The Puffer Forum

Hello *waves*
Imma newb, not to fish, but the form.
And I've been clicking through the pufferpedia, and I didn't really come to anything conclusive..just want other opinions, I guess. Some outside knowledge or ideas.
I have a 75 gallon FW tank.
In which has a baby Medusa Pleco, 12" Gray/Senegal Bichir, 10"+ Channel Catfish, and a couple gourami's (gold and opaline, to be precise. I'm thinking a pink-kissing would be great, as they get a bit bigger), and all the little rosy reds, ghost shrimp, and a few small crayfish for foodz.
But my heart is yearning is for something bigger than a couple inches, something with substance, to be swimming through the tank. Like a "gem", the main show, etc. I don't want a bunch of big cichlids or something, bleck. Just -one-...something. Like maybe 6-8" long..
And then I thought "Geez, I wonder if there's any FW pufferfish...I LOVE Puffers!"

And zomg, there is
But my research is showing that nothing has the size nor swimming level that I'm looking for. This saddens me a great deal.
Is that ALL the FW puffers? Are there any BW Puffers that can be kept in FW, since I do have slightly brackish water (or I think so, I'm honestly not sure what classifies as Brackish..I add salt...the reccomended dose for FW, plus another half dose, since I read that juvi Channel Cats prefer it), but would that be acceptable? I dunno, just a thought..no need to get all >:O at me, not saying I will or anything. Asking if it's possible.

Are you using marine salt or aquarium salt?

South American puffers are freshwater, that may work. For slightly brackish water, Figure 8 puffers are great.

Um..Aquarium Salt. Yeah, this stuff: http://www.petguys.com/-317163011060.html

Ah, and look what I found on complete accident, hehe http://www.aquariumcenter.biz/store/pro ... FFER-FISH/

Thanks

Brackish puffers can't tolerate tanks with just aquarium salt, and any FW puffer in the size range you are considering will kill everything in the tank. Besides, the channel cat alone is way too much bioload for the tank, you're talking about a fish with a 30+ adult size... Mbu puffer scale, so 500+ gallon tanks.

Read this thread, Ryverrat explains the difference between Aquarium and Marine Salt.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14647&p=149739&hili ... lt#p149739

It is an old wive's tale that there is a "recommendeed" amount of salt to use in FW tanks. There really are no FW puffers of the size you are looking for that will be "nice" to the rest of your fish. If you really want a puffer, I'd start a new tank just for it. Many of us here have multible tanks for that reason.

You could get a few SAPs and although they are not as large as you want, they are schooling fish so they would stick together and give that "main show" effect that you want. They are also quite peaceful so you could keep them with the fish you have in there. Although, the fish you have in there are quite large as Nick said so the bioload is very large. You really need to get another tank if you want puffers or upgrade the one you have so there is enough room for all those fih plus puffers. And like others said the aquarium salt you are putting in won't be doing anything.

I think the channel cat would eat the SAPs.

Oh Yeah in that case I guess you will have to get a new tank (that's no bad thing though is it)

channel cat fish would defently eat the SAPs so i dont recommend it.

dmill82 wrote:channel cat fish would defently eat the SAPs so i dont recommend it.

Actually, he wouldn't.
I've raised this guy from a little 2", and he's surprisingly tame.
I honestly believe he knows whats to be eaten, and what's not, as he's never made a move on any of my gouramis, or, back when i had them, tetras, hatchets, etc.

The only thing he ever had a problem with, was my bichir, who is also large. A little nip to let him know that that corner of the tank was HIS hiding spot and it was over.

I would never recommend a channel cat for a home aquarium...
trouble makers in my book

ive had catfish from 1" and they were fine with all kinds of fish but there natural instinct kicked in when they got to about 11" and before i knew it,it was to late.
they could have eaten alot of my fish when about 4" long as alot were quite small but he did not for some reason,but that change out of the blue so you can never tell, as all fish can be very unpredicterble.
1 day its all good but they can change anytime,just coz they seem happy it dont mean they wont turn out snappy.