Advice on suitable puffers

[bristolcichlids]

I have been keeping cichlids as quite a few years and recently have got into monster fish keeping, I have a 10ft x 4ft x 3ft tank and in this tank i have the following, 2 x tiger shovelnose, 2 x red belly pacu's, 1 x redtail cat, 10 x clown loaches, 1 x jardini arowrana.
and i would love to have 1 or 2 large puffers in this set up, can you advise if any are suitable and if so how many

Regards George

[Sponge bob]

Welcome to the site.
With that big of a tank, I'm not sure how many gallons it is but if its over 1000 maybe you can keep a MBU.
With that tank and tank list, you can keep some Saps
(South American puffers)
Very cute and friendly, they do better off in groups of 2+
There community safe 99.99% of the time.

[bristolcichlids]

Thanks for the response, as i am totally ignorant to puffers at this stage, are there different varieties of South American Puffers that would be more suitable than others,
is it true puffers can excrete a poison and kill other fish?

[lilacamy931]

here is a link on the recommendation spongebob gave:

ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/C_Asellus/

Dont quote me, but I think it is only certain puffers and also your pretty safe as long as you do not eat them!

The south american puffer are right cuties, like to be kept in small groups and have plenty to look at otherwise they may pace. They do need a good supply of crunchy foods such as snails and you would need to be prepared for the fact at points in their lifes you will need to trim their teeth (have a look through the pufferpedia and current threads there is loads of information - everyone is excellent at helping )

[lilacamy931]

Also assuming fresh tank?

ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/

this is a link in the pufferpedia library that has fresh water species, each one has how many gallons you need for each puff. As they all produce a big bioload they need lots of space compared to normal fish.

If you went with the SAPs (South american puffers) the first needs 15g and then each additional 10g each.

[Sponge bob]

Thanks for the response, as i am totally ignorant to puffers at this stage, are there different varieties of South American Puffers that would be more suitable than others,
is it true puffers can excrete a poison and kill other fish?

There are only one form of SAP's.
They have poisons, when a fish bite into it and eats the whole thing the fish would die and maybe the others.
They puff up but not with big spikes like a porc.

[bristolcichlids]

porc?
i assume this is a type of pufferfish with spines

[lilacamy931]

Yep porcupine fish, they are prominent as they have @proper@ spikes that are visible, they are full marine though and soooo cute: here is the link for your information:

ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Marine/D_Holocanthus/


p.s. as far as I know all puffers have some sort of spines (known as dermal spines), some just have them more prominent than others, porcupine being the most prominent. Guess it is a bit like holding a underwater hedgehog!

[bristolcichlids]

thanks, you have all been a great help< can anyone advise of a good shop for buying puffers in UK

[lilacamy931]

I am Uk based also! Take it in Bristol? I am a beginner and learner in puffs also but have learnt some really good stuff on this forum!

This is a good site for the UK:

http://www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/default.asp

type in puffer in the search engine and select the type you want it will show you local stores that have them in stock. This was how I found my dwarf puffers after having problems getting them in my local area. I really would recommend researching the species you are after before leaping in.

Has any caught your eye?

P.s. I highly recommend a Maidenhead Aquatics if one is near you, they have been the best store I come across (where got the Dwarf Puffers) and also the only ones that have had correct information on the species they stock (at least so far!) local stores have not been so good, which is a same as nearest Maidenhead is 50 mins on average away!

[Sponge bob]

thanks, you have all been a great help< can anyone advise of a good shop for buying puffers in UK

Sorry I didn't get back, I was doing Home Work.
Well where in UK are you?I'm from America so I only know a few shops in UK.

[Myaj]

With your current stock, I'm not really sure that much could work out for you. Puffers can do a lot of damage with their big teeth, but they can not handle being stressed/bullied and often get picked on by tankmates.

I've heard the red tailed catfish will swallow anything that fits in its mouth, so that would be death for both catfish and puffer (puffer would puff up and get stuck).

I'm not too sure about the arrowana either...

I would think if you really wanted to do it, a Fahaka puffer would be your best bet (tank would be too overcrowded with a Mbu in my opinion, with the potentially HUGE fish that are already in there), but Fahakas can be more aggressive, might go after the other fish and bite chunks out of them. Anything smaller than a full grown Fahaka might get terrorized itself..

Its a tough call.. you know the personalities/aggression levels of your current fish, do you think they would harrass a new tankmate?

[splitadams]

yeah woa
you have a bunch of fish that grow MASSIVE in that tank
my boss has a rtc thats around 40 cm in a 8 foot that he reckons is only a 3rd
of its full size, and it swallows anything and everything
when he first got her said he tried to set it up in a community tank
and he came in one morning and it had eaten a bunch of fish longer then the rtc its self
same goes with the arowana, our arowana at work is the most agressive animal ive ever seen in my life
im actually frightened to feed it, it knocks lids off the tank when your trying to feed him cos its over keen
kinda gives you the feel he's trying to attack you, im surprised the 10 clown loaches are still alive.
i reckon most of the fish you have in the wouldnt give it a second thought to swollow a young puffer whole

[flash.dan]

yeah woa
you have a bunch of fish that grow MASSIVE in that tank
my boss has a rtc thats around 40 cm in a 8 foot that he reckons is only a 3rd
of its full size, and it swallows anything and everything
when he first got her said he tried to set it up in a community tank
and he came in one morning and it had eaten a bunch of fish longer then the rtc its self
same goes with the arowana, our arowana at work is the most agressive animal ive ever seen in my life
im actually frightened to feed it, it knocks lids off the tank when your trying to feed him cos its over keen
kinda gives you the feel he's trying to attack you, im surprised the 10 clown loaches are still alive.
i reckon most of the fish you have in the wouldnt give it a second thought to swollow a young puffer whole

a adult mbu would be the only optio navailable but mbus are fairly docile so would not bode well with a arrow and rtc. i would suggest giving puffers a miss

[LilGreenPuffer]

There's also the problem with a mbu's size. They grow to be as long as three feet, and they need 1,000g to themselves, due not only to their size but also to their massive bioloads.