Stars & Stripes

[Sion]

I have a Stars and Stripes puffer (Arothron hispidus) for 1.5 years now...Penelope ( I just decided she was female;) is getting big! She grew from 2 inches to 10 inches! I have her in a 100 wide style (4 feet by 2 feet for big fish to turn around in ) gallon marine tank with a Picasso Trigger. I got them at the same time and they tease each other and sometimes bite but not so much now that George is the smaller fish.

I am wondering about upgrading. The pufferlist.com didn't have info on my fish. I need to know what size tank I need for her maturity which I am estimating at 15 inches soon.

Right now I have an oversized (for 150-200 gal tank) bio filter system that keeps the food bits in control and lice coral for decor and crshed coral for substrate.

Also can I put a S*S with a Dogface?

[trekenk]

My Star's and Strips grew to about 17 inches so as far as tank size goes the bigger the better. This all depends on the amount of room you have and the $$$ you want to spend. I have kept a dog face and a stars and stripes together but you must exercise caution as every fish is different. It is not the dog face to worry about as they tend to be very meek and mild where as the stars and stripes can be very intimidating to them. Mind became best buddies but this is only one situation and again you have to consider an ever larger tank size to accommodate both of them.

[trekenk]

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Mek0ng]

I would figure a 6'x2'x2' tank would be good for them, I would highly recomend even in a tank of that size to have a very good skimmer, no HOB stuff, I wouldnt even consider a coralife super skimmer, thoes fish are gonna put ALOT of organics in the water so go with a AquaC EV or Euro-reef or PM or something of that caliber.

In a FO like that I would have minimal rock work and consider going barebottom if it doesnt bug you not to have substrate. The more open it is the easier to clean yet you still need to have caves for them to sleep in and feel protected. If you insist on haveing a substrate, keep the crushed coral to the absoulte minium depth as it will really trap all the waste in the tank. You should be able to find some cheap live rock, $4 a lbs or less, no need for fancy LR with thoes fish. Even with the live rock I would keep the wetdry and just make sure it doesnt clog.

I think if you are gonna get a S&S, you might want to consider a bigger than 6'x2'x2' tank, possibly a harlquin tusk might be a better fish as it wont pick on the others.

Good luck!

[Sion]

Mekong, I already have the S&S and a Trigger in a 100 gallon tank I was wondering if I upgrade to say a 200-300 gallon tank if I can add a dogface.

[Pufferpunk]

Are you sure all those fish will get along?

I love the harlquin tusk! It's got blue teeth!

Puffer List is working on upgrading the SW section.

[TREKEN]

[trekenk]

If you have the room for a 200-300 gl and you don't mind the extra work of multiply water changes to keep on top of thinks I don't see a problem. As I stated before I have kept a dog face and stars & stripes together for many years but I would really keep an eye on things when first introducing the dog face (or better still introduce them all to a new tank at the same time). My dog face and stars and stripes became best of buddies (remember each situation is different) I don't know about the Picasso Trigger as I have never keep that one with a dog face.

[Arothron Junkie]

Congrats on Penelope... any pics?

Sounds like she is outgrowing her home soon. Size guidelines are similar to other arothrons of similar size. If you have the $$$ to go bigger something in the 200-250 range will do the job. As always, bigger is better if your budget will tolerate it.

With dual puffers keep an eye on water quality. You can pay up front for more filtration w' less water changes or start buying stock in Instant Ocean....j/k Seriously, they eat alot and poo more.

Triggers are one of those things that look okay on paper but when triggers go bad, (when, not if - in most cases) they can really do damage. If they have grown up from 2-3" size together it will be less of an issue. However, if you introduce a dog face that the trigger doesn't "know" it may be more hostile towards the new arrival. That behavior may encourage Penelope to be similarly hostile towards the new dog face.

As usual, when putting a new critter in an established system you may want to rearrange the hiding places a bit to put everyone on more even footing.

Substrate...you can honestly go to your aesthetic preference but functionally less is more. Less to clean, less to trap waste from the skimmer, etc.

Hope this helps...Lee