Will the amazon puffer live it's whole life in freshwater or do i have to move it to brackish like the figure 8 puffer? Should i get a figure 8 or amazon?
Amazon puffer
- Thread starter Yannick-_-
- Start date
If Amazons are fed hard shell food items do they still need their teeth trimmed? My youngest is after me to get a puffer larger than my pea puffs.
If you're talking about Colmesus assellus, they're freshwater. They are pretty gregarious and enjoy being in groups. Despite feeding mine lots of snails and shrimp, I do still have to trim beaks on occasion. I've kept these guys for years and I'll issue two warnings about keeping them:
1. Keep your tank WARM. They are very susceptible to ich and velvet. Whenever I have new ones I treat them like they have ich during quarantine, even if I don't see any.
2. They need high dissolved oxygen. We used to have 10 of them, we now have 2. About 6 months ago one my husband cleaned filters and spray bars ended up a little lower than usual. We had also recently used some melafix because some of the cichlids in the tank had been butting heads and had some fresh injuries. The result was deadly for the puffers. Melafix can block surface exchange of oxygen, and, with the spray bars low, there wasn't sufficient surface disruption. The other fish were fine, but these guys tanked.
1. Keep your tank WARM. They are very susceptible to ich and velvet. Whenever I have new ones I treat them like they have ich during quarantine, even if I don't see any.
2. They need high dissolved oxygen. We used to have 10 of them, we now have 2. About 6 months ago one my husband cleaned filters and spray bars ended up a little lower than usual. We had also recently used some melafix because some of the cichlids in the tank had been butting heads and had some fresh injuries. The result was deadly for the puffers. Melafix can block surface exchange of oxygen, and, with the spray bars low, there wasn't sufficient surface disruption. The other fish were fine, but these guys tanked.
Tetraodon schoutedini may be an easier option for medium-size freshwater puffers that are somewhat active. Various red-eye and lurker species exist too.
Schoutedni can be mixed with other community fish. It’s still a risk but can be done.
Mine got along with everything and was even bullied by the Congo and African red eye tetras she was housed with for a while. Very good medium puffer just expensive.
Colomesus assellus would fit the bill. I keep mine in a huge South American community tank with Discus, angels, Biotodoma, Geophagus, and tetras. They don't bother the other fish at all, although I did have one who buddied up with a lone glow-light tetra years ago. One of the weirdest things I've ever seen with fish. The tetra was ancient and the last of what was once a large school. I had other puffers, but this one just followed the tetra everywhere.