Freshwater Puffers?

[detroit_fan]

Are there any puffer species that don't require marine or brackish water?

 

[dwarfgourami]

dwarf puffers

 

[sjcneedshelp321]

Hi,
As said dwarf puffers dont need sw or brackish, but they are very aggressive and very messy, so they need to be kept in a species only tank (with the exception of some otos as a cleanup crew) with i think about 3 or 4 gallons for territory each. if you go into the fish profiles and click on oddballs i think they are in there. if you want to know more ask in oddball section. hope i am of help.

Sam

 

[DarkEntity]

some people also have shrimp with Dwarf Puffers, but it seems to be hit and miss if the Puffers eat them or not

 

[detroit_fan]

The tank has a stripped raphael in it, maybe 5" long. So would i have to take him out if i put in 2 dwarf puffers?

 

[sjcneedshelp321]

The tank has a stripped raphael in it, maybe 5" long. So would i have to take him out if i put in 2 dwarf puffers?

Well i dunno to be honest, i think you would be better asking in the oddballs institute, but i dont know much about the raphael, it might be ok, how big is your tank?

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Dwarf puffs are really hit and miss whether they can be kept with tankmates, in a large tank 30+ gallons US you could keep them with a lot of different semi-agressive fish depending on the temperment of the actual fish you purchase.

SLC

 

[Fella]

I wrote this in a thread a while back with regards to puffer species and water requirements -

The puffers typically offered in stores are -

Figure 8 puffer
Green Spotted puffer
Ceylon puffer
Porcupine puffer
Dogface puffer
South American Puffer
Congo Puffer
Fahaka Puffer
Mbu Puffer
Irrubesco puffer
Lorteti puffer
Fangs puffer

etc

Only the top 3 are considered brackish, and the GSP and Ceylon is considered to need marine conditions in adulthood. There are plenty more puffers available that I haven't listed here that are freshwater (or marine) also, so to say brackish would increase the options is simply not true.

As for a single, aggressive puffer in a 30 gallon tank, the first thing I'd say is that this fish won't be big. Puffers are messy creatures, and when kept in tanks they need to have generous amounts of space to dilute the vast amounts of pollution they create. For a 30g you could keep -

"Auriglobus modestus" - The bronze puffer. This fish would have plenty of room in a 30, but they max out at 4". I think this is one of the few puffers that is piscovorious, but I couldn't be sure.

"Carinotetraodon irrubesco" - the red eye red tail puffer - These fish max out at 2 inches, and are shy.

"Carinotetraodon lorteti" - Red eye puffer - Same as above

"Carinotetraodon travancoricus" - Dwarf puffer. They max out at around an inch, and are great fish, but I doubt it's what you're looking for.

"Colomesus asellus" - South american puffer. Max out at 4" and are mostly timid enough to cohabit with other creatures.

"Tetraodon cochinchinensis" - Fangs puffer. Max out at 4" also, and are quite often shy fish.

"Tetraodon Miurus" - Congo puffer. Gets up to 6inches, very aggressive, but as it is an ambush fish, won't swim around a whole lot.

"Tetraodon palembangensis" - - King kong puffer. Also an ambush fish.

"Tetraodon suvattii" - Pig nose puffer. Gets to 6 inches, but doesn't swim around a whole lot.




Those are the freshwater puffers suitable for your tank there, of which, only the last 3 really get to any size, and they are all ambush fish that won't swim around a whole lot. I imagine they would eat feeder fish though, although I wouldn't feed them feeder fish more than once a week...


For a brackish water tank here are your options -

"Tetraodon biocellatus" - Figure 8 puffer. Grows to 3 inches, and requires light brackish water. I doubt it would be big enough to eat feeders.

"Tetraodon fluviatilis" - Ceylon puffer. grows to 6 inches, and requires full marine conditions as adult.

"Tetraodon Nigroviridis" - Green spotted puffer. Same care as above.



Personally, I would reconsider having a puffer for a tank that you would want to feed feeders to, as the fish that would eat feeder fish, are all the opposite of what you want, eg, they're slow moving ambush fish that will bury and hide themselves. Coupled with the fact that it isn't in their natural diet a lot of the time, makes for a fish that doesn't really exist in my experience.

 

[andywg]

The tank has a stripped raphael in it, maybe 5" long. So would i have to take him out if i put in 2 dwarf puffers?

Platydoras costatus are pretty much an armoured tank, so I doubt the puffers would be able to do any great damage to it.

 

[Fella]

The tank has a stripped raphael in it, maybe 5" long. So would i have to take him out if i put in 2 dwarf puffers?

Platydoras costatus are pretty much an armoured tank, so I doubt the puffers would be able to do any great damage to it.

Once the P. costatus grew up though, i'm sure it might have a munch at the DP's.

 

[andywg]

I suppose they may, but the growth rate of P. costatus is frightfully slow.