The Puffer Forum

I ordered an Monotrete Baileyi guys/girls. I know tankmates are unlikely but has anyone ever kept a Baileyi with tankmates successfully?

Let me just say -- I used to have my Baileyi in a tank with a divider, and on the other side of the divider was a small Congo puffer. Obviously I hadn't put the divider in correctly and that night, the divider twisted enough for the Congo to get through. Everything was fine when I went up for a shower, but when I came down, I didn't see my Congo, and I didn't know the divider had twisted until I started looking for my Congo. My heart sank when I seen the divider twisted ....and then I found my Congo. She was sitting on top of the filter, and I thought maybe my Baileyi hadn't seen her, but when I went to net her out, that's when I seen the horror of it all. The Baileyi had bitten out her entire belly!!! It was absolutely horrible and heart-breaking for me. I felt so guilty for moving the Congo into that tank (I was preparing for the arrival of my turgidus puffer, hence the move).
So that's just a little idea of what a Baileyi can and will do if anything wanders into it's tank. I certainly would not try putting anything in with a Baileyi, unless you want it dead.

Aside from all of that, I think you will be very happy with your Baileyi. Get some earthworms, mine goes mental on them!

Ok I definetly wont risk putting something in there unless I want it to be food. I'm Sorry to hear about your Congo puffer. These puffers are vicious little creatures.

Besides the night crawlers, what are some other things you feed your Baileyi?

Well before we discovered earthworms, which is now all she wants to eat, I had been feeding her mussels. She would very occasionally take a piece of shrimp, but mainly only seemed to like mussels. I'm glad that she's onto the earthworms though because mussels are high in thiaminase, which isn't good. But she goes absolutely ballistic for the worms! Never seen her so motivated in all the time I've had her.

MachMe wrote:I ordered an Monotrete Baileyi guys/girls. I know tankmates are unlikely but has anyone ever kept a Baileyi with tankmates successfully?

did you order from Grey, I think that I am going to go with one of each ...

I hope not in the same tank. And yes I did. Great guy to deal with. However, I think I got his only or last hairy puffer.

MachMe wrote:I hope not in the same tank. And yes I did. Great guy to deal with. However, I think I got his only or last hairy puffer.

arrg, I hope he has more.

You don't think they will work in my puffer tank:

Tetraodon miurus, Congo Puffer
Colomesus asellus, South America Puffers
Tetraodon palembangensis, Dragon Puffer
Tetraodon erythrotaenia, Red-striped Toadfish
Tetraodon biocellatus, Figure Eight Puffer

Definetly not unless you have dividers and the tank is 250+gallons. Do you have all those puffers in the same tank? If so, I highly suggest you move them ASAP unless you want to wake up to some dead puffers. Most puffers are loners except for MAYBE your SAP and Figure 8. The SAP and the figure 8 can be kept with the same species. I had 2 figure 8s with 3 gobies and they killed all my gobies in a week. I would recommend a same species tank for those two if you must and I dont mean the F8 and SAP in the same tank. Otherwise the Miurius and Palembangensis need to have a tank to themselves.

My Hairy puffer is very aggressive. Sometimes she will see her reflection and puff up or try to stare it down. The only two tank mates she has are two ghost shrimp in a 40gallon. I was hoping she would eat them but she just watches them play in the bubbles.

it was sarcasm

I'd toss a fahaka, mbu & porc in there for good measure...

That's cool! Not in my eyes but that's cool.

MachMe wrote:That's cool! Not in my eyes but that's cool.

I thought that you were joking around with:

MachMe wrote:I hope not in the same tank ....

Because everyone isn't a nOOb and my profile lists:

Tetraodon miurus, Congo Puffer
Colomesus asellus, South America Puffers
Tetraodon palembangensis, Dragon Puffer
Tetraodon erythrotaenia, Red-striped Toadfish
Tetraodon biocellatus, Figure Eight Puffer

So either I am doing something right with that setup or have them in seperate tanks.

You could have just stated they were in separate tanks. Folks never know--we've seen worse!

Ha ha I was just joking with the thats cool thing. I love being sarcastic.

MachMe wrote:Ha ha I was just joking with the thats cool thing. I love being sarcastic.

You'd do well over here in England, MachMe, they love sarcasm too and are very good at it! (No offense to the English, I love you guys!)