Puffers

[wanda]

I have 4 very small red eyed puffer fish which i have mixed with gouramies, plecs, mollie and a couple of silver sharks. I have been told that red eye puffers are usually not too aggressive towards other fish. Is this the case and will they be safe with the fish I have listed in 188litre tank? Also, I understand that these fish can require small amounts of salt as they mature. How much would they require and what sort of salt do I need to buy?

Thanks

Mike

 

[nmonks]

Hello Mike, welcome to the forum!

Well, there's a couple things worth mentioning here. First "red-eye puffers" can mean a variety of things. Strictly speaking, the name belongs to Carinotetraodon lorteti. This species is a bit aggressive and nippy, and is normally kept in a single species aquarium. A second species, Carinotetraodon irrubesco, is sometimes called the red-eye puffer though it is more precisely the red-tailed red-eye puffer. It isn't so aggressive and can be kept (thought not 100% reliably) with fast-moving tankmates such as tetras. Some specimens even of this species turn out to be fin-nippers.

I suppose it is also possible that some of the Tetraodon species might be sold as red-eye puffers, as some of them have red eyes, but I've not seen this in practise.

So do you know which species you have?

From my experience of Carinotetraodon irrubesco and South American puffers, I'd consider silver sharks and plecs safe, mollies at risk, and gouramis likely to be at risk. Certain fish are either too slow or too stupid to avoid pufferfish. Others are too fast. Plecs simply return any attacks ten-fold and have the bulk to reinforce their point, so most fish learn to avoid disturbing them!

Anyway, none of these needs brackish (salty) water. In fact, they prefer soft to moderately hard, slightly acidic to neutral, freshwater.

Cheers,

Neale

I have 4 very small red eyed puffer fish which i have mixed with gouramies, plecs, mollie and a couple of silver sharks. I have been told that red eye puffers are usually not too aggressive towards other fish. Is this the case and will they be safe with the fish I have listed in 188litre tank? Also, I understand that these fish can require small amounts of salt as they mature. How much would they require and what sort of salt do I need to buy?

Thanks

Mike

 

[n3ont3tra]

You may want to know that Silver Sharks grow fast, and grow way too large for that tank. They grow to be about a foot and prefer to be in groups of 3-5. I would try and consider rehoming them.

 

[wanda]

Right, after taking advice in watching the puffers very closely, I have noticed one of my Gouramis have lost a feeler and another has had his fins nipped! Although my puffers are red eyed-red tail puffers, they seem to get their aggression at feeding time. Any fish wander near thier food and they don't like it! (neither would I lol)
Anyway, I am going to create a species tank for my puffers. The tank I have is approx 18 gallons and was used up until last week for most of the fish I now have in my upgraded set up.
Firstly, I have not cleaned the gravel nor has the gravel dried out from when I emptied it last week so can I fill it and not worry about the bacteria in the gravel or should I wash it thouroughly first?
Secondly, I have a barrel of water taken from my tank (about 5 gal) and thought it may speed up the cycling process and establish the bacteria quicker?
Thirdly, I am due to do a water change to my community tank tomorrow and I know one of the filters is almost blocked with loose substrate from the gravel. It is a very well used filter sponge and was wondering if I should wash it in old tank water then add that water to my puffer tank so it will get taken in by the new filter in that tank.
Am I going along the right lines or way off the mark?
The funny thing is, I have kept fish for years and although I've had the odd one give up, I have never thought of cycling or testing my water at all so this part of it I'm new too and like you pro's out there, I want to get it right and create the perfect environment for my fish to flourish!

 

[little mojo]

Hi, is anybody out there? I am a new member and wonder if anybody can answer what I thought was a simple question. I have just set up a tank (3' 3") and put in two small figure of eight puffas. I thought that they were suitable for freshwater but now I read that there is a idfference of opinion on whether they are fresh or brackish water fish. ?who is right? if they are brackish (and the shop kept them in freshwater) what do I do! thanks LM

 

[nmonks]

The short answer is they do best in aquaria kept in brackish water, at a specific gravity (SG) of about 1.003-1.005.

The long answer is these fish are indeed reported to be freshwater fish in the wild, but for whatever reason, those who have kept them found they almost always do better in brackish water. By "better" they mean the fish live longer and are more resistant to disease.

So, while many aquarists (myself included) have assumed that being freshwater in the wild they would be freshwater in aquaria, the reality seems to be different. Quite why this is the case isn't clear to me. Possibly they are found in brackish water, but scientists simply haven't seen them there or reported them as some other species by accident.

Cheers,

Neale

Hi, is anybody out there? I am a new member and wonder if anybody can answer what I thought was a simple question. I have just set up a tank (3' 3") and put in two small figure of eight puffas. I thought that they were suitable for freshwater but now I read that there is a idfference of opinion on whether they are fresh or brackish water fish. ?who is right? if they are brackish (and the shop kept them in freshwater) what do I do! thanks LM