Puffers for my planted freshwater tank?

[CitizenSnips]

How do puffers work? I know you guys are experts, could you explain it to me? The species I see the most are Tetraodon nigroviridis, the spotted green puffers, and they are almost always in the freshwater section of multiple LFS.

So what's the deal? Are these guys brackish or can I throw em into my 37 gallon with my Polypterus ornatipinnis and Trichogaster trichopterus so he can become a part of my awesome family? I would love a puffer but it seems most are angry little brackish monsters.

How do you guys keep them in freshwater ecosystems?

 

[bradleyagregg]

gsp are brackish that should eventually go to full marine. there are quite a few pure freshwater puffs but most of them will not tolerate tankmates- some do, some dont but you can never really trust them

 

[kevinfleming21]

yeah, green spotted are brackish, they start out in fresh but need to be slowly transitioned over. If you want some puffers for that size tank, you could do two red eye puffers, or even about 10 dwarf puffers, dwarf puffers you can add other species but not just any species. With most other puffers not so much, species only tank is best.

 

[kevinfleming21]

if you have any questions i can help you with you can pm me too

 

[Pufferpunk]

I don't think Kevin is giving the best advise. Puffers are very nippy creatures (especially FW species) & will definitely go after anything that lays around a lot, like your Polypterus.