Puffer with discus, can it be done?

[Ntino]

I have a large tank 240g that houses discus and other community fish, its a heavily planted tank with an auto water change system set up. Unfortunately I have a bit of a snail problem - the obvious solution would be snail eating fish. I could get a few loaches, but I really enjoy puffers. I did have a figure 8 puffer before, however, it died in freshwater. I went through the pufferpedia, and couldn’t find any that wouldn’t be aggressive...

I do have shrimp in the tank that I wouldn’t want all eaten - a few in a couple of month would be ok, but don’t want to lose all of them.
Is there any puffer that I can house that won’t eat all my fish and wont nip the fins of the discus?

Somebody knowledgeable, please help me out because right now it seems that it’s impossible to house any puffer in a discus planted tank.

Any replies are appreciated!!!
Thanks!

[StormySkiez]

IMO all puffers can have the aggressive trait. Do Discuss move slow? I do not believe you would have succsess keeping any FW puffers in a discus tank. Even the smallest of the FW puffers Dwarf Puffers are brave and can be nippy and very aggresive towards other fish.

I know there is a few who keep FW puffers in a community tank. I wouldn't chance it. A puffer can be housed with other tank mates for years and out of the blue take a bite out of them.

Have you looked at the pufferpedia here? You can find it in the top tabs on the site listed under learn. It will give you profiles of most puffer fish.

Let's see what others have to say...

[Added] I'm very interested in how to set up a auto water changing set up.

[Ntino]

autochanging is easy -
you basically have to plumb your canisters or sump so that you have it going into the sewer, with 1 or 2 solenoids that are timed with a sprinkler controller - open solenoids every day or every several hours or every couple of days for x amount of minutes - depending how big the tank is and how much water you want to change. Then you need float sensors that go to a controller, do a search on "automatic aquarium top off" - and you will find many products. Depending on whether you want to add RO water or tap, you might want to choose a different solenoid. The float sensors engage when water is bellow a certain level - which should happen right after you flushed some of the water. you can also use another timed(through same sprinkler controller) solenoid just in case and only let it be open for x amount of minutes (slightly more than you would need to fill the tank back) that way you have an additional level of safety. You can also buy an autodoser - I have Ehiems, to add prime or another dechlorinator timed just a few minutes before the auto water change takes place.

I hope that sums it up, but you could also try and google automatic water change - there are other people out there who have one and made a detailed post about it.

[Pufferpunk]

I kept a South American puffer in my heavily planted 90g discus tank. He seemed to mind his own business. I believe all the the plants kept him from bothering anyone else.

[StormySkiez]

autochanging is easy -
............

Thank you for the info. I will have to look into that .

[Troender]

I would definitely not keep puffers with discuses. One thing is the aggression of the puffer. The other thing is that few if any puffers like the temperature of the water the discuses should live in. Discuses should have 29-30 degrees celcius, and that's too hot for many other fishes, including puffers. Discuses are also slow to eat at feeding time, so the puffers could take the food before the discuses. Discus food is also very fattening, especially if you are still feeding discuses that are growing (which means feeding several times a day). Most fishes living together with discuses get pretty fat. They are also slow movers, so they wouldn't stand a chance if a puffer decides they taste good.

Both discuses and puffers are very sensitive to high nitrates in the water, and they both are a big bioload in the tank. Puffers because of their messy eating habits, and discuses because of their heavy food. Where puffers needs at least 50 % water change a week (which I think is too little), discuses needs 10 % a day or 30 % every other day, especially while they are still growing. Keeping two so sensitive fishes together spells trouble IMO.

[Ntino]

I would definitely not keep puffers with discuses. One thing is the aggression of the puffer. The other thing is that few if any puffers like the temperature of the water the discuses should live in. Discuses should have 29-30 degrees celcius, and that's too hot for many other fishes, including puffers. Discuses are also slow to eat at feeding time, so the puffers could take the food before the discuses. Discus food is also very fattening, especially if you are still feeding discuses that are growing (which means feeding several times a day). Most fishes living together with discuses get pretty fat. They are also slow movers, so they wouldn't stand a chance if a puffer decides they taste good.

Both discuses and puffers are very sensitive to high nitrates in the water, and they both are a big bioload in the tank. Puffers because of their messy eating habits, and discuses because of their heavy food. Where puffers needs at least 50 % water change a week (which I think is too little), discuses needs 10 % a day or 30 % every other day, especially while they are still growing. Keeping two so sensitive fishes together spells trouble IMO.

I am not worried about bioload at all, as I mentioned before, its a bigger tank - 240gallons, overfiltered, heavily planted, understocked, with 25% automatic water changes throughout every day (around 6% every 6 hours), all water params are ideal, as they should be with discus. If you get your discus at the right place (good breeder/importer) and care for them well, they are very hungry, and are very quick to get their food. Discus are not slow if they need to, and can outswim a puffer easily, but if a puffer decides to nip fins, there is nothing to stop him from doing it.
My main question is - what would be the best puffer to try to keep, without him destroying my shrimp population or nipping at discus - so far it seems like the SAP is the best choice for this, but I dont want to do it if everyone here thinks that he will definetely be aggressive, but if some have tried it and it worked then i will give it a shot. Also, temps in tank at 84-83, is that too high?

Keep the replies coming please, as they are appreciated!

[apachepufferman]

I agree with pufferpunk my sap is in my community tank and i have never seen him look twice at a fish my dwarf puffers are the nippers and they stopped doin that after a while. What kind of snails do you have? Are they the ice cream cone snails(malaysian trumpet snail) if so then there shells will be to hard for the sap to crack open and he won't even bother with them. Thats whats in my tank and i saw him try one once and when it didn't break i havn't seen him try again.

I would think that anything above 80 is to high for the puffer.I have kept my tanks from 75-78 and i found that my fish are more active and look healthier at 78. since its summer the tanks have gone to 80 by themselves and they still seem ok but anymore than that and I would get a little worried.

[cobra1713]

temp should be that big of a deal my gsp's tank gets to around 82-83 in the summer and he seems fine. i mean i try and get it down below 80 but i dont think the temp doesnt hurt

[Pufferpunk]

The other thing is that few if any puffers like the temperature of the water the discuses should live in.

Thanks for pointing that out--I didn't even consider temp. Discus tanks are best kept at 86 degrees (that's what mine is). Unfortunately, I syphoned my cute lil SAP during a WC & didn't notice until the next day.

[cobra1713]

oh i thaught they were supposed to be kept at 82-84 didnt realize it was 86 i guess that could cause a problem in the long run.

awww thats bad luck with the SAP, poor puffer =(

[Ntino]

Most of the snails are MTS.
My tank temp is 83-84 due to it being a planted tank. discus do just fine in lower 80s. Its a community tank, I have many other fish in there, so 83-84 is the highest temp will get, its even abit lower than that at night.

[apachepufferman]

Most of the snails are MTS.

then i dont' think a sap would be the best fit for you for the snail problem. they are a cool puffer to have though....maybe a puffer with some loaches.

[Ntino]

So SAP cannot eat MTS...?!

[Troender]

So SAP cannot eat MTS...?!

The problem is that MTS has so hard shell that the puffer could break its teeth on it. And that would definitely be a problem for the puffer.