Puffer compatiblity?

[diver]

I am in the process of having a custom tank made and I would really like to be able to put in a fresh water puffer. I have been reading the site and have looked at most of the different ones available. It seems like the SAPs might be something that would work in a community tank. But I would really like some input from people who have had fresh water puffers. Which if any do you think would work?

The tank is going to be 120"long x 30"wide x 30"tall.

[riggers]

Well I'm not sure, and as you probably know each puffer is different so even with SAPs you might have to keep an eye on them for a few weeks, just to be on the safe side. But yeah SAPs would be the main ones for a community tank, and to be honest the mbu is the only other I can think of that I have heard doing well in community tanks. But you can't house an mbu in there, so really I would say go with SAPs. But I'm not sure, so hopefully someone else will chime in with a correction if I'm wrong.

[riggers]

Actually I've just seen it is in inches. Sorry I thought you were saying cm, I didn't read it properly. That might be large enough for a young mbu, but you may have to upgrade at a later date. But seeing as it is custom made, you probably would rather not do that. In fact I'm not entirely sure on this, so ignore me and wait for someone else to come along.

[Myaj]

SAP's are one of the few puffers that are community compatible, in some cases. That said, they often don't have the "cuteness" that draws people to puffers. For example, they don't hover and flutter, they just zoom about. Very active fish that require high currents and a complex tank.

Another bad part about SAP's in a tank that large is they almost always need tooth trimmings on a regular basis. Trying to catch SAP's in a tank that big would be a HUGE hassle, but if their teeth aren't trimmed, they can starve to death.

What kind of a community are you looking to put together? There honestly isn't much that puffers can mingle with, the larger ones tend to eat any other fish, the middle sized ones are mostly brackish/marine, and the small ones could get eaten by bigger tankmates..

[Homer]

Although i'm not sure what you have planned for your tank, i myself am planing on getting a custom tank when i move (96in X 24in X 24in) and then maybe dividing the middle with a rock wall to house two large puffers in one tank... so maybe you could do something similar and house two big puffers / fish in one tank without worrying they will attack each other...

[diver]

Thanks for the input.

I checked out the MBU puffers but they seem like they get very large. I am trying to create a nice community setup with a cool mix of fish. So I don't really want a single fish that dominates the tank with its massive size.

Myaj I haven't quiet come to a final decision on what biotope I want to go with I am still looking at all of the different types of fish to decide on a good mix.

I will definitely be getting all the fish when they are small. So do you really think I would need to worry about an SAP getting eaten if I wasn't getting any fish that grew over say 10 inches? A large supply of snails on a regular basis wouldn't keep their teeth under control?

Any other suggestions of fish would be good too.

[Myaj]

I think, in the history of this community, there has only been one member who had SAP's who didn't need their teeth trimmed. Mine had a huge colony of MTS, pond, ramshorns and red cherry shrimp to eat and still needed its teeth trimmed every 3 months or so (mine was a little more often than average though).

Well, its not so much worrying about being eaten, but worrying about being killed.. puffers can be very aggressive fish, but they don't handle being harassed or chased very well.. they stress out easily.