Puffer's aggressive? eat snails?

[CatFud4]

I've heard that puffer fish are aggressive towards other fish in the tank. Does anyone know just how aggressive?

I've got 4 silver tip tetras, 4 glow light tetras, 1 high fin white skirt tetra, 1 cory cat, 1 flounder like fish, and an african dwarf frog.
it's a 55 gallon tank with a sand substrate (changed from gravel to sand for the flounder/sole - i don't know anything about that particular fish. It was an early addition before i started researching fish before buying them)

I've heard that puffers will eat snails... at least some kinds of puffers, and some kinds of snails.
I'd like to put a few of those little tiny snails in my tank, but i'm afraid of them getting out of hand, and i think a puffer would help to keep them in check.
I may be way off track. does anyone know anything about these guys?
would the puffer accept life with my current crowd? or would they clash?

i got the idea for the snails and puffer here:
http://www.nature-aquarium.com/aquascape.htm

many thanks!!

[Aquarius0015]

You might wanna try to post in the BW forum. Even though some puffers are FW, all puffer talk belongs over there.

But yes, puffers do tend to get aggressive. You wouldn't have to worry about snail population getting out of hand. There simply wouldn't be a snail population.

[CatFud4]

wow

their appetite for snails is that voracious?

interesting.

I was expecting an answer on the other end of the scale... like... "puffers only occasionally touch snails..."

thanks for the reply. I'll try my luck in that section.

[OrionGirl]

Moving to Brackish. OG

Very few puffers are really appropiate for a community tank. I tried having the dwarves in my planted community, and ended up having to move the cories and tetras. They are okay in with bristlenose and kuhli's, but that's it.

As for keeping them fed--my dwarf puffer willl go through many, many snails--I add them weekly and can't keep a good population in the tank.

[CatFud4]

thanks for the info...

i was browsing some of the threads in this area, and i've already decided against adding a puffer to my tank..

i have a 10 gallon tank collecting dust...
and i'm thinking about making it a puffer tank.

i can raise snails in my big tank. i don't know about the fish eating the eggs, but i imagine some would survive.

in theory, that works great... i'd have a snail population to help with algae... and i could keep it in check, by tossing the excess snails in the puffer tank. I would really like to have a puffer.

I'm going to sit on the idea for a while. thanks for the replies.

[OrionGirl]

For the 10, the dwarf puffers would work well. And, while they will happily eat snails til they are little balloons, they don't have the tooth overgrowth problem common in the larger puffers. South Americans must have lots of crunchies, or their teeth willl grow so long they can no longer eat. It's a pain! The dwarves don't have the same problem, and seem to be more social (IMO) than the larger ones. They still are tough on other fish, but they react to people more like a puppy than do my SA.

[OrionGirl]

No, there are several species of puffers that are freshwater and will not tolerate true brackish conditions. South americans, and dwarves, are both true, freshwater fish that should not be housed in brackish water.

[RTR]

Ditto OG's comments for Congo Spotteds, Red Eyes, A. modestus (sometimes called Jade puffers), Fahaka, T. mbu, etc... The majority of puffers are marine, but there are plenty of BW and FW puffers in the trade.

[Must4ng s4lly]

Puffers are HUGELY aggressive. I had one dwarf puff and he picked on anything stationary and quiet. Cherry barbs, cories Horefaced loach. They are really nasty and I think should go in a species only tank.....He would sneak up from behind and nip them and the fish would fly off then he would begin his stalk again on the same fish. Very relentless! I lost a horsefaced loach to him.....

He is no gone! Sold to the LFS for $2

[Must4ng s4lly]

Oh if you have a snail prob, the clown loaches are best. they do get big, so eventually you will have to trade to the lfs and get smaller ones. They LOVE snails!