I have a 29 gallon tank with 2 avacado puffers and a green spotted puffer.
Incompatible. The
Auriglobus modestus are freshwater fish, the green spotted puffer needs brackish or marine conditions.
My avacados are to put it bluntly...jerks.
No, they're really not. Fifteen seconds of research on this species (e.g., at
Fishbase) would have revealed that these freshwater puffers are predators that eat small fish and bite the fins and scales from smaller fish. To call them "jerks" reveals a complete lack of research on your part. They're doing what comes naturally to them. That they bite other fish is no more surprising than silver dollars eating aquarium plants or oscars eating crayfish; it's what the evolved to do, it's what they want to do, and it's what they will do given the chance.
I've tried adding figure 8 puffers and more green spotted puffers...but they beat them up and left all but the green spotted puffer I had in there originally. I want to add more puffers... but don't want to spend the money if the two jerks are going to beat them up..... at the same time... I don't want to get rid of them because they've done so well... lol. Any suggestions?
The best suggestion is simply this: research the needs of your fish prior to purchase. Buying pufferfish with the expectation you can add other things to their aquarium is incredibly foolish. A very few pufferfish species are somewhat compatible with other species, but for the most part puffers are either kept singly or in groups of their own species. That's the deal. If you aren't prepared to set aside a tank just for them -- don't keep puffers! It's really incredibly simple, and virtually every aquarium book or magazine article has stated this for decades. I have books from the 1960s that state this. So if you thought you could add other fish to this pufferfish aquarium, clearly you did no research whatsoever.
Auriglobus modestus is an attractive pufferfish well worth keeping on its own terms. It is well known for being psychotically aggressive though, and adults rarely tolerate one another. It gets to a maximum length of about 10 cm, so isn't too large. It does need plenty of swimming space and a strong water current though. As mentioned, it's partly piscivorous, so alongside the usual snails and crustaceans, you need to include some white fish fillet, for example tilapia, which also has the benefit of being thiaminase-free, unlike prawns and mussels.
Cheers, Neale
