keeping a puffer with a single mated cichlid pair

[steenmillinder]

Hi ..

I'm wondering if it could be possible to keep some kind of puffer with a large mated cichlid pair. I have en pair of mota's and rivulatus and some odd balls in a 6 foot 180 gallon tank, and cichlids are my fav kinda fish in freshwater, but i really love the behaviour of puffers/triggers/toby's. I'm thinking of upgrading my tank to a 6 foot 240 gallon with a single pair of either: dovi, jag, umbee or trimac and i would SO love to have a large'ish puffer in with them(i have LOTS of hiding places for the kids, a bit morbid but i love to see the parents exibit hunting behaviour)..

c'mon give a man some(realistic) hope here , hope you can help a brother out...


Happy landings and frequent water changes for all of you guys

 

[steenmillinder]

if i narrow it down to jag or umbee?

 

[Wailua Boy]

That is combination I wouldn't recommend.....

 

[steenmillinder]

could have been an awesome tank(2,4m 1420l) with a pair of jags in their lair occupying 1/3 of the tank and a 10-15'' puffer ruling the other 2/3, lots of caves and some big roots, to make hunting ground and natural barrier for the fish and very good survival possibilities for all the older jag pubs - i need to read up on the bigger freshwater puffers, i love big intelligent predatory aquarium animals but all my knowledge is by far marine and cichlid.. its just them puffer jaws could easy chew half the head of my proud parachromis and actually eat it!?!

- could there be an option in the slightly smaller range of puffer with a P. mota pair in a 2 meter 720l tank?(my current setup) just them 3? make lots of hiding, nests and escape routs?

 

[steenmillinder]

if a cichlid bit a puffer would it get poisoned? and does any of you know where i could read about all the basics of keeping puffers in some kind of coherent form? like a huge sticky on some forum, the nerdier the better.. and thx for ur input, all is appreciated

 

[Woefulrelic]

I've seen success stories of people keeping other fish with the big puffers, like fahaka or mbu. For the most part it's disaster stories. The two I've mentioned get big, the mbu too big for a 180. They also have a nasty set of teeth that are capable of mangling most cichlids. These are the reasons I'd suggest against it, perhaps if you started them small you'd have more success but in my opinion it's a ticking time bomb.

 

[Wailua Boy]

Pufferforum.com is a great site for FW pufferfish info.....

 

[Wailua Boy]

Potentially, your cichlids could ingest the neurotoxin from your puffer, especially if the organs are consumed...

 

[Wailua Boy]

The link is actually **************.com

 

[Fat Homer]

Its not likely it will work...

Puffers tend to be quite curious creatures, and have a lot of individual personality... so what works for one keeper, may not work for the next...

Personally i have my fahaka with a pleco and yellow lab chiclid, but the fact of the matter is, there has been a close call in the past where my yellow lab pushed his luck and almost lost his tail to my puffer... hes since learned not to get in the way of my puffer, but just know chances are it will end in disaster...