The Puffer Forum

ok I've been schooled

but aren't most cichlids top and middle feeders? a lurker might be ok ... I would worry more about the bottom feeders. Just a thought...

Not really. You are correct that chiclids are middle to top feeders but the lurkers usually attack from below, even with threats.

There are absolutely no puffers other than a single fahaka, you will be happy with in a 150g tank. Lurkers grow to 6" tops & that's really going to be a waste of space in a tank that size, since they would be the only fish in there. How about getting a fahaka puffer alone in there? Lots of personality & they grow to 18".

Just pointing out that Green Spotted Puffers are brackish anyways, not fresh.

One of the commonest breeding strategies in Cichlids is substrate spawning. Does that tell you something about where to look for the fish? And then there are all the mbuna, who guard territories of rocks or slabs, and the Many tangs who are equally surface -attracted - some of those act almost like some SW fish - orienting themselves to the nearest solid surface, not to the water surface.

Folks who consider Cichlids not bottom dwellers have not kept them other than in highly mixed (and frequently incompatible) tanks. Kept in numbers where they can behave normally, you may just find that most are bottom dwellers. The fish up in the water column are the ones who could not stake out a territory. They are all "targets".

Dad .. we've borth been schooled! haha I am learning so much!

Thank you RTR!

Hi
i'm in a similar situation. we're thinking seriously about buying a mbu puffer for our new trigon 190 tank. we currently have small tropical fish, platys, tetras, plec, few bottom feeders, i can't remeber what they are called, again small fish, and a male and female fighter fish. will these fish be o.k with the mbu? any other advice on keeping the mbu would be appreciated! we want to make sure that we do it right. and keep it healthy and well especially as the one we've seen costs £95. thanks

Please do not double post. Please start a new thread next time.

I started one for you here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20907&p=221259#p221259

As Dadof4 has stated, the medium to large freshwater puffers generally do not get on along well with tankmates. Certainly, any of the lurker types should be assumed to be both territorial and piscivorous, a poor combination when keeping them with tankmates.

Yes, you sometimes see some of the African riverine puffers with tankmates, but this seems to be very much a personality thing, with some specimens (perhaps the females) being quite tolerant, while others (perhaps sexually mature males) being very hostile, to the degree they even bite the fishkeeper. One of the issues with the freshwater puffers is that the males guard the eggs, something that marine puffers don't do. Just like cichlids and gouramis, the males are territorial and protective, and while a useful behaviour in the wild, that makes them dangerous tankmates in aquaria.

The smaller freshwater puffers are perhaps easier to keep with tankmates because their territorial requirements are proportionally smaller. Carinotetraodon irrubesco in particular seems to be a fairly good companion for fish smart enough to keep out of its way. Medium sized midwater barbs and tetras, large danios, loricariid catfish and so on seem to work well. On the other hand, at least some Carinotetraodon, for example Carinotetraodon salivator, are extremely belligerent, and need to be kept on their own.

The South American puffer is unique among freshwater puffers in that it doesn't protect its eggs, and consequently exhibits no territoriality at all. Groups of them work particularly well, and this offers both colour and activity. Up to a point they can work tolerably well in mixed species tanks. Although not aggressive, they are fin-nippers, so tankmates have to be limited to fast-moving, alert species. Bleeding heart tetras and glassfish are two species I've found work reliably with them. Nocturnal catfish such as plecs also work well. But anything stupid or slow, like Corydoras or platies, will get nipped. Surprisingly perhaps, dwarf South American and West African cichlids seem to get along fairly well with SAPs. While the cichlids occasionally get nipped at first, the cichlids soon learn to return the favour, and a sort of balance exists between the two species provided the cichlids have suitable hiding places on the bottom and the SAPs can move freely at the top of the tank.

As others have mentioned already, your existing collection of fish is well thought out. I've seen bichirs stripped of their fins by Malawian cichlids foolishly placed alongside them. Fire eels are notoriously delicate fish, and need a very clean aquarium to do well, ideally with soft sand rather than gravel, and certainly no abrasive rocks that could scratch them.

Cheers, Neale