The Puffer Forum

So I have really liked having my hairy puffer and he seems happy in his 40B home but I got this idea. He needs a couple tankmates.... Im talking some cheap expendable ones like a large school of White Cloud Minnows. Now in my 40B he would eventually catch them and they would all get eaten but if I were to rehome him in my 72g bowfront, I wonder if it might work. He does not like to give chase to his food as seen by a couple of platies I raised and then fed to him. He likes to wait and pounce on them when they get too close. With the white clouds being more top dwelling and the puffer more toward the bottom, could it work? What do you think?

Fish ARE food!

I spoke with someone who had done it with a Congo and white clouds. Yeah a few go missing and you just replace them but he kept the set up for quite a while.

Lol, why ask if you only want approval

Piscivorous (if they really are - most puffers are invert eaters by choice, fish eaters if that is all that is offered) puffers do not "need" tankmates. They need good water quality and visually complex set-up.

I hope you plan on extended QT for any "temporary" tankmates. Puffers are relatively long-lived fish, don't risk their health.

TrevorA wrote:Lol, why ask if you only want approval

Not seeking approval, just seeing if it were a possibility or if any had succeeded.

RTR wrote:Piscivorous (if they really are - most puffers are invert eaters by choice, fish eaters if that is all that is offered) puffers do not "need" tankmates. They need good water quality and visually complex set-up.

I hope you plan on extended QT for any "temporary" tankmates. Puffers are relatively long-lived fish, don't risk their health.

If I do upgrade the puffer to the 72g bowfront it would allow for some really nice visual complexity beyond what I can do in the 40b. I do regular maintenance to maintain good water quality already so moving up to a 72g would even be better from the dilution of pollution standpoint. I guess I am just asking if anyone has done this. An inspiration is what Ive seen of wild cichlids in the Cenotes that share their waters with tons of live bearers. In the Aquarium it can be possible to replicate if you have the space and a fish that is not an overly aggressive hunter. I have tried this with my red isletas and platies and worked just fine. So I wonder if any have tried similar with a puffer.

I learned the hard way a few years back about quarantining fish before putting them in with established. I added two wild caught fish into my already established tank and lost almost everything. I have QT tanks available and all fish that come in are now quarantined.

I wouldn't even think about it. I got Pig some crabs for supper/company, came down the next morning to find a massive puffer and absolute carnage in the tank. Once he'd realised the crabs were in there, he'd systematically hunted down every crab, bar one, and massacred them.

Thanks for the input. Was just an idea but Scruffy is an eating machine and likely would just be a lot of treats.