The Puffer Forum

i had a 30 gallon tank with a pleco, loaches, goldfish, and some others. i decided to convert it into a south American puffer tank. i want to get a few, i am not exactly sure how many. i got rid of all the fish in the tank except for the pleco. i couldn't bring myself to do it. he is about 7 inches long by now. i have read that SAPs are not very aggressive even though they are puffers, so i am not worried about them trying anything (that, and they are an inch long when you buy them). i do however wonder if my pleco might decide to make an extra nutritious meal out of them. does anyone here have experience with this combination of fish, and particularly, this size ratio?
also, assuming that the tank is heavily decorated, and is full of hiding spots etc, how many do you think i could get? i am willing to get rid of the pleco once they get a bit older, but i would be happy if he could stay. i have read about people putting 5-6 SAPs in a 30 gallon tank but i am not sure how credible that info is. has anyone here ever had more than 2 SAPs in one tank (this size or another)?
and last but not least. i know i am supposed to feed them snails (ramshorns as far as i know), and i know i will still have to trim their beaks once in a while but i am wondering how often i would have to trim them if i provide little or no snails. also, does anyone know about any convenient substitutes for snails? they are fairly expensive where i live, and i am afraid that i will not succeed in breeding them in the right quantities. i have heard that i could give them people shrimp with the shell on it, and that they would nibble on that. has anyone tried this?

i know that answering beginner questions of this sort is sometimes frustrating and i thank you in advance.

There is no way, no how a pleco can swim fast enought to catch a SAP. They are always moving so the pleco won't be able to catch them.

Is this a standard pleco? If so a 30 gallon tank is way to small and is most likely to cramped for a 7" pleco right now. I would rehome now so that he can continue to grow and be healthy.

I would put no more than 3 saps in a 30gallon tank. You will need a current in there because they are very active and they will need an outlet for there energy.

You will need to trim there teeth as often as they need it. There is not a set time schedule; you will see there teeth starting to get long and thats when you need to trim them. If you don' have any snails then it will be in the three to four month range for trimming I would imagine.

My SAPs completely ignore any shell on shrimp I put in the tank. It is just to big for them so they ignore it. My pleco and chinese algea eater and catfish like it but not the SAPs. I also think you would be suprised how easy it is to have more snails than you know what to do with when you start breeding them. The snails you are looking at are probably apple snails and they are the size of a walnut. You would need ramshorn snails as they don't get that large and the shells are relatively soft. Stay away from the snails that look like ice cream cones. They are known as MTS or trumpet snails. \

I hope that gets you started.

thanx for replying apachepufferman.
i am not sure what species that pleco is, i know it is about 3 years old. the tank is a bit small for him i guess, but i do not have a bigger fish tank and i can not bring myself to give him away just yet. he is just too cool. but i guess i will do it sometime soon.
do you know if i should get an air pump for the tank? i have read that i should have a current (which i will set up soon), and i already have one of those waterfall filters, but i am not sure if i should buy an air pump too...

There would be no way I'd put SAP's in a 30 gallon tank that already has a pleco in it. SAP's are very touchy fish, as are all puffers, and they won't be able to handle the dirty water from that much overstocking.

They are EXTREMELY active puffers, and a 30 gallon tank really doesn't give them a lot of swimming room. I had some in a 33xl (4ft long tank) and they used all of it, easily.

With SAP's, we say 10-15 gallons each, mind you, so you could have 2 or 3, that's with no tankmates. Since a common pleco can get over a foot long by itself and needs a 55 or larger tank, there's no way you should add SAP's with that thing in there.

This is pretty much the one species that actually prefers to be in big groups. But as was said they really require a lot of attention to their dental work, I had to trim mine every couple months.

For filtration, a bubble wand or something isn't necessary, its more personal preference. But you'll want power or cannister filters that turn over your tank volume 10x per hour, or more. So for a 30 gallon tank, you'd want a filter or combo of filters that's doing 300gph or more.