Puffers For A 55 Gallon

[penguinpimp1990]

for a 55 gallon lightly planted low end brackish (SG will ideally never exceed 1.004) tank with BBG's, Glassfish, and 1 figure 8 puffer, is there any puffer suitable for this tank? I dont know much about any puffers except figures 8's and dwarves which i have owned for years. Maybe Takifugu ocellatus? And this puffer should not be a plant nipper, or try to eat the BBG's, AND not outgrow this tank or require different salinities with age.

Thanks

 

[nmonks]

Hello --

I'm not an expert on figire-8 puffers, not having kept them, and in terms of sociability I have no idea if they will get on with glassfish. I have a South American puffer with glassfish and they get along fine. So if the figure-8 is no more aggressive than a SAP, you should be fine.

Incidentally, SAPs will tolerate slightly brackish conditions, by the way, even though naturally they inhabit freshwater (see Fishbase). Possibly a good choice for your system? If you skipped the figure-8 puffer, you could easily keep bumblebees at an SG of 1.002, and glassfish don't even need salt anyway (mine are in soft, acid water and are thriving, and have been for almost a year now).

Takifugu ocellatus is very difficult to look after, though my suspicion is that aquarists keep it in the wrong conditions. These are subtropical, estuarine (but not marine) fish in the wild. My hypothesis is that oxygen starvation is what "mysteriously" kills them, because we keep them in too-warm water. Adding airstones doesn't compensate for high temperatures, because it is the temperature that sets the fish's metabolism, regardless of how much oxygen is in the water. At lower temperatures the fish will not be consuming oxygen so fast, and its metabolic processes will be going ahead at the "normal" rate for this species. Since bumblebee gobies in particular need high temperatures, I'd keep a fugu puffer in its own tank, at around 15 to 18 C, and with plenty of oxygen. An SG of around 1.010 would seem right to me.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[penguinpimp1990]

i actually keep glassfish and figure 8's in a tank together right now and no nipping, so id assume since theyre going in a larger tank that it would be even better.

I'm not an expert on figire-8 puffers, not having kept them, and in terms of sociability I have no idea if they will get on with glassfish. If you skipped the figure-8 puffer, you could easily keep bumblebees at an SG of 1.002, and glassfish don't even need salt anyway (mine are in soft, acid water and are thriving, and have been for almost a year now).

Figure 8's like lower brackish waters too. pretty much the exact amount that bbg's like.

 

[SirMinion]

I've been succesfully keeping Figure-eight puffers and Bumblebee gobies together in a brackish setup for some time now.

There have been no problems as yet, but there are no guarantees with puffers, they could turn and eat the gobies at any time without warning.

Incidentaly, I introduced around 30 supposedly freshwater rivershimp into the tank as food for the puffers, any uneaten shrimp usually die after a day in the other freshwater tanks but the ones in the brackish setup are still going strong after two months!

Stangely, the puffers don't touch the shrimps but the gobies occasionally hunt a shrimp in a pack and bring it down and eat it. facinating to watch.

 

[nmonks]

I don't know what your source of "river shrimp" is, but here in London they seem to be Crangon crangon, Palaemon elegans, and Palaemon serratus. They're taken from the Thames Estuary, often with a few sticklebacks and gobies. Brackish to marine, the lot of them. The two prawns, Palaemon spp., in particular are hardy as heck and make pretty cool pets in their own right. My first coldwater marine tank was about 5 or 10 gallons, with a few of these prawns and some Pomatoschistus spp. gobies. No filtration as such, just an airstone. Worked fine for about a year, as I recall.

Cheers,

Neale

Incidentaly, I introduced around 30 supposedly freshwater rivershimp into the tank as food for the puffers, any uneaten shrimp usually die after a day in the other freshwater tanks but the ones in the brackish setup are still going strong after two months!

 

[SirMinion]

I don't know what your source of "river shrimp" is, but here in London they seem to be Crangon crangon, Palaemon elegans, and Palaemon serratus. They're taken from the Thames Estuary, often with a few sticklebacks and gobies. Brackish to marine, the lot of them. The two prawns, Palaemon spp., in particular are hardy as heck and make pretty cool pets in their own right. My first coldwater marine tank was about 5 or 10 gallons, with a few of these prawns and some Pomatoschistus spp. gobies. No filtration as such, just an airstone. Worked fine for about a year, as I recall.

Thanks for that, it's very interesting. The river shimp I buy simply come from a local branch of Swallow Aquatics but I don't know where they get them from but now I suspect it might be the Orwell or Colne estuaries.

 

[andywg]

To continue a digression; the Swallows in Rayleigh keep their feeder shrimp in brackish water. I have had some survive for months in FW, others die within hours. I believe some of the causes of death may be the sudden change from brackish to FW, if you took the time to drip acclimatise (not really worthwhile for feeders, but hey...) you may find they survive even better.

On to the topic, the biggest problem I can see is the size issue. BBG are a very small fish and a large number of puffers will grow to the point of seeing them as food.

 

[penguinpimp1990]

On to the topic, the biggest problem I can see is the size issue. BBG are a very small fish and a large number of puffers will grow to the point of seeing them as food.

Figure 8's wont touch bbg's at all. If you ask anyone that has kept them together i will guarantee that the puffers only once in a blue moon will eat a bbg provided they are well fed.

 

[SirMinion]

On to the topic, the biggest problem I can see is the size issue. BBG are a very small fish and a large number of puffers will grow to the point of seeing them as food.

Figure 8's wont touch bbg's at all. If you ask anyone that has kept them together i will guarantee that the puffers only once in a blue moon will eat a bbg provided they are well fed.

This is certainly my experience. Strange but true!

 

[Little Fish]

This is certainly my experience. Strange but true!

Ditto here. F8s might chase BBGs away from their territories but don’t seem to consider them as food. One of my BBGs hangs out at a spot favors by one of my F8s and got bitten up badly and eventually died. The other one avoids the F8s and they in turn ignore it.

 

[Fella]

I read an interesting article on this subject on why BBG's make great tankmates, and one of the reasons I saw written was that BBG's are yellow and black, the colours of danger. This certainly worked for me when I was choosing tankmates for my SAP, I used only Bumbleecats and they went unnoticed, however, i would have considered my SAP placid.

Something to think about I guess.