The Puffer Forum

Ok I have a 120 gallon planted "Community" tank so to speak. The tank mates right now are a poly senegal, poly delhezi, poly ornate, African Brown Knife, Black Ghost Knife the biggest fish is 7 inches but my biggest will get 20" in a year or 2. Anyways would there be a puffer that would be fine in my tank and "get along" with the others. The puffer size would have to be at least 4 inches. Thank you

Hi and welcome to the forum. There is no puffer that is safe, full stop. All are potential killers. On a side note your tank is already quite likely overstocked

bertie 83 wrote:Hi and welcome to the forum. There is no puffer that is safe, full stop. All are potential killers. On a side note your tank is already quite likely overstocked

Agreed...

Of the puffers, I have so far had short term success with a Figure 8 puffer, bumblebee gobies, and mollies. That is a brackish tank though and something along those lines would have to be a second set up, not your current tank.

I don't see how 6 fish is an over stocked tank when I have a duel overflow wet dry sump system and a 400gph canister filter going. Also a puffer wouldn't be able to hurt my fish beside my brown knife. I would be more worried about the puffer getting injured. So you guys don't recommend any puffer then.

nope not in your tank

To elaborate a bit more, let me give couple examples of the most commonly sold puffers (commonly sold = ones I've seen frequently near me in Michigan) and why they won't work.

Incompatible because of water...

Figure 8 - needs brackish water
Green Spotted - needs brackish up to marine salinity water

Incompatible because of fish size/tank size needs...

Mbu - gets 20"+
Fahaka - gets 12"+
Red eye puffer - only up to ~2" so a possible snack if a bichir gets cranky
Arrowhead or Congo puffer - lurks and could bite one of your knives or bichirs if it mistakes them for food, or possibly get mistaken for food/picked at itself since it's in the same bottom area as all your other fish

Also for the previous four you have the issue of the puffer getting too much of the food (mbu/fahaka) or not enough (the last two species).

So whats wrong with the fahaka? 12" is to much and I noticed you left out SAPs.

LOL, Fahakas are vicious killers, biting plecos 4x their size in 1/2! Saps are still nippers & need constant dentistry work. It would be difficult to feed them 99% snail diets with all those other fish in there.

Snails are not a problem my other fish couldn't careless about snails in the tank. Plus I live in Florida I can set up a breeding tank for snails no problem. So that didn't really answer my question lol are saps OK? I like the look of them and how active they are and I read that their teeth need to be trimmed twice a year or so if they have plenty of snails to crush and keep their teeth in check (sort of). I would really like to finish my tank up with a puffer if possible. I'm not worried about someone trying to pick at my other fish that are bottom dwellers and will get much larger than a sap I don't believe the puffer would be dumb enough to pick on them. I've read that puffers are some of the more intelligent fish.

Most puffers need special prepared food. Especially FW. It's not like throw in some pellets or flakes and call it a day. With all the rest of the fish in there, it would mean the poor puffers do get their proper food during g feeding time. Especially smaller FW species.

Saps will ignore the crunchy food and eat the soft stuff, a bichir would likely be irresistible. The black ghost knife is for aquariums over 150g, trust me you are overstocked. You cannot add tank volume by over filtering, it's about space for exercise and establishing territory etc.

The birchirs will definitely grow large enough to eat a SAP.

Those legs would also be irresistible for a puffer also. Either way not a good mix

Polylover wrote:Ok I have a 120 gallon planted "Community" tank so to speak. The tank mates right now are a poly senegal, poly delhezi, poly ornate, African Brown Knife, Black Ghost Knife the biggest fish is 7 inches but my biggest will get 20" in a year or 2. Anyways would there be a puffer that would be fine in my tank and "get along" with the others. The puffer size would have to be at least 4 inches. Thank you

I once considered this a long time ago, but all my research from other people's experience show bad experience. Now you can:

1) trust these answers on this thread
2) research other people's experience for each species of puffer you are considering (just like I did)
3) try it, possibly spend a lot of money and time making sure everyone in this community is eating well & healthy (this is a huge PITA), and possibly killing some fish due to incompatibility

Good luck with your community tank and thanks for posting a good question.

bertie 83 wrote:Those legs would also be irresistible for a puffer also. Either way not a good mix

WTF are you talking about legs for????


Terrance- I think I may just build up my 55 gal back up and make it a sap tank. Thank you for your advice.