The Puffer Forum

can you keep two dogface puffers together? same size obviously.

its not recommended, and you would need like a 200+ gallon sized tank. so unless your planning on a mini ocean to keep aggression down i wouldnt

p90ade wrote:can you keep two dogface puffers together? same size obviously.

I have owned a Stars and stripes and porcupine puffer in the same tank with no problems, yrs ago. I have seen some smaller ones at the lfs but never the same species in the same tank though, just different species together with no problems. But I would not chance it though. Btw, I saw a small dogface puffer and a small purcupine puffer at a lfs here the other day. The dogface made me want to set up another saltwater tank again and buy him

Chris,

how long did you keep those two types together? most puffs are aggressive, especially as they mature. im not saying its not possible given two passive puffers, but the majority of the time it wont have a good outcome. your looking at fish that live into the teens, so unless someone can provide documented care and conditions to the T over 10+ years i would say that combo would have a bad outcome

jus85411 wrote:how long did you keep those two types together? most puffs are aggressive, especially as they mature. im not saying its not possible given two passive puffers, but the majority of the time it wont have a good outcome. your looking at fish that live into the teens, so unless someone can provide documented care and conditions to the T over 10+ years i would say that combo would have a bad outcome

My Stars and Stripes and porcupine was very laid back and never did bother any other fish in the tank and got along just fine together. Well they where alittle smaller though. Stars and Stripes grew to about 5" and the porcupine puffer was about 4" before I sold them because of the move my wife, our newborn son and I had to do. I sold everything I had at the time. But I have seen larger saltwater puffers in the same tank together on youtube. Never the same species though. I also seen a large (about a good 15") Stars and Stripes puffer at a lfs in the same tank with triggerfishes and afew others. They all looked good with no battle scars or wounds. But I have also had a porcupine puffer that bout killed a blue throat trigger yrs ago. So I think it has alot to do with each one of the puffers. I think saltwater puffers are more kicked back and get along with all the other fishes in the tank then Brackish and FW puffers.

Chris,

Just babies the stars and stripes and porcupine were so that explains why you didn't yet have any aggression. Fish at the LFS aren't usually in tanks together for long and haven't had to chance to claim the tank as their own so you can't go by what you see at the LFS. Bottom line in order to possibly keep a couple of large salt water puffers together you would need a very large 300 gallon tank and a plan B in case all of a sudden one day you do find them turning on each other. Which does happen more than not as they mature.

trekenk wrote:Just babies the stars and stripes and porcupine were so that explains why you didn't yet have any aggression. Fish at the LFS aren't usually in tanks together for long and haven't had to chance to claim the tank as their own so you can't go by what you see at the LFS. Bottom line in order to possibly keep a couple of large salt water puffers together you would need a very large 300 gallon tank and a plan B in case all of a sudden one day you do find them turning on each other. Which does happen more than not as they mature.

Not the ones that I had yrs ago but you can see them together in a 55 gal....lol. Yeah do agree if and a big if they do get big then there could be a problem with the two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOVO9zIg ... re=related

did you see the care of those fish? thats not how you want yours. and those puffs will be dead in a few years if it even takes that long. not only are they in a 55, but they are getting live food because they are housed with a lion fish. also a big no no. basically that guy is doing nothing right and you should never get your examples from youtube. only other puffer keepers on this site. they are the only real knowledgeable ones, reliable and some known worldwide in the fish keeping world. so you can listen to a guy on youtube whos water has a slight cloud to it and over stocked or you can listen to the people here and get the best advice to let you enjoy your fish

I beg to differ about YouTube users. Yeah there are alot of stupid people on YouTube but many members from these forums are YouTube users also. MFK and alot of their members are also YouTube users. So I would watch what I say about YouTube because you are talkin to alot of them. More then you know

Btw, agree keeping them much longer in a much much larger tank. Most saltwater puffers are less aggressive (afew are pretty aggressive compare to the next one though) compare to many of the brackish and FW puffers. Trails and errors! But just saying it can be done and many has more then one saltwater puffer in the same tank for many many. They do it all the time. Its a 50/50% chance just like most things in life.

Also, I don't own saltwater anymore. Yeah I join this site to share my experience with the puffers that I had over the yrs and enjoy listening to others and their experiences also. This looks like a great site and good members. I did not come here to start an argument. Just my opinion on a subject. Nothing wrong about disagreements though, just being human Btw, Them Eagles looking good this year.

Chris,

p90ade, Sorry about all that arguing about keeping 2 saltwater puffers in the same tank together. You see we all have our disagreements on the subject. Now about adding 2 saltwater puffers (same species) in the same tank, is a very bad idea. It would probley end bad for both puffers very fast.

Chris,

trekenk wrote:Just babies the stars and stripes and porcupine were so that explains why you didn't yet have any aggression. Fish at the LFS aren't usually in tanks together for long and haven't had to chance to claim the tank as their own so you can't go by what you see at the LFS. Bottom line in order to possibly keep a couple of large salt water puffers together you would need a very large 300 gallon tank and a plan B in case all of a sudden one day you do find them turning on each other. Which does happen more than not as they mature.

True, true, I will agree with there. As anything matures they do tend to get alot more aggressive. Mainly taking it out on the same species or related species.

Chris,

Co-housing fish when young, especially in tank situations where they cannot and will not ever be mature fish due to lack of space and upkeep/management is not any sort of valid example IMHO. To me it is an example of one of the commonest problems in this hobby. Unfortunately sites such as MFK serve to promote just such practices, and so does much of the material on YouTuube.

That sort of "example" shows me nothing that can be reliably reproduced when the subject fish are properly housed and managed.

Been there, done that, but I did learn better. Someday I may get up the nerve to write up my first puffer tank - but it did last for years and I am afraid that too many folks would think that it would be fine for them. It was horrible for the fish, but they did survive it.

RTR wrote:Co-housing fish when young, especially in tank situations where they cannot and will not ever be mature fish due to lack of space and upkeep/management is not any sort of valid example IMHO. To me it is an example of one of the commonest problems in this hobby. Unfortunately sites such as MFK serve to promote just such practices, and so does much of the material on YouTuube.

That sort of "example" shows me nothing that can be reliably reproduced when the subject fish are properly housed and managed.

Been there, done that, but I did learn better. Someday I may get up the nerve to write up my first puffer tank - but it did last for years and I am afraid that too many folks would think that it would be fine for them. It was horrible for the fish, but they did survive it.

(as always!)

RTR wrote:Co-housing fish when young, especially in tank situations where they cannot and will not ever be mature fish due to lack of space and upkeep/management is not any sort of valid example IMHO. To me it is an example of one of the commonest problems in this hobby. Unfortunately sites such as MFK serve to promote just such practices, and so does much of the material on YouTuube.

That sort of "example" shows me nothing that can be reliably reproduced when the subject fish are properly housed and managed.

Been there, done that, but I did learn better. Someday I may get up the nerve to write up my first puffer tank - but it did last for years and I am afraid that too many folks would think that it would be fine for them. It was horrible for the fish, but they did survive it.

Yeah I should had picked one of the much larger marine tanks with the two different species of marine puffers for my example from YouTube, my bad.

Chris,

FADE2BLACK_1973 wrote:p90ade, Sorry about all that arguing about keeping 2 saltwater puffers in the same tank together. You see we all have our disagreements on the subject. Now about adding 2 saltwater puffers (same species) in the same tank, is a very bad idea. It would probley end bad for both puffers very fast.

Chris,

think i have started something lol,
looks like ill stick to one then, or maybe a pair of tobies?