Need To Know Some Stuff About Puffers...

[rob newland]

Ok I have got the go ahead to get a puffer tank . But before I do I just want to find out a few things:
1. Can you reccomend some good FW ones?
2. How much, how often and what should I feed it.
3. What tank size would you reccomend (not minimum, reccomended) in L and Gal please.
Thanks,
Rob.

 

[Fella]

Ok I have got the go ahead to get a puffer tank . But before I do I just want to find out a few things:
1. Can you reccomend some good FW ones?
2. How much, how often and what should I feed it.
3. What tank size would you reccomend (not minimum, reccomended) in L and Gal please.
Thanks,
Rob.

Hey Rob,

You've definitely done the right thing in researching puffers before buying!

The essential matter would be to make sure the tank is cycled (or at the very least cloned) before you add your fish.

With regards to which puffer would be right for you, it's worth asking yourself, what kind do you want? Constantly active and swarming? Slow and ambushing? Large and boisterous?

The best puffer tanks, except for the smallest species imo are greater than 30g.

 

[nmonks]

There are various useful puffer resources on the web, including a couple of dedicated puffer forums (which I can't give you links to because of the "house rules" here, so you'll have to Google 'em).

But, in a nutshells, the first thing to bear in mind is that puffers generally need to be kept alone. So you are really talking about buying a single specimen for its own tank. If you can only spare a small aquarium, say 10 gallons, then the dwarf species in the genus Carinotetraodon are attractive. I have two C. irrubesco in 10 gallon tank with some cardinals and baby halfbeaks. C. irrubesco are very shy though and hide most of the time.

Go up to the 20-30 gallon range South American puffers become an option. Unlike other puffers, they do well in groups, though as with all schooling fish, bullying can be a problem, so ideally keep at least 3. They aren't very "charismatic" though, and never really become tame. SAPs would fine with fast moving tetras and suckermouth catfish, but they will fin-nip slow moving things like livebearers and Corydoras.

At 20-30 gallons, some of the predatory puffers like T. palembangensis and T. miurus are viable. They are around 8 to 20 cm long depending on the species. They are sometimes tricky to identify, and differ somewhat in personality. It's well worth reading up on a good pufferfish book, such as the Aqualog one, first.

With bigger tanks, bigger puffers can be considered. T. mbu is widely sold but is not hardy and is intolerant of nitrate (actually, all puffers are, but this species even more so). T. lineatus is another giant puffer. For these, you're after 55 to 100 gallon tanks, at least, depending on the species in question. They also need a decent filter.

There are various threads here and in the brackish section on feeding. Puffers will usually eat anything meaty (including tankmates), the question is what's best for them. Snails and unshelled prawns are the ideal, but many species have a marked preferance for bloodworms. Krill, brine shrimp, small pieces of squid and fish, mussels, cockles, even frozen peas are all suitable foods. Live foods will also be accepted. The small species like daphnia and brine shrimp, while larger ones enjoy river shrimp, crayfish, and of course snails.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[rob newland]

I'm planning on keeping one on it's own really so would I still need a 20-30 gal tank (that is no problem, just wondering).
I would prefer an active one if possible but that's not too much of a problem - I don't particularly want a massive one, but one that will grow to a decent size.
So you reccomend I get this book? I agree a book would be a good idea considering there seems to be a lot to learn...
Thanks for all the help ,
Rob.

 

[nmonks]

That's an excellent book. The only problem with it is that it is written by a collector who obviously has dozens of tanks. So he considers a species "peaceful" even if the odd specimen needs to be re-homed. As an aquarist with one tank, getting an aggressive green spotted puffer or whatever isn't so easily dealt with.

In a smallish tank, I don't think the figure-8 can be beaten, despite needing brackish. It's hardy, long-lived, very colourful, and very outgoing. At 8 cm when mature, it's not too big it needs a lot of space, but it isn't a dwarf, either. Brackish water fishkeeping is easy. You only need to add about 5-10g of salt per litre of water, so it isn't expensive, either. A hydrometer is the only other bit of extra kit, and while refractometers are better, cheap hydrometers are plenty accurate enough for brackish water fish, which frankly couldn't care less whether the salinity is constant.

After the figure-8, a tank with a swarm of South American puffers would be pretty cool, they just aren't as engaging. So if you want a "pet" fish, SAPs aren't the way to go.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[rob newland]

ok cheers for that I might look into one...
I just rang my lfs to see if they can get puffers in - they werent sure as the main guy wasn't in - so I will ring back on monday and see what they have - I will post my find up here.
Rob

 

[Rocker]

Try the site below for the best info on puffers anywhere.

 

[rob newland]

Thanks rocker .

 

[rob newland]

Ok popped down to my lfs and talked to the main guy there - he seemed to know his stuff about puffers and said he can get in figure 8s and also GSPs. I was thinking of setting up a tank therefore for a figure 8.

 

[nmonks]

Cool. Of the two, I think figure-8s are nicer. They are easier to combine with other fishes, and being smaller, it isn't so expensive to set up a single species tank if you decide to go that way. One thing about these Tetraodon species is they have lots of personality. Some of the other genera of puffer seem to be either rather shy or somewhat nervous and/or indifferent to their keepers.

Cheers,

Neale

Ok popped down to my lfs and talked to the main guy there - he seemed to know his stuff about puffers and said he can get in figure 8s and also GSPs. I was thinking of setting up a tank therefore for a figure 8.

 

[Rocker]

can someone point me in the direction of the rules? I cannot find them.

 

[nmonks]

Here you go:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?act=boardrules

The topic of including links to other forums has been argued to death here. The basic problem seems to be that some forums were coming here (as one of the biggest forums) to try and siphon off members to their forum. Since the busyness of a forum is what brings in advertisers and sponsors, this was obviously a bad thing.

Cheers,

Neale

can someone point me in the direction of the rules? I cannot find them.

 

[Rocker]

Umm does say 'competing sites'. Not sure how a species only forum can compete with a general fish forum.
A bit petty if you ask me.

 

[nmonks]

Maybe, maybe not. But you have to respect the owner's decision.

I suppose the problem is how do you define "competing". Let's say there was a forum just for puffer fish. You could argue that it wasn't competiting, since there is more pufferfish-related activity per day at that forum than here. Maybe 30 posts per day there, compared with 1 here.

But conversely, you could argue that by sending anyone with a pufferfish question elsewhere, you'd stifle any development of pufferfish content here. Further suppose that pufferfish forum also had a section on brackish water aquaria, since the common puffers are brackish that would be logical enough. But there's a brackish section here, too, so that would be definite competition. Members of this forum would have to parcel out their leisure time between the two groups, which is good for the smaller forum attracting new members, but bad for the bigger one having to share its members.

The simplest approach is therefore just to say no links to forums at all.

Cheers,

Neale

Umm does say 'competing sites'. Not sure how a species only forum can compete with a general fish forum.
A bit petty if you ask me.