Puffer fish

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okie, i got another 30 gallon tanks and i was thinking to have an oddball in there, maybe a puffer fish..

since its going to be a species tank only it might be possible to make it a brakish tank... so i was wondering, what puffer fish grows to about 3-4 inches that is predatory and can live on its own?
(brakish or tropical)


Thank you

 

[jflowers]

A Figure 8 would be nice in that tank if brackish. If FW what about a small group of Dwarf Puffers's.

Jon

 

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i always thought dwarf puffers where just that..... dwarF! and TINY! lol, whats the point of a fish the size of a tadpole

how big do figure eights grow to? and whats the best kind of scenary in the tank? in my other i have live plants and bogwood because its a community tank... can you have live plants in salt water? or do puffers tend to wreck plants ect...

 

[SirMinion]

In freshwater, a single Congo Puffer would be fine, They're highly preditory and MUST be kepy alone, but because they're 'substrate potatoes' they're not very exciting to watch most of the time. *shrugs*

 

[jflowers]

i always thought dwarf puffers where just that..... dwarF! and TINY! lol, whats the point of a fish the size of a tadpole

how big do figure eights grow to? and whats the best kind of scenary in the tank? in my other i have live plants and bogwood because its a community tank... can you have live plants in salt water? or do puffers tend to wreck plants ect...

The DP's were just a suggestion as you can have more than 1, 5-6 in that size tank if you have lots of plants to break up the line of sight.

F8's get to around 3".

As for plants in brackish, java fern/moss and anubias are supposed to do ok, but I have had no luck with it, they just started to rot.

Jon

 

[Pufferpunk]

My anubias rotted in just a slight amount of salt.

You should go & observe a "gang" of DPs before you rule them out. They're tough lil fish!

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i hear that java fern does pretty well in a brackish environment; you could start several in a fresh water tank on driftwood and then transfer them once you finish cycling.

the figure-8 puffer is actually the reason i wound up with my asellus. the stupid over-priced LFS near me had this same one in there for months and months. every time i'd go to check him out, he'd look so cute and follow my finger around everywhere! but i wanted a planted tank, so i couldn't manage a sufficiently brackish environment. (didn't stop me from trying--melted every last one of some really gorgeous spatterdocks.) so i did a lot of online research and eventually special ordered my baby.

in another anecdote, this is my method for getting java fern to flesh out quickly.

• set up an empty tank (like your hospital or quarantine)
• put in the java fern and the driftwood.
• fill 'er up with dirty tank water (essentially pour your water change in there instead of your toilet/garden)
• run the lights 24/7 for a week or two
• only top off with dirty tank water (the goal is to have just absurdly high nitrate/ammonia levels)
• don't worry about algae growth, a good washing in tap water will kill off any algae but not do anything to the java fern. soaking the plant into water will a 2x dose of dechlorinator will take care of any residual chemicals.
  
  everytime i do it this way, by the end of the first week the java fern has at least grafted onto the wood. if you put in loose java fern, the rate of new growth is just astounding. remember, the less water between the light and the plant, the better!