Tankmates For A South American Puffer?

[kjharve]

Hi all,

I am looking to purchase a 20 gallon tank (biggest I can accomodate.) I have my heart set on a South American Puffer and have read endless articles on how to keep them. Recommendations seem to vary though from things such as "don't put ANY puffer in a community tank" to "the SAP will be fine with some community fish."

I would obviously prefer to keep something with the SAP, some suggestions have been glassfish, otos, tiger barbs, rams and mollies. What would be a feasible number of these fish to keep with an SAP in a tank of this size? Or would best advice be to keep him on his own?

What does everyone think?

Kev

 

[cane76]

i keep mine on his own he seems to prefer it that way

 

[NickT]

i kept mine with neon tetras and khuli loches... he was never aggresive.

sadly his teeth grew too big and i was unable to cut them... it only took about 6months to affect how he ate.... i know its a bit off topic but the teeth are something to watch if u get one....

 

[kjharve]

i kept mine with neon tetras and khuli loches... he was never aggresive.

sadly his teeth grew too big and i was unable to cut them... it only took about 6months to affect how he ate.... i know its a bit off topic but the teeth are something to watch if u get one....

what size tank do you keep him in?

 

[cane76]

mine is in 20g and he bites chunks out of anything i put in with him

 

[Puffer_freak]

I wrote an article about this, not too long ago...

The main jist of it was that you shouldn't really keep them with anything, to be on the safe side. It does depend on the indovidual, but many puffers (of all freshwater and brackish species...not too sure about marines though...that's not my area) will attack viciously anything that you put in a tank with it.

 

[nmonks]

Hello --

My South American puffer does nip fins, but only certain species. So my community tanik has evolved somewhat when I remove species 'that don't work out'. For example, fish that get along fine include halfbeaks (various species), cardinals, hatchets, glassfish, and rams. All seem aggressive and/or fast enough to deter his attacks. The halfbeaks, for example, see him coming and quickly accelerate out of danger.

On the other hand, Corydoras elegans, gobies, platies, and mollies all seem to have been attacked to various degrees. These fish are either too slow or too stupid to learn to get out of the way, and so had to be moved to other quarters.

Plecs and upside down cats seem to simply be off his radar, skulking about in the caves. So if he has tried to nip them, there's no sign of it.

Oddly, in the Aqualog puffer book, Ebert recommends this fish as being "peaceful". In absolute terms I suppose that's right... this isn't an aggressive or piscivorous species. But relative to what we think of as good community fish, it's a bit of crap shoot. Some SAPs seem to be more or less accomodating, while others are much more difficult. I'm convinced that there are environmental factors at work, specifically the size of the tank and how much there is for the puffer 'to do'. My puffer is in a 180 litre tank with (numerically) a lot of tankmates, as well as plants, sand for digging, and plenty of snails. I think this all helps by diffusing any boredom.

Anyway, if you have spare tanks or can move stock out quickly, then quite probably it's worth experimenting with an SAP in a community tank. But if you only have the one tank, then perhaps, as Puffer Freak says, it's best to play a more cautious game.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[kjharve]

Anyway, if you have spare tanks or can move stock out quickly, then quite probably it's worth experimenting with an SAP in a community tank. But if you only have the one tank, then perhaps, as Puffer Freak says, it's best to play a more cautious game.

Sounds like good advice there. I only plan to have to one tank for the time being so I should probably get that settled and then get another smaller tank to "experiment." Then if he gets nasty I can keep him on his own if he gets nasty.

Cheers,

Kev

 

[bogwood]

I guess its a case of 'suck it and see'... I have one DP and when researching before getting it, I read 'they must be kept singly'... 'they'll be fine in a DP only community when juvenile'... 'try Ottos and Shrimp as tank mates'... and each of these answers has been contradicted too!...

I decided to keep just the one DP (5UKG too small for more than one anyway)... he/she seems perfectly content with the one Otto... they rarely bump into one another... seems like they don't even know the other exists...

... to prevent 'puffer bordom' and potential aggressiveness to any other tankmates, ensure the tank is fairly 'complex' plant, rock and wood-wise with plenty of hiding places...

... I'm prepared to one day find the Otto 'nipped'... in which case, he'll go into my 20UKG peaceful community tank...