The Puffer Forum

I have a 20-gallon tank with 4 dwarf puffer fish.

I was wondering if I could get an F8 with them or will the tank be overcrowded.

my biggest worry is that the dwarf puffer fish will be too aggressive with the f8 and kill him.

Not only is your tank fully stocked, no way would I mix puffer species, especially FW & BW species. Be happy your 4 DP are getting along & enjoy their antics!

aw shucks.. that's what I was thinking.

these dwarf puffers always go hiding in my java moss or in my other plants... i was wondering how long does it take for a dwarf puffer fish take to develop... i'm hoping my dwarf puffer fish will get a little bigger.

Is it heavily decorated? What's your M-F ratio?

Yeah it's heavily decorated and planted - currently pushing 5 hrs of co2 a day for my plants to grow

and ... maybe i need to do more research but i'm not sure... lfs said i have two pairs and every morning i can see that two pairs are always near each other.. i have heavy java moss when they do decide to breed (not sure when they do )

Well I just seen this post and I actually have a 40 gallon with five dwarf puffers and two Figure 8's going on to close to a year now never had an issue at all they all get along and the F8's I got have been raised freshwater everyone says you have to put them in bw or they will die or be un-healthy but i did a lot of research and found that there is a lot of fish keepers that keep F8 in strictly fw the thing is I did get all of them as young juveniles I've read you'll have much more success if you raise them together from juveniles to adults all of my puffers are healthy,active and get along the dp do chase each other around mostly the males with the bigger females but nothing to serious all of my puffers have amazing colors nice and bright especially the bigger F8 they are my pride and joys if they need salt water in there life's they have not showed it but if I do see any decline in there health or eating habits then I will do my duty as there owner and put them in bw but so far no sign of slowing down they have big appetites I feed them black worms and snails they show me there appreciation by showing off those amazing colors. so much detail in the patterns that's what attracted me to these puffers.At first I thought puffers were not up my alley because they require salt water but my fish guy told me that these F8 were all raised freshwater I don't know if they got them from a breeder that breeds these guys or got them from the wild I still have not heard of anyone successfully breeding F8's in captivity I know to breed them then yeah you must put them in salt water but I say do it my man get you a Figure 8 but ask if there F8 come from a breeder or a farm and if they transition them to salt water at all if so then you might not have good luck keeping it in straight few but you will need a much bigger tank I think that is the reason for my success hope you have fun with your puffers they are amazing and fun to watch I'm gone

^ About the above post. It goes to show how puffers have different personalities. I had my Figure 8 in a 55g tank all by himself and decided to add 3 Dwarf Puffers to his tank thinking is large enough and he won't mind them. Well, the Dwarf Puffers all disappeared in a few days. So, for the new guys reading this: Just because it worked for someone else, it doesn't mean it will work for you.

Triple F wrote:Well I just seen this post and I actually have a 40 gallon with five dwarf puffers and two Figure 8's going on to close to a year now never had an issue at all they all get along and the F8's I got have been raised freshwater everyone says you have to put them in bw or they will die or be un-healthy but i did a lot of research and found that there is a lot of fish keepers that keep F8 in strictly fw the thing is I did get all of them as young juveniles I've read you'll have much more success if you raise them together from juveniles to adults all of my puffers are healthy,active and get along the dp do chase each other around mostly the males with the bigger females but nothing to serious all of my puffers have amazing colors nice and bright especially the bigger F8 they are my pride and joys if they need salt water in there life's they have not showed it but if I do see any decline in there health or eating habits then I will do my duty as there owner and put them in bw but so far no sign of slowing down they have big appetites I feed them black worms and snails they show me there appreciation by showing off those amazing colors. so much detail in the patterns that's what attracted me to these puffers.At first I thought puffers were not up my alley because they require salt water but my fish guy told me that these F8 were all raised freshwater I don't know if they got them from a breeder that breeds these guys or got them from the wild I still have not heard of anyone successfully breeding F8's in captivity I know to breed them then yeah you must put them in salt water but I say do it my man get you a Figure 8 but ask if there F8 come from a breeder or a farm and if they transition them to salt water at all if so then you might not have good luck keeping it in straight few but you will need a much bigger tank I think that is the reason for my success hope you have fun with your puffers they are amazing and fun to watch I'm gone

WOW!!!
.........two periods and a comma
WHY???
welcome to the forum

1 year in the possible 20+ years a F8 can live, doesn't say much. As a matter of fact, pretty sure they won't even see 10.

Triple F wrote:Well I just seen this post and I actually have a 40 gallon with five dwarf puffers and two Figure 8's going on to close to a year now never had an issue at all they all get along and the F8's I got have been raised freshwater everyone says you have to put them in bw or they will die or be un-healthy but i did a lot of research and found that there is a lot of fish keepers that keep F8 in strictly fw the thing is I did get all of them as young juveniles I've read you'll have much more success if you raise them together from juveniles to adults all of my puffers are healthy,active and get along the dp do chase each other around mostly the males with the bigger females but nothing to serious all of my puffers have amazing colors nice and bright especially the bigger F8 they are my pride and joys if they need salt water in there life's they have not showed it but if I do see any decline in there health or eating habits then I will do my duty as there owner and put them in bw but so far no sign of slowing down they have big appetites I feed them black worms and snails they show me there appreciation by showing off those amazing colors. so much detail in the patterns that's what attracted me to these puffers.At first I thought puffers were not up my alley because they require salt water but my fish guy told me that these F8 were all raised freshwater I don't know if they got them from a breeder that breeds these guys or got them from the wild I still have not heard of anyone successfully breeding F8's in captivity I know to breed them then yeah you must put them in salt water but I say do it my man get you a Figure 8 but ask if there F8 come from a breeder or a farm and if they transition them to salt water at all if so then you might not have good luck keeping it in straight few but you will need a much bigger tank I think that is the reason for my success hope you have fun with your puffers they are amazing and fun to watch I'm gone

Have you got really hard water? I would be interested to know your kH, gH and pH readings.