name) can grow to 42 inches. Also instead of 10 tinfoil barbs you could have 20 Giant Danios they have considerably less bulk to feed and are fast fish.

Opcn