Where to start???

[Artemis]

Hi I have never kept puffers before and must admit I know very little about them (just what I have read on this forum and others). My husband has been wanting a puffer for a couple of years now and we have decided that perhaps we would like to venture into something new and get one. I have had several large cichlid tanks for many years and have no issues with keeping the fish alive healthy and happy, so I do know something about fish keeping just nothing about puffer keeping. My lfs tells me they get pea puffers and figure 8 puffers in fairly regularly, and she said that the figure 8 would be fine with a cichlid community tank or I could make a small planted tank with several pea puffers. I am not so sure that advice is correct. I have been reading a lot of sometimes contradictory and confusing information on puffers and would really like to get get infomation from people who have successfully kept them. I need to know what kind of tank, plants, substrate, possible tank mates, food etc that i would need to have ready before I brought the little guy (s) home. I am in the process of stocking a 125 gal sandy bottom cichlid community type tank so if a figure 8 puffer could go in there then thats great (all the fish will be small right now) but if they need a seperate tank right from the beginning I am ok with that too. I just kind of need to know where to start.

[Puffalot]

Do not put a figure 8 with cichlids.

[bertie 83]

Do not mix puffers with any other fish. Full stop. For a start f8 puffers are brackish fish and cichlids are not. If you want a puffer set up a puffer only tank, it's the only way. Welcome to the forum

[Artemis]

ok well the f8 puffer is out then. Pea Puffers it is. I have a 20 gal tank I can set up for him (them). Could I have more than one pea puffer in a 20gal? I assume it should be a planted tank with sand? What about other fish or inverts?

[Pufferpunk]

library/puffers-in-focus/dwarfpuffercare/
library/puffers-in-focus/sexing-carinot ... rf-puffer/

[Puffalot]

I wouldn't do more than 3 or 4 but make sure you find the right food

[bertie 83]

You want females only in close confines. A heavily planted or decorated tank is perfect for these guys. Inverts etc will likely get eaten but I had good success with large Amano shrimp, this is likely a 1 in a million tho

[Fin]

My Dwarf does not bother the ghost shrimp community that is in my tank either. Puffers have a wide variety of personalities, so it will be hit or miss whether shrimp will be ok or not.

Many of the puffer keepers here strongly push towards species only tanks, because of aggression or feeding problems etc. It is possible to keep puffers with other fish, but it's a luck of the draw, and far safer for all parties involved for a species only tank, most definitely. I have a community with SAPs, and the only thing that gets preyed upon are the shrimp, which is what they're there for. But I'll admit, it's luck on my part. That whole personality thing and all.

[xiayiyi]

A heavily planted or decorated tank is perfect for these guys. Inverts etc will likely get eaten but I had good success with large Amano shrimp.
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