Peruvian Puffers???

[dixaisy930]

I've never heard of them before, but I saw them at lfs a few weeks ago. The man said they were FW, and he had them in with platys! I would have loved to get one, but they had ick, and I wasn't sure about spending $10 on a fish I didn't know anything about. I have a dwarf puffer who I adore (she's in with platys and corys). I tried to get her a dwarf puffer friend, but he died only days after I got him.

Anyone know anything about Peruvian Puffers?

 

[ste2k3]

I kept an amazonian puffer last year which I think would be the same thing. mine was about 1" long. they are very active fish which are constantly on the go in the daytime, because of this, they will need to be fed twice a day with something like frozed bloodworm. although mine accepted dried food like freeze dried shrimp, it didn't do as well on these. they require soft acidic water although they would be ok in a neutral Ph. they have a sharp "beak" which needs to be kept short with a snail or two every so often. they are capable of inflicting a puncture wound on other fish but they aren't aggressive so it's highly unlikly. they do have (like a lot of puffers a toxic mucus which when they die or get stressed- can be released into the water.

 

[Pufferpack]

Colomesus asellus, aslo known as Brazilian Freshwater Puffer; South American Puffer; South American Freshwater Puffer; Peruvian Puffer; Venezuelian Puffer. (Look at the centre pic in my signature)
Probably the mildest of the puffer species, can work well in a non-aggressive community tank. Grows to about 3-4 inches, is an active hunter of smaller fish (mine hunt stray guppy fry) and can be nippy at times. South American puffers more so than most other puffers must have a constant supply of snails or hard foods to keep their teeth (beaks, bony plates) ground down, even then you may need to trim their teeth if they get too long. As with all puffers (with the rare exception) they will only eat live or frozen foods.
I keep 4 S/A's in with 8 Dwarfs, and other than the occasional nip from some of the groucher Dwarfs they all get along fine.