The Puffer Forum

I have a freshwater 40 breeder setup, and my current wet pet jumped ship and I found him on the floor. I've been trying to think of a replacement fish and I realized my favorite fish by far has been the dwarf puffer I had in college. I was hoping you guys could give me some good suggestions on a relatively active freshwater puffer that could fit well in a 40 breeder for life. My current tank is planted with hardy plants and has peace lilly roots hanging from the top. I think it would have plenty of cover for a puffer.
I've also been in the process of raising Marmorkrebs in a twenty gallon, so they'd already work great as a feeders for a puffer.
I've been checking Pufferpedia, but it looks like 4-8" puffers are highly inactive. Is there an active one out there?
I have some history of keeping puffers, I've kept dwarf puffers, and I setup and cared for a green spotted puffer solo marine tank for my college for a year till someone else took over.

Kind of a waste for any FW puffers... How about moving up to BW, for a GSP?

I would, but I'm a huge fan of planted filtration. My 40 breeder is essentially run off planted filtration, which keeps tank maintenance relatively low for me. I'd love a GSP, but I'd rather stick to fresh and not have to worry about getting all the equipment that goes along with doing salt. I've kept saltwater tanks for my college, but never purchased the necessary equipment for myself.

If you're that set on an active freshwater puffer the first one that came to my mind was the South American Puffer.
library/puffers-in-focus/sap/

They do need a diet thats very high in hard/shelled foods (breeding snails could provide a large part of their diet) because their beaks grow quickly. They are also likely to need their beaks trimmed so I would suggest looking into that as well and make sure you'd be comfortable with their care. I just know that information from what I've read here, I haven't kept them.

The problem with keeping the SAP is they are very active swimmers, requiring a long footprint, rather than the wide one of a breeder-style tank. Also, they prefer to live in groups.

I would prefer a solo fish, and the beak growth kind of scares me. How hard would it be to find a hairy puffer? I know they're not active, but they look friggin adorable.

Pufferpunk wrote:The problem with keeping the SAP is they are very active swimmers, requiring a long footprint, rather than the wide one of a breeder-style tank. Also, they prefer to live in groups.

I knew they were active fish and liked groups (wasn't sure quite how many was best though honestly) but had always heard that a 40g has a good footprint. Even at 3ft long, that wouldn't be considered adequate for the SAPs? Not questioning of course, just curious.

It hasn't been a puffer I've looked too much into because of their dentistry needs, just read some info/threads on them on occasion, and that not being something I would be comfortable with.

Since yo plan on decorating heavily with plants, a single hairy puffer could work nicely in there. Also, they are not known to be burrowers, so they shouldn't disturb the substrate much. I'm not too sure where you'd fine one.

Hmm, found one on aquabid, but it was for 65.00. I forgot puffers tend to be pricey. I might have to lurk around the freshwater sub-forum some more to get some ideas