Can I Put A South American Puffer In A Community Tank?

[kajones]

I have a 35 gallon tank containing 2 bala sharks, black shark, 2 dwarf guaramis 2 clown loaches and 2 firemouths. I really want to get a puffer and have heard s/ a puffers are fairly peaceful, could one of more live in this tank? Before anyone points out the obvious, i know certain fish in this tank will outgrow it, i'm on the look out for a 4 or 5 foot tank, but at the moment they are all juvenile.

 

[DiscusAngel]

I have a 35 gallon tank containing 2 bala sharks, black shark, 2 dwarf guaramis 2 clown loaches and 2 firemouths. I really want to get a puffer and have heard s/ a puffers are fairly peaceful, could one of more live in this tank? Before anyone points out the obvious, i know certain fish in this tank will outgrow it, i'm on the look out for a 4 or 5 foot tank, but at the moment they are all juvenile.

1, SAP's are Brackish when older near marine.
2, Balas need a tank min of 6x2x2 rehome them.
3, Black sharks reach around 24" Rehome it.
4, Clown loaches reach 12" and need to be in groups of 6+ Rehome them
5, ill b suprised if your firemouths dont kill your gouramis.
6, most puffers dont mix well in community tanks. so either get rid of everythin in your tank. ad make it a puffer tank.

 

[DarkEntity]

I have a 35 gallon tank containing 2 bala sharks, black shark, 2 dwarf guaramis 2 clown loaches and 2 firemouths. I really want to get a puffer and have heard s/ a puffers are fairly peaceful, could one of more live in this tank? Before anyone points out the obvious, i know certain fish in this tank will outgrow it, i'm on the look out for a 4 or 5 foot tank, but at the moment they are all juvenile.

1, SAP's are Brackish when older near marine.
2, Balas need a tank min of 6x2x2 rehome them.
3, Black sharks reach around 24" Rehome it.
4, Clown loaches reach 12" and need to be in groups of 6+ Rehome them
5, ill b suprised if your firemouths dont kill your gouramis.
6, most puffers dont mix well in community tanks. so either get rid of everythin in your tank. ad make it a puffer tank.

1) WHAT!??!??!? Saps (Colomesus asellus) are not Brackish fish at all they are 100% total fresh water!
2) Lots of people keep Saps with community fish, although its really like all Puffers, dependant on them

 

[lawrie]

I have a 35 gallon tank containing 2 bala sharks, black shark, 2 dwarf guaramis 2 clown loaches and 2 firemouths. I really want to get a puffer and have heard s/ a puffers are fairly peaceful, could one of more live in this tank? Before anyone points out the obvious, i know certain fish in this tank will outgrow it, i'm on the look out for a 4 or 5 foot tank, but at the moment they are all juvenile.

1, SAP's are Brackish when older near marine.
2, Balas need a tank min of 6x2x2 rehome them.
3, Black sharks reach around 24" Rehome it.
4, Clown loaches reach 12" and need to be in groups of 6+ Rehome them
5, ill b suprised if your firemouths dont kill your gouramis.
6, most puffers dont mix well in community tanks. so either get rid of everythin in your tank. ad make it a puffer tank.

1) WHAT!??!??!? Saps (Colomesus asellus) are not Brackish fish at all they are 100% total fresh water!
2) Lots of people keep Saps with community fish, although its really like all Puffers, dependant on them

clown loaches dont NEED to be in a groupe of 6+! they do better in 6+ but dont need to be in a groupe of 6

 

[Fella]

I have a 35 gallon tank containing 2 bala sharks, black shark, 2 dwarf guaramis 2 clown loaches and 2 firemouths. I really want to get a puffer and have heard s/ a puffers are fairly peaceful, could one of more live in this tank? Before anyone points out the obvious, i know certain fish in this tank will outgrow it, i'm on the look out for a 4 or 5 foot tank, but at the moment they are all juvenile.

1, SAP's are Brackish when older near marine.
2, Balas need a tank min of 6x2x2 rehome them.
3, Black sharks reach around 24" Rehome it.
4, Clown loaches reach 12" and need to be in groups of 6+ Rehome them
5, ill b suprised if your firemouths dont kill your gouramis.
6, most puffers dont mix well in community tanks. so either get rid of everythin in your tank. ad make it a puffer tank.

This isn't the most constructive way to deal with the issue.

Colomesus Asselus the SAP is a truly freshwater fish, it could handle salt, but in the wild lives in soft, acidic conditions, in totally freshwater. If you want to know more about which puffers live in brackish water, please check the pinned topic on puffers at the top of the forum.

Bala sharks need big tanks eventually, but rehome it immediately? Not necessary. Better advice would be to advise on maybe upgrading the tank size.

Clown loaches grow very slowly, but do get large eventually. Eventually.

Some puffers do just fine in community tanks, certainly, its a controversial subject, and the majority of puffers will never be community fish, but they can be mixed successfully.

 

[kajones]

Why is it that whenever anyone asks a polite question on these forums you always get one bozo who thinks they know everything about everything, and instead of offering constructive cdvice and actually reading the information in the post they tell you to get rid of all your fish and start again. What a load of b******s! As I said I AM AWARE THEY WILL OUTGROW THE TANK AND WILL BE GETTING A BIGGER ONE BEFORE THEY DO!!!! I didn't ask if you thought my tank was big enough did I? So thanks for not answering the question, I won't be visiting this forum again.

 

[DiscusAngel]

Sorry i got the uffr mixed up with a diff puffer,

and im stating, that clown loaches might wanna be with some friend...

also balas are skittish in a small tank will ge damaged and can grow large.

and with the mixing puffers in community tanks i said "MOST puffers wont mix well in with communy tanks" this is stating that most wont. and theres few that will. also the tank you will be upgrading to wnt be big enough for the fish you haveat the moment anyway.

 

[ac106]

Sorry i got the uffr mixed up with a diff puffer,

and im stating, that clown loaches might wanna be with some friend...

also balas are skittish in a small tank will ge damaged and can grow large.

and with the mixing puffers in community tanks i said "MOST puffers wont mix well in with communy tanks" this is stating that most wont. and theres few that will. also the tank you will be upgrading to wnt be big enough for the fish you haveat the moment anyway.

The bigger point is if you would get a SAP mixed up with a brackish puffer then you should not be responding to the post in the first place.

 

[DiscusAngel]

We all make mistakes. and i got it mixedup with a ceylon puffer. as far as the stocking goes im helping the owner sort out his tank. before he has fish that cant turn round..

 

[kajones]

We all make mistakes. and i got it mixedup with a ceylon puffer. as far as the stocking goes im helping the owner sort out his tank. before he has fish that cant turn round..

It's not a goldfish bowl it's a decent sized tank, the 9 fish are all tiny and frankly look lost in there at the mo.Also, they all get along great. The point is i am well aware they will outgrow the tank, eventually, i really don't need telling that. I was after some views on wether there is a puffer that would live harmoniously in this tank while they are all young, with a view to the bigger fish evantually moving out, I was hoping to hear from people who have a puffer in a community tank.

Anyway, I've decided to buy another tank probably around the 30-40 gallon mark to house a puffer or a community of puffers. If there is anyone who knows what they are talking about who would like to advise which FRESHWATER puffers would be a good choice i would be glad to hear their views.

 

[Rocker]

We all make mistakes. and i got it mixedup with a ceylon puffer. as far as the stocking goes im helping the owner sort out his tank. before he has fish that cant turn round..

It's not a goldfish bowl it's a decent sized tank, the 9 fish are all tiny and frankly look lost in there at the mo.Also, they all get along great. The point is i am well aware they will outgrow the tank, eventually, i really don't need telling that. I was after some views on wether there is a puffer that would live harmoniously in this tank while they are all young, with a view to the bigger fish evantually moving out, I was hoping to hear from people who have a puffer in a community tank.

Anyway, I've decided to buy another tank probably around the 30-40 gallon mark to house a puffer or a community of puffers. If there is anyone who knows what they are talking about who would like to advise which FRESHWATER puffers would be a good choice i would be glad to hear their views.

Here's your answer dude. You obviously like it straight to the point so here goes. NO puffer makes a GOOD community puffer. Some people will insist that is not the case but they have experience to cope with the difficulties it brings. I got into puffers by realising that they do so much better in their own tanks and not with other fish.
Some puffers you can house together with their own species but You would have to be extremely careful at picking a species. SAP' s and DP's are the best to try for a beginner. Having said that though you are probably best starting off with a single puffer like the BW figure 8.

 

[kajones]

[quote


Here's your answer dude. You obviously like it straight to the point so here goes. NO puffer makes a GOOD community puffer. Some people will insist that is not the case but they have experience to cope with the difficulties it brings. I got into puffers by realising that they do so much better in their own tanks and not with other fish.
Some puffers you can house together with their own species but You would have to be extremely careful at picking a species. SAP' s and DP's are the best to try for a beginner. Having said that though you are probably best starting off with a single puffer like the BW figure 8.
[/quote]

Thanks for the advice! Have decided against having a puffer in the community anyway. So if i did go for the sa's could i have a couple in a tank or would they fight? Have you had experience of these puffers living together? Call me stupid but it just seems a bit dull for the fish to be in a tank alone. I admit i'm no expert on puffers and i appreciate sound advice without the patronising tones of certain other members!

 

[Fella]

In the wild SAP's are schooling fish, and having a trio together, in a tank of about 40g, would be ideal for them.

You could easily house them with ancistrus style catfish as well, and fast moving tetras/barbs.

 

[Rocker]

Yes I do have experience keeping SAP's but as mentioned by advice differs greatly from Fella's.
I did have SAP's in with other fish when I first started out and they did 'ok' After some advice as to why they were always swimming the glass and always missed out at feeding time I moved them from the community set up to their own tank. The y thrived , interacted better, explored more and fed better. The pacing stopped and generally they were better off.

 

[DiscusAngel]

We all make mistakes. and i got it mixedup with a ceylon puffer. as far as the stocking goes im helping the owner sort out his tank. before he has fish that cant turn round..

It's not a goldfish bowl it's a decent sized tank, the 9 fish are all tiny and frankly look lost in there at the mo.Also, they all get along great. The point is i am well aware they will outgrow the tank, eventually, i really don't need telling that. I was after some views on wether there is a puffer that would live harmoniously in this tank while they are all young, with a view to the bigger fish evantually moving out, I was hoping to hear from people who have a puffer in a community tank.

Anyway, I've decided to buy another tank probably around the 30-40 gallon mark to house a puffer or a community of puffers. If there is anyone who knows what they are talking about who would like to advise which FRESHWATER puffers would be a good choice i would be glad to hear their views.

well im no mindreader and didnt know that you knew that your fish were going to outgrow your tank. and yet again its been proved most puffers are not community puffers.