The Puffer Forum

Hello everyone this is my first post on this forum and hopefully not my last. I have recently cleaned my 20 gallon aquarium and it is sitting empty in my bedroom, something I am not comfortable with lol. I would like to get either a Figure eight or a GSP pufferfish. I know nothing about brackish water aquariums but have successfully kept freshwater aquariums since a kid. I work at a LFS so obtaining these amazing fish will not be problem but I cannot decide on the F8 or the GSP. I would love to have a species only tank with mutiple puffers in the aquarium. So I guess my questions are:
1.) How many puffers could i put in my 20 gallon? I want them to be happy and healthy so if only 1 can be kept that still will be fine.
2.) If I wanted to just get 1 puffer could I perhaps get some tankmates for the little guy such as bumblebee gobies?

Thanks for all your help.

LoL I just went thru this myself not too long ago ^.^

1 figure eight puffer can go in there. GSPs should be in 40+.

Not sure about the bbgs. I never put any in my tank, but I did put nerite snails in there. I would put the bbgs in the tank first, then get the puffer though. The puff needs to be coming in on their territory, and not the other way around.

You could do like 2 dwarf puffers in there, if you can get a male and two females, but they are strictly FW.

Welcome btw!! It's so exciting!!

Goldie's suggestion would be good. But out of curiosity, since u work at a lfs whats your recommendation when someone comes along asking for advice for these great fishes? I absolutely mean no harm.. just curious.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Yeah If i were to get the bbgs i would put them first as I am well aware of fish and their territory issues lol. I was thinking around 4 or 5 bbgs and one figure 8 pufferfish and of course some snails for the puffer and the occasional ghost shrimp.

It is only my second week at my LFS and thankfully I work with a lot of knowledgeable people that give great advice to our customers; and like I said I have been keeping freshwater aquariums since I was a kid, granite I am only 19 years old and in college but I consider myself to be far from a beginner on fishkeeping so I could answer the customers question to the best of my abiity however, my LFS is one of the best in the area and we keep our fish in the best of conditions so when our customers ask about the fish we keep if one person does not know the answer i can promise someone else does.

Its my dream to work at a lfs! Owning one would be even better!!

Working at my Lfs is the best!! The retail side is not my favorite but taking care of the fish and getting to see different species of fish every single day is the best and it's my dream to open up my own store also!

AJ_37 wrote:Thanks for all the advice guys. Yeah If i were to get the bbgs i would put them first as I am well aware of fish and their territory issues lol. I was thinking around 4 or 5 bbgs and one figure 8 pufferfish and of course some snails for the puffer and the occasional ghost shrimp.

It is only my second week at my LFS and thankfully I work with a lot of knowledgeable people that give great advice to our customers; and like I said I have been keeping freshwater aquariums since I was a kid, granite I am only 19 years old and in college but I consider myself to be far from a beginner on fishkeeping so I could answer the customers question to the best of my abiity however, my LFS is one of the best in the area and we keep our fish in the best of conditions so when our customers ask about the fish we keep if one person does not know the answer i can promise someone else does.

I was told that you could get away with 2-3 bbgs, but I don't know if I would push 5. Puffer bioload is massive, and that would be way over stocking a tank IMO. I just upgraded my F8 to a 36 g bow front because it's bigger, the water quality is higher in the long run, and it's something he can grow in to and not grow out of. After having Luau (F8) in a 20 for almost 6 months, I do not believe a 20 gallon is big enough for 5 bbgs and 1 puffer, heck, I didn't even think it was big enough for just Luau, and he's the only fish in the tank.

The reason I want the F8 is because they are just such a personality filled fish. I love them and the gsp. Everytime I go up to their tank at my Lfs they greet me with excitement and look like they just wanna play lol, I love them!! However the dwarf puffers do the same thing, if I decided to get the dwarf puffers how many could my 20 handle? I'm thinking about purchasing a 10 gallon and having a trio (1 male, 2 females) and giving the F8 his own tank. He would be able to live his whole life in the 20 gallon correct? If not I will just give the 20 gallon to the DP's.

If you wanna do a couple F8's or a GSP look for a 29-55G aquarium as they would love it in one of those and let your DP's have the 20G! You can get them on Craigslist for dirt cheap! I once got a 55G complete setup for 100 bucks!

sgtmyers88 wrote:If you wanna do a couple F8's or a GSP look for a 29-55G aquarium as they would love it in one of those and let your DP's have the 20G! You can get them on Craigslist for dirt cheap! I once got a 55G complete setup for 100 bucks!

Too bad he isn't in my neck of the woods LoL. I am in the process of upgrading from a 60 to a 90. Going to put the 60 back on craigslist LoL

Oh man you got my head spinning on this one .

+1 to the above