Zebra Puffers

[Raydee]

Does anyone have any info on these fish? My LFS has them but doesn't seem to know much about them. I need to know how big they get, what salt content they live in, and their temperment. Thanks in advance.

[RTR]

What are zebra puffers?

Try :

http://www.pufferfish.co.uk/aquaria/species/pufferfish/types/index.htm

and see if you can tell which species they might be... perhaps Colomesus asellus, the South American puffer?

[Raydee]

Yep I think that is the one they have, the only thing I don't get is that they had it in a brackish tank when it says it is a freshwater puffer! I do like that they are less aggresive than other puffers. Thanks for the site!

[cdawson]

they prefer fresh to light brackish which is like 1.002 I think.
I've got one in light brackish with my green spotted puffer right now. He's going to be acclimated to live with some red bellied pacus soon.

[Pufferpunk]

They are very nice FW puffers, as far as puffers go. I have 3 living w/6 dwarf puffers, a parrot cichlid, frontosa & 6" royal pleco. They love blackworms, freeze-dried plankton & snails. It was very difficult to get them to eat snails, until I started putting them into a breeder net w/the snails so they could find them. Up till then, I had to trim their teeth. They are one of the few puffers I can actually recommend for a community tank of larger fish, as long as they have lots of room to get away & hiding places to feel secure. They can seem nervous to most people, because they never seem to stop moving for long. I would definately not keep them w/any larger, more aggressive pufffers, like the GSP.

[Raydee]

Well I went out and bought one and a small Mono today. So far I have a few mollies that started my tank, the zebra puffer, mono and a small irridescent shark in my 90 gallon brackish tank. The Puffer seemed right at home when i put it in the tank. I had a brackish tank about ten years ago and had a bunch of green spotted and figure 8 puffers with mono's and scats and had great luck.

[RTR]

I agree that C. asellus is a FW fish. It does not need brackish water.

It is one of the mildest-tempered puffers, but I personally never suggest any puffer for community tanks. They are not trustwothy fish for that use IME.

Also agree that training them to eating snails is imperative - they are one of the puffers with very fast-growing tooth plates and without snails or other hard crunchy food in their diet several days a week you will have problems.

[Pufferpunk]

Monos are scooling fish & will do poorly singley. They eventually need to be house in SW as adults. The shark & puffer are FW fish. Evenyually the shark will grow large enough to eat the puffer. I believe they get at least 2'.

[Raydee]

Puffer,
Thanks for the info! I knew about the mono's but I wanted to get one at a time. Next week I will get 1 or 2 more. The shark on the other hand will have to go once it gets to be about 6 inches or so. The funny thing is the guy at the store said that it would be fine in my tank. From now on I will be doing my homework on each and every fish I buy. My wife really wanted the Shark and I know she will be upset when I have to get rid of it.

[MonoSebaelover]

Just keep in mind that some shops are still just out to make a sale. They don't really care if what you have is compatible they just want the sale. It would be advisable to add the Monos all together since the current Mono will dominate any new ones. Just watch your current Mono's color and activity level. Next week I would add 3 of the Monos together. A school of 4 Monos will be fine. I have always gone to a store and if I see something I like, I go home research and if it fits the ticket, then go back the next day to get it. Luckily most places around me care more about the fish than the money they bring.

[Pufferpunk]

I don't trust much of anything any lfs tells me. I always check with my favorite sites.

[Raydee]

Well I just got back from the store and bought a few more Mono's and another Zebra puffer. On the way home fron the 20 mile drive my wife said that it looked like one of the bags had a leak, Sure enough the one bag was almost empty and the puffer was almost dead. I had no choice but to put it in with one of the other mono's. What a mess, water all over my wife, the car and the other bags. I wish that this store didn't have the best selection because I really think they have no clue about fish. The main store here is always so busy that they always run out of brackish fish.

How long can the fish safely stay in the bag while floating in my tank?

[Pufferpunk]

Your bigger problem is that the puffers are strictly FW & the monos are BW & eventually SW.