Puffers

ArchaicWaters

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 5, 2006
14
0
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36
Jamestown, NC
Hi,

I've been somewhat of a fan of puffer fish ever since I first started keeping fish. My first puffers however were 3 lil' Dwarf Puffers. I'm really wanting to keep one more Puffer, but I need to buy another tank for it. What small (under 5") puffer could I keep in a 10-20 gallon tank?

Thanks,
Shane
 

nick h

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Apr 2, 2006
28
0
31
47
chicago
i would recomend figure 8 puffers. they dont get much bigger than 4" and are great fish. you could probably only put one in a 20gal. tank tho. keeping puffers can be tough, requiring a snail breeding tank for food and the addition of marine salt to make the water brackish. this is a small task for some people but not others. the south american puffers that oddball mentioned are nice because they are all FW, but you will still need to feed them snails to wear their teeth down. good luck.
nick
 

Miles

Stingray King
MFK Member
Jul 2, 2005
5,538
152
120
Spokane, WA
I've had my F8 puffer for over 3 years now and he's never eaten a snail.. I just feed him crunchy foods like freeze-dried krill and crickets. Dosn't seem to have an overgrown beak yet, but we will see I guess..

I agree the SA Puffer would be the best, since he is a true FW puffer like the dwarfs and stays small and peaceful. No other puffers really fit the bill.. I wouldn't attempt to mix the F8 because it is a Brackish puffer.
 

Icedkore

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 6, 2005
22
0
0
40
Richmond
I have had great luck with keeping Green Spotted puffer in a 20 gallon tank I have 2 in there which is not at all a good Idea. The fact is that the only puffer other than the dwarfs that I would keep more than one together is the figure 8's. But anyways I have 2 greens one is 5-6" and the other is 2-3" they get a long for the most part. I also have a bronze puffer in there that is a hard to find puffer atleast around here in VA. Good tank mates are knight gobies, dragon gobies ( which you can find almost ever where now I know that Petsmart has then and maybe even Wally world(for larger tank max 20+ ")) mollies, archers, sliver tip sharks(for larger tanks 14+inches), glassfish, scats, monos(need to be in schools of 5 or so) . I would stay clear of the "FW" moray eels or "BW" morays they aren't really either one they will need to be in full salt at some point in the near furture. I hope that helps.
 
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