Congo puffer care?

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When I was searching for my puffer I had the choice of the Congo, humpback and hairy being available to me. I would likely have went with an arrowhead had one been available since cost would have been much less than my hairy. But now that I have my hairy I am very happy with him. Like I mentioned they tend to be seasonal and you may just have to get your tank all prepped and play the waiting game.

Here is mine, puffing up.
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He does this in the evenings. I think he sees his own reflection and just puffs.

Keep us informed on your puffer hunt.

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Arrow Heads / Humpbacks / Hairy's / Congos etc are all lay and wait ambush predators for the most part, which also means they aren't as likely need to need a hard shelled diet for their teeth, since they are as well known for having problems with over-grown teeth like Colomesus asellus...

With lurker species it all comes down to luck of the draw whether they will be active or more true to their nature and just hide... i've owned a very active Congo puffer in the past, and also owned two extremely lazy Humpbacks...

Congos can also change color quite drastically it would seem, since when i first purchased mine it was red, took it home it was brown, then as i changed substrates it would range from very pale brown (almost whiteish) to dark brown with almost very small specks of green (which were barely noticeable)...

So really depends on what you are after out of your puffer, but as you probably found out the hard way, housing an ambush puffer, or any puffer for that matter with tank mates poses great risks to the tank mates...
 
^ Dragon puffer aka. Humpback puffer aka. Palembang Puffers tend to be really lazy from my past experience... its pretty much no different from owning a pet rock...

And no, no matter the size of the tank, chances are you will still barely ever see the move except for during feeding, and even then can be very limited movement depending on the puffers personality....

So depending on what you are hoping to get out of your puffer, these may not be the best option...
 
^ Its all luck of the draw really, i've owned a Congo puffer that was super active, but both my male and female palembangs i rarely saw them move except during feeding times...

i would honestly say my pair 98% of the time were pet rocks... sometimes in the mornings i would see them in a different area, but normally they hung out in one of a few spots, and i rarely ever saw them move between them, more a situation of i would look away and then next time see them somewhere else i the tank laying on the substrate...

I would say if you could go and see them at the store, you can try and observe them a bit to see how active they are? although my Female when i saw her in the store was very active (for a palembang), but once back home, she settled in pretty quick and became another rock like my male...

So as said before, depending on what you are after out of a puffer, i would possibly advise on choosing one of the more active and personable puffer species rather than a palembang...
 
mbsplit2 said:
Which one would you recommend the most?


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It all really depends on how much space you have, or are willing to give these puffers that will ultimately decide what would be a best fit...

So i'll list them by tank size and what i would personally get:

150 - 200G - Fahaka (very personable, and one of the bigger active freshwater puffers)

75G - 100G - Maybe a Trio of South American Puffers (Colomesus asellus) in a planted tank? Since its one of the only species that prefers being in groups and still gets a few inches long...

25G - 50G - Abei Puffer, (Monotrete Abei) although this one might be hard to find? since like the cross river, i don't think i've personally seen one for sale over in my neck of the woods?

20 - 25G Personally i would probably get one of the red eye species for this size tank, but since i think you said you don't like the red eye ones, then any of the other smaller species of puffers such as: Carinotetraodon salivator, Auriglobus modestus, Auriglobus silus , Carinotetraodon travancoricus would work...

So that would more or less be the list i would give someone who was looking for a NON-Lurking puffer..

-EDIT-

But if at the end of the day you are looking for a puffer that is at least say 4"-5" long for a tank less than say 75G, then chances are you will have to go for one of the lurker species, since it seems at the mid size range, most freshwater puffers tend to be lurker / ambush predators, until you reach up to the Cross River / Fahaka / MBU size, at which point you're also looking at tanks larger than 150G to house them....

Hope that helps you with your decision somewhat...
 
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