The Puffer Forum

Soooo... I have been "tipped off" that we have some Ceylons in my LFS which I'm gutted about because I held out for one for sooo long before giving in to mickey's charms!
My question is...these Ceylons are approx' 4-5inches, I was wondering whether anyone would advise against me "buddying" up Mickey and el.Ceylon (got a ~75UKgal cycling)...and seeing as the new guy would be slightly bigger than Mickey, would this work or would Mickey go to town?<please bear in mind that Mickey lives quite peacefully with a couple of catfish that are bigger than him>

Also... what's the difference between UKgallons and USgallons?!if any?

1 UK gal = ~1.2 US gals. So your 75 UK gal tank is 90US gals. Remind my off Mickey's size again? I have heard of ceylon's and GSP's being kept together, but remember that fish personalities differ. If the Ceylon is WAY bigger than Mickey I'd advise against it. If you decide to do it, be sure to add them to the 75 at the same time. Are the catfish freshwater? What SG is Mickey in now? I'd think that a 90 US gal is a fair size to avoid aggression/territorality issues.

Cheers for the promptness (promptity!!!)
...Mickey is around 3.5-4inches and from what I've been told by my spy, these Ceylons are 4-5inches.
All are brackish... Mickey is to be rehomed anyway(don't feel that a 25UKg is really large enough for him to be happy/entertained enough) and so I'll leave the catfish where they are low-end.
I am oh-so-gradually raising the SG...currently at 1.010.

Well, I have a much larger Ceylon sharing space with 2 much smaller GSP's - and by much smaller, I mean Gulliver in the land of Lilliput. No problems thus far...and not even a winkling of any issues that I can see.

I find Ceylons to be more mild mannered than GSPs...although I have never had an aggressive GSP either.

I have also housed similarly sized GSP's and Ceylons and never had any issues arise.

Provided the tank is large enough, and it sounds like it is - I would give it a try. Worse comes to worse, you may have to separate...but hopefully it won't come to that.

I definitely think it could work. Of course, with puffers, you just never know. As CFP said, Ceylons are more mild-mannered than GSPs, so it might be better to get the larger ones. I put a 1/2 sized Ceylon in w/my adult GSPs & it did fine too.

Wow,
a thread where someone is actually considering putting something together with something else that might work. Usually anytime someone posts asking "Can I keep my puffer with..." it's always "NO, and your puffer shouldn't be in a tank that small anyway"
Nice to see someone asking about something reasonable for a change

Thanks for your input all... I will be having a look at the ceylons on Friday, so I'll keep you posted...
...I'm a puffer addict

Ceylons and GSPs are likely to be the two most closely related puffers that we keep, and they do overlap habitat in the wild. Given adequate tank size and care and early/careful introdution, both will coexist with conspecifics, so it is not a surprise to me that they will also coexist with the other species.

PP ran her mixed GSP/Ceylon tank for years without puffer conflict.

I had just put two small 2" GSP's in with my 5" Ceylon and the Ceylon nipped and bit at one of them and left the other alone. I pulled them out for now and will try again when they are bigger.

My Ceylon seems to be moody though. I had a Bumblebee Goby with him for 4 months before I found it bitten in half one morning!

Fish have personalities too so you just never can tell!!

If you want to keep them all together, you could try pulling out the Ceylon for a while & redecorating the tank. Let the GSPs find their own territories (a week or 2), then reintroduce the Ceylon.

So there is hope that somewhere down the line when i finally find a healthy GSP i might be able to put him in with my ceylons. I'm hoping to move my two into a least a 29 Gallon tank soon if not a 40 long if i can swing the stand space.

I've pondered trying to put a knight goby with mine but i'm not sure how they would take to it. But i'm quite excited to read that a GSP might work when i get a larger tank

Jason

You will need a larger tank than a 40 for two adult ceylons, but I'm sure you know that! I think your puffers would do well with a gsp down the line. Good luck! Keep us posted.