south american puffer!

[bichir boi]

hey, merry christmas!! Jst a few questions. I would like a puffer and have been researching a bit. I like the south american puffer. I have a 30 summin gal tank witha albino senegal bichir in. Would these two be ok ive seen these puffer in with other tank mates which arnt puffers.
The bichir wont eat it either as thes not to big and cant even get larger river shrimp in his mouth!!.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Happy Christmas!!

Unfortuanately the birchir will grow pretty quick and will probable eat the puffer in the end as the birchir full grown size will be much great than the puffers, also I don't think a 30 gallon is suitable for a senegal, you need to aim more for like a 55gallon.

 

[SirMinion]

Yep, the puffer might nip at the bichir, and as the bichir grows, he will attempt to eat the puffer...and when he does, the puffer will puff and they will both die.


/EDIT.. and Merry Christmas to you too!

 

[bichir boi]

well i ws told a 30 is ok, by the lfs and cfc. OK cheers

 

[LadyMinion]

Also, you must bear in mind that SA puffers have a tendency for overgrowing teeth. Even with a regular diet of snails they often need trimming manually by the owner. Not a task I would want to do on such a small fish!

 

[bichir boi]

ive heard which sux.....they get to a good size and arnt to aggresive. i cnt think of another puffer like that. Is trimming them urself the only way!!??

 

[LadyMinion]

ive heard which sux.....they get to a good size and arnt to aggresive. i cnt think of another puffer like that. Is trimming them urself the only way!!??

Obviously in the wild they don't need us humans to come along and trim their teeth, but for some (unknown) reason it's quite commonplace in the home aquarium. If you don't relish the thought of having to do it then I would suggest you forget them.

 

[bichir boi]

o lol so giving them crunchy foods doesnt prevent the beak growing to big? Ive read other threads and placing the food on a rock or peice of slate helps. Thats a shame i like the SA puffers. are there any others like that (the same size doesnt matter aslong its nt to small) and not so aggressvie as some puffers cos ive read SA arnt to bad.