The Puffer Forum

Hi there,

I have roughly a 60 gallon tank which is heavily planted with a few Apistogrammas, some dwarf coryadoras and a Betta splendens. I want to get three Colomesus asellus but unsure whether or not this is a good idea. I don't want my fish swimming about or trying to swim about with no fins!

Any advice will be greatly received.

not a bad tank size for 3. They should be happy. I haven't had a fish survive my SAP tank. At all... ever.

When I had them in a 210 they killed 3 of my 4 sharks. When I moved them to a 55, they killed a couple mollies that got in there. I think the only fish they didn't kill was a comet because it was so quick.

Species only tank for sure.

Thanks J-P.

I thought this might be the case but I was hoping that someone would tell me that they would be fine with my fish. Never mind. Maybe I need another tank????

Puffers, even SAPs, are not fish for mixed tanks. Some folks do for some periods get away with mixed tanks, but over the lifetime of the fish it is a very poor risk and really should not be done if you care about the fish. Besides all that, they need the room (water volume) themselves.

Another tank would be a great idea.

Now, how big do these get? I've read 3'' at one place, 4'' at another & 5'' at a different site....

that depends on how they measure it:

This diagram was provided by http://www.igfa.org/ That is how they measure fish. It is from X to X or XX to XX. Typically the former is accepted but the latter is easier. When you see HUGE fish measurements like 5" that is the latter.

I've never seen them larger than 3", nose to tail.

+1 to both J-P's and Pufferpunk's comments.

Minor addition: The x-x measure is commonly referred to as Standard Length or SL. The xx-xx measure is referred to as Total Length or TL. The latter is rarely used in scientific writing as preserved wild-caught specimens frequently have damaged caudal (tail) fins.

I find SAPs to be the most sissified of the entire species.

It must be the Amazon river or something, you'd never put an african cichlid with a SA.....Africa>South America...

the hawaii department of land and natural resources used the x-x when measuring fish and refer to it as the fork length

CoCoPuffs wrote:It must be the Amazon river or something, you'd never put an african cichlid with a SA.....Africa>South America...

put one of your african cichlids with a full grown cichla sp. and see who cowers in the corner or gets eaten..... kinda not cool to put down any type of fish species or the places they come from, especially without a full understanding or knowlege of either........ and to say anything is "sissified" is just rude, especially to those who love this species

volcomlifer wrote:

CoCoPuffs wrote:It must be the Amazon river or something, you'd never put an african cichlid with a SA.....Africa>South America...

put one of your african cichlids with a full grown cichla sp. and see who cowers in the corner or gets eaten..... kinda not cool to put down any type of fish species or the places they come from, especially without a full understanding or knowlege of either........ and to say anything is "sissified" is just rude, especially to those who love this species

Don't be so sensitive.

Then don't be so inaccurate. It is impossible to "rank" fish from radically different ecosystems fairly. It is also poor captive husbandry to mix fish from radically different ecosystem and of radically different lifestyles in one tank. Mixing such fish advertizes that hobbyist' lack of knowledge.

Puffers in general are not good for mixed tanks. But then, most Cichlids are also not good for mixed tanks.

Lmao! Never once did I mention mixing a tank. My only observation was that african species are more robust than sa., especially puffers. lol...