puffers

[ellehcim]

I have a 10 g with 4 corys and a betta in it, i was thinking of moving the betta out and getting a small puffer, I was trying to find out info on these guys and i got a little confused, I was curious about the spotted puffers but one thing i read says fresh water ok others say brackish and more says marine, anyone know any thng about keeping them in FW?

 

[Frank_Carr]

You might want to check out the following link...

http://puffernet.tripod.com

There are several puffers that are 'spotted' but certain ones have 'spotted' in their common name.

The puffer that's OK for a 10 gallon is the Dwarf Puffer. They stay small (about 1"), are exclusively fresh water and usually do OK in community settings (depending on individual personality and other fish). I have one in my 10 gallon community with 6 neons and 2 corys.

 

[cdawson]

I ha

 

[JamisonBWolsh]

Originally posted by cdawson
I ha

what does that mean?

Anyway...please realize that they will fin nip your cories to death. Cories tend to just sit "still" while they get nipped. why they dont swim away is anyones guess. PLease dont get a puffer for your cories sake...

 

[latazyo]

my 2 green spotted puffers are in a 20g brackish (1.008) and I think that the tank is getting to be too small for them

the fish are still young and only about 1" in length, however, they love to swim around and explore, they are very active fish and the green spotted puffers I have seen are very territorial and would nip at anything...my pair are starting to not get along, so they will be split up soon

if you are thinking about green spotted puffers, then I would reconsider putting them in a 10g...and yes, some say these can be acclimated to fresh or full marine...I've never tried, so I can't comment on that

 

[Frank_Carr]

Anyway...please realize that they will fin nip your cories to death.

I've never had a problem with our dwarf puffer nipping at any of the other fish in our 10 gallon which includes 6 neon tetras, 2 albino corys, and a rarely seen bumblebee catfish (Microglanis Iheringi). The puffer seems quite content to only go after the pond snails.

I would see some risk of a dwarf puffer going after other fish in the tank if you didn't keep it well fed with snails or similar live prey. They are a live prey carnivorous fish and seem to enjoy the hunt. They'll eat frozen bloodworms and such but aren't as enthusiastic about it.

I'd also note that our tank is heavily planted (mostly with water wisteria) with a couple of large rock ornaments and this seems to break up the territory nicely. In a wide open tank aggression might be more common.

Another puffer thing that you'll need to do (I suppose this applies to larger ones too) is gravel vac after them. They'll usually leave whole or partial snail shells in the tank with bits of snail flesh still in them. If you don't remove the carcasses promptly they'll foul your water.

 

[ellehcim]

thanks for the replys I definately need to research these guys before i go dumping one in to a tank...thanks

 

[OrionGirl]

The behavior of the drawf puffers can't be confused for the behavior of their larger cousins. No comparison. My dwarf puffers chase my gouramies around (1 inch fish versus 5 inch fish). I would not trust anything other than perhaps the South American puffer with a community tank--and I would watch that setup like a hawk. It's not kind to put your average community fish in with something that has a beak and bad temper.

 

[JamisonBWolsh]

Originally posted by ellehcim
thanks for the replys I definately need to research these guys before i go dumping one in to a tank...thanks

How would YOU like to spend a night in a room with Charles Manson...

same concept..

 

[cdawson]

I've got a 3inch GSP and a south american puffer, along with a bumble bee goby, peacock sleeper goby, 6 neons, and two corys. I've never had any problems. My GSP seems to be rather on the docile side. The LFS I got him from had him in with some rather nasty cichlids. Is this a rare occurance to have such a docile GSP? Or would it be possible/smart to introduce a new green spotted puffer?