A dutchy starting out with puffers

[Dutchy]

Hi there to all of you,

My name is Harm and I am from the Netherlands. In the past I had several aquariums with fresh water shrimps so I have some experience with fresh water set ups and nitrate sensitive fish. As an avid homebrewer I know my way around specific gravity, hydrometers and such so I do not feel any hesitation starting a brakish tank.

Now the day has come that I have gotten myself a son recently so I am looking to pick up a hobby that I can enjoy at home. I am thinking of setting up a new aquarium and have always wanted pufferfish. As an avid homebrewer, I build myself a bar with a tap; I am thinking to make a cutout and incorperate a aquarium. A 95-104cm aquarium would fit, meaning a 180L ready to go aquarium or a custom build with more height; raising it to 55cm will easily bring volume up to 200 or even 220L give or take. Perhaps you guys have thoughts on this?

So now is the time! I will slowly and carefully work my way towards this; gathering all the info I need along the way.

I am undecided about the species. So far I have been thinking about:
- Pea puffer; large group of 8; sounds like fun however i am put of by the little size; afraid the tank wont be as lively and the beauty of the animals doesnt show if your nose isn't up against the glass.
- F8 puffer; group of 3 or 4 seems te be the middle of the road in about anything.
- SAP; group of 3 or 4, sounds like the most friendly but lot of teeth trimming
- 1 Green spotted (GSP), 1 sounds like not a lot; is my aquarium lively enough? It has to steal the show, size and appearance absolutely amazing in my opinion. But absolutely no tank mates.

What are your thoughts? I want a lively and active tank (when the lights are on), a tank that also non-aquarists enjoy, decent maintenance (some maintanance is ok, but not like daily), managable feeding (affordable/easy eating/not two or three feeding times a day).
Hopefully I can learn a lot from you all!

[Pufferpunk]

I think since this tank will be lower than normal eye level you are correct about peas.
A low-end brackish tank for F8s can have several tankmates.
If you go SW with the GSP, you could possibly add a tomato clownfish. As singletons though, the puffer is quite personable.

[Dutchy]

Hi there.
Thanks for the welcome.
I must say the more I read about the amazon/sap the more I feel for them. Yes teeth trimming sounds like a serious thing but lets face it; appart from the Peas maybe there is a fair chance that you'll end up trimming some teeth anyways.

I am thinking how I can get a group of 5-6 working and maybe add some other oddball fish like 3-4 kuhli worms or something like that. Would that work and what size would my tank be to do this correctly with some nice hiding places?

[Pufferpunk]

These articles may help with your choice:
https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldw ... freshwater