South American Puffer and Leaf Fish suitability

[ptfreelander]

Hey,

I'm going to be setting up a 55 gallon rather heavily planted and wooded tank for South American species.

The main focus will be several wild-type angels and a school of cardinal tetras. How well/poorly would a leaf fish (Monocirrhus polyacanthus) or a puffer (Colomesus asellus) do in this environment?

I have experience with figure 8 puffers and dwarf puffers, but not any other species.

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[StingrayKid]

Hmm, well, any puffer is pobably going to be a fisn nipper so, I'm not sure about putting them with other fish. As for the leaf fish, be very careful! They'll eat anything they can fit in their mouths, and they have BIG motuhs! He'll probably munch those cardinal tertras!

 

[ptfreelander]

Yeah, that was my concern about the leaf fish - I have never seen one in person, and so I have no idea how big their "big mouths" are, so I didn't know if they'd be able to eat cardinals or not.

So, are the south american puffers behaved much like the Asian species? If so, I'd be leery of the mix...I've seen what Figure 8s can do!

Thanks

 

[StingrayKid]

Fugure 8's can be very friendly. But the South American puffer, I'm really not sure. I'm just giving a guess saying that they are fin nippers, like most pufferfish. If you had a 5 inch leaf fish, it's mouth would be like 3 inches tall when all the way open! It's really crazy, I saw them being fed at a LFS before.

 

[Lithril]

Leaf fish should ideally be set up in a specialist tank, CFC has kept them before so can probably shed more light on this. Colomesus assellus (SA Puffers) are the least grumpy (there are still exceptions) of all the puffers but can't still nip fins, if the leaf fish does decide to try and eat it, you'll lose both fish.

 

[ptfreelander]

Well - that is a huge mouth on the leaf fish! I may have to set up an additional tank in the future to keep some, because they are awesome.

What about the south american puffer with cardinals and angels?

Also - has anyone kept the south american black ghost knife fish? How big does it get in captivity, and what are suitable tank mates?

Thanks

 

[StingrayKid]

Well, the problem with that is that as I've said a couple of times, the species of puffer could be a fin nipper. I'd do some reaserch on that. Black ghost knives get pretty big. You could probably keep the BGK for a while, but they can get like, a 18 inches long so, they need a very large tank.

 

[ptfreelander]

Hey,

Yeah, I guess the fin nipping could be a problem. It seems that each puffer is pretty unique, so it may warrant trying the combo out and seeing what happens. (Although with as hard as they are to find anyway, it may just mean no puffer for me.)

After I posted the question about the BGK, I read that they get to 50 cm (18 in)...so yeah, that precludes me getting one. A 55 would not hold one happily.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[SirMinion]

This is what happened to seven of our tetras overnight when we ran out of our Puffer's usual live food.

Needless to say, the remaining nine tetras have been moved...

Do not put small fish or fish with large or flowy fins with puffers!


.

 

[CFC]

Leaf fish and puffers are both species tank only fish IMO, neither take well to sharing with tankmates of other species in my experiences. Im afraid if you stick with the tetras you will be hard pressed to find any suitable oddball tankmate, nearly all oddball species are predatory towards small fish.

 

[ptfreelander]

Hence why they are "oddballs"...

Thanks for your help, everybody!