The Puffer Forum

I'm new to the forums, but I've been researching puffers on and off for quite a while now. I'm hoping to have my first puffer tank once I move to a bigger place in a few months and wanted to start planning things out... I've found answers to most of my questions on the forums so far, but I can't find any mention on what (if any) catfish/cleanup crew I could have...

Would a striped raphael catfish work well with 5-6 SAPs in a 75g tank? I like the idea of having someone scooting around on the bottom to much on leftover snail bits and add some variety without adding too much to the bioload. I'm planning on feeding 90%+ snails for the puffers while dropping bottom feeder pellets in front of the cat to ensure it gets some more variety.

Good idea or bad idea? I'm trying to avoid dentistry work if possible since I don't mind breeding snails for them. Am I risking the puffers swiping the easier catfish food and having their teeth get out of control? What do you guys think?

I think it may be OK with them, but with puffers, you just never know...
Are you aware of the SAP's requirements for regular dentistry?

I had SAPs for a couple years, and I can tell you from experience that no matter how many snails and shrimp they get, you have to do some dentistry. If you want a puffer with minimal dentistry for a 75g, you could put in a palembang puffer. If you're okay with dentistry for SAPs, mine lived with three cory cats and a bushy-nose pleco just fine. However, when I upgraded them to my 50g, they did nip at my opal spot pleco.

Yep, I'm aware of the dentistry work that SAPs are prone to needing. I'm willing to do it if the primarily snail diet isn't enough to keep it controlled, and worst case there's a fish place near me that offers dentistry services too. Given how much more active and personable it sounds like the SAPs are compared to the lurker/predator puffers like the Palembang puffer, I'm willing to put up with keeping an eye on their teeth.

That said, I've read mixed reviews on whether you can get away without dentistry work if you give them 90-95% snails, so if there's another freshwater puffer that has a personality similar to the SAPs without the dentistry requirements that can live in something around the 75g range, I'm open to it! I live near a fish store that regularly has hard to find fish types (The Wet Spot, for those familiar with them) so I'm not limited to easily found species