I recently acquired five dwarf puffers for my community tank. They tend to hide a lot and are well-camouflaged, but when I do see them I love them! They do not seem to squabble among eachother, maybe because they are still young and it is a 400L intense planted aquarium. I have some concerns with the feeding, though. I will quote and article from your site which describes my problem:
Anyone who has kept a Puffer knows that they are not the fastest swimmers in the world. They float around more like a blimp than a torpedo. What does this have to do with keeping them with tankmates? It presents a problem during feeding time. Fish that move much faster than Puffers are often able to consume the majority of the food before Puffers are able to get their share. This is especially true for some of the smaller Puffers, such as C. travancoricus (Dwarf Puffers). To compensate for this inequality in feeding, owners will often overfeed the fish in order to allow the Puffers to get enough to eat. The result is an excessive nutrient load in the aquarium from leftover food rotting in the tank. This situation can lead to algae problems, or even a crash of the tank, and could kill the inhabitants
What is the solution? How can I provide food to my pufferfish that is not eaten by my other (fast) aquarium inhabitants before it reaches the cute mouth of my pufferfish?
Some of us take the obvious way out and do not keep puffers in mixed tanks. But then, I don keep mixed tanks in any case in the common sense of "community" tanks either.
imho puffers should be kept in a species only tank. It will be a matter of time before they start bullying the other fish in the tank, yes even larger ones
RTR wrote:Fahakas do not have tank mates, they may have swimming food reserves.
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles
+1, the solution is not to keep them in community tanks at all. You're really gonna feel sorry for the other fish in there when the puffers get comfortable & start nipping them to shreds...
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
+1 to above I have tried this it will only work for so long I would advise getting another tank ready as even large fish will be seen with a dp hanging on to their fins. Not pleasant
It's amazing how easy maintenance is. If done regularly and thoroughly
