The Puffer Forum

Hi I'm new to the forum, i'm about to buy my first puffer and found my way here will searching for tips and advice. I'm setting up a 55g 48x12.5x20 and I'm trying to decide on which puffer to get. It's going to be fresh water, and my LFS has Fahaka, Hairy, Spotted and Figure 8. I like the Fahaka the best, then the spotted, Figure 8, and the Hairy last. I'd prefer to stay away from the brackish setup, but not against it.
Any advice would be wonderful!

I'm going to be running Bio-wheel HOB filters a Pen 350 and an Emp 280
Substrate will be pool filter sand.

Hey welcome. I am a newbie here too so the pros will be coming to answer soon. Here is a gallery of fresh water puffers and their requirements.
ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Freshwater/?g2_GAL ... 2268f31c71


Also here are some brackish puffer fish just to get some idea of what kind they are.
ug.php/v/PufferPedia/Brackish/

Welcome tot he forum!!

Fahaka .. nope tank too small
Spotted? Is that the Green Spotted? They are Brackish water to full marine
F8 .. they are light brackish.
hairy will also fit and if full FW

Fahaka puffers grow to be a foot and a half long; a 55 gallon aquarium is less than half of what one needs to survive. Green Spotted and Figure 8 puffers are brackish water fish that will NOT live to see their full lives in freshwater. The hairy puffer would work, though. They're hard to find, too; I think having one would be cool.

Yes, i keep leaning towards the hairy puffer. If it's there when I go to purchase the Puffer i'll most likely grab him. Idk where you all live, but if you're in DFW where would be the best bet to find a South american or a Brown?

F8s are cool, and the SW level is very mild.

If I had a 55 to set up, Id got with 3 F8s. Next would be the hairy. Enless you wanna go full marine at some point then Id go with the GSP

I like the idea of having 3 F8's plus the wife thinks they are "super cute" IF i go that route what would be the best way to set up the tank as far as decor goes? I was going to do some rocks but keep it pretty simple. Do i need to break up the tank into territories? fake plants?

At the SG that F8s like, there are even some live plants you could try. I suggest a lot of decor to prevent fighting or stress. I'm a big fan of caves(or any other good hide) because the puffers can completely hide if they want. I use fake skulls for this purpose.

I use real ones. They were starting to pile up in my basement anyway.

Would Mangroves do well in brackish or do they need to be full marine? I should prob create a ghost shrimp/ snail nursery too huh?

sevenyearnight wrote:I use real ones. They were starting to pile up in my basement anyway.

+1

My choices:
library/puffers-in-focus/fig8/

library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

Personally, I love my GSP, but if you don't want to deal with a lot of salt it might not be a good option. I kept several freshwater setups before going salt, and honestly, it's not that much more difficult (just expensive).