The Puffer Forum

Hi there to all of you,

My name is Harm and I am from the Netherlands. In the past I had several aquariums with fresh water shrimps so I have some experience with fresh water set ups and nitrate sensitive fish. As an avid homebrewer I know my way around specific gravity, hydrometers and such so I do not feel any hesitation starting a brakish tank.

Now the day has come that I have gotten myself a son recently so I am looking to pick up a hobby that I can enjoy at home. I am thinking of setting up a new aquarium and have always wanted pufferfish. As an avid homebrewer, I build myself a bar with a tap; I am thinking to make a cutout and incorperate a aquarium. A 95-104cm aquarium would fit, meaning a 180L ready to go aquarium or a custom build with more height; raising it to 55cm will easily bring volume up to 200 or even 220L give or take. Perhaps you guys have thoughts on this?

So now is the time! I will slowly and carefully work my way towards this; gathering all the info I need along the way.

I am undecided about the species. So far I have been thinking about:
- Pea puffer; large group of 8; sounds like fun however i am put of by the little size; afraid the tank wont be as lively and the beauty of the animals doesnt show if your nose isn't up against the glass.
- F8 puffer; group of 3 or 4 seems te be the middle of the road in about anything.
- SAP; group of 3 or 4, sounds like the most friendly but lot of teeth trimming
- 1 Green spotted (GSP), 1 sounds like not a lot; is my aquarium lively enough? It has to steal the show, size and appearance absolutely amazing in my opinion. But absolutely no tank mates.

What are your thoughts? I want a lively and active tank (when the lights are on), a tank that also non-aquarists enjoy, decent maintenance (some maintanance is ok, but not like daily), managable feeding (affordable/easy eating/not two or three feeding times a day).
Hopefully I can learn a lot from you all!

I think since this tank will be lower than normal eye level you are correct about peas.
A low-end brackish tank for F8s can have several tankmates.
If you go SW with the GSP, you could possibly add a tomato clownfish. As singletons though, the puffer is quite personable.

Hi there.
Thanks for the welcome.
I must say the more I read about the amazon/sap the more I feel for them. Yes teeth trimming sounds like a serious thing but lets face it; appart from the Peas maybe there is a fair chance that you'll end up trimming some teeth anyways.

I am thinking how I can get a group of 5-6 working and maybe add some other oddball fish like 3-4 kuhli worms or something like that. Would that work and what size would my tank be to do this correctly with some nice hiding places?

These articles may help with your choice:
https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldw ... freshwater