The Puffer Forum

are there any puffers in lakeTanganyika? If not is there a good puffer that can be keep in a tangayika tank?

There are rumors of mbu puffers in Tanganyika, but they don't seem to be thriving in that environment as the population is teeny. That plus needing a 1000 gallon tank makes them a poor choice of puffer for a tank with other fish.

There are puffers that do well in hard water, but I would not mix puffers and cichlids. The cichlids might end up without fins or the puffer might get out competed for food and starve... either way not a happy outcome.

yea that true about fins and out competed for food but how about fast aggressive fish and hand feeding the puffer. can you also tell me a puffer that are good in hard water

Fast fish doesn't matter, puffers are stalkers and even fast fish have little hope if a puffer decides to make a snack out of it. I personally wouldn't recommend any puffer for a community tank.

The only freshwater puffers that do okay with tankmates are usually the dwarf puffer (which are too small for a big cichlid tank) and the south american puffer, which is from the amazon and may not be good in hard water.

The lurkers will eventually bite other fish... even ones bigger than they are. They usually go for the fins or eyes. I'd also worry about them not getting enough to eat (unless they took it out of your other fish.)

Irrubesco and lorteti puffers are listed on pufferlist as being okay up to a ph of 8.0 and are small and (fairly) mellow... I'd worry they are too small and mellow for a tough cichlid tank. A "mellow" cichlid tank, like dwarf cichlids or shellies might be okay with these guys, but you'd have to keep a careful eye out and be ready to separate them if needed. They also tend to like lots of plants, but I've found cichlids tend to tear them up and they can drop the ph a bit if you are not careful.

Personally, I'd never mix the two. Both are awesome, but have way different temperaments and needs.

thank you all for the info. it realy help me and my wife we just wanted to try having a puffer with are fronts. we also have aggressive fish tank. But i guess we cant get a puffer but thank you guys again

The only freshwater puffers that do okay with tankmates are usually the dwarf puffer

I have to disagree w/that. DPs are rather snippy & have been known to take fin-rides on fish 10x their size!

Pufferpunk wrote:

The only freshwater puffers that do okay with tankmates are usually the dwarf puffer

I have to disagree w/that. DPs are rather snippy & have been known to take fin-rides on fish 10x their size!

I totally agree with that. I have seen DP's attack huge adult discus which must have been 100 times bigger than the tiny DP. Despite their size they are fearless and seem to enjoy fights and fin nipping.
I have experienced limited success in keeping SAP's in community aquariums. But even that has a potential risk in the long run..

Ditto on the DP front, my two canibals have attacked and/or killed fish and snails MUCH larger than themselves, and much faster moving.

I know, I know... I was making a gross generalization. I should have added a "sometimes" in there.

I too have seen dwarf puffers go after huge fish. I've also had some luck keeping some Endler's with them (they even left the fry alone)... and I've had great luck with otos and amano shrimp so far, but with puffers, milage may always vary.

But I have had a dwarf puffer in a community tank and he was a darling... but he was also the sweetest puffer I'm met. (I really miss him, he was my favorite puffer ever!)

I cannot think of any puffer that would work with frontosa chilids... not worth risking these beauties! Sorry shinobi69. Puffers _are_ worth getting another tank though

Any links to info on this tanginyika puff? I'm a bit of a tanganyika fanatic, by far my favorite tank and about to get (another) upgrade in size... a puff would be cool to go in the present one, its 330 litres and already has the chemistry set up

http://www.pufferlist.com/puffer/freshpuff.php?puffid=8

http://www.fishbase.com/Summary/species ... esname=mbu

Mbu have been called some of the most beautiful and intelligent puffers around. They also get huge and need at least a 1000 gallon tank (about 3,785.4118 liters)! I've seen video of a medium sized mbu breaking mussle shells with one chomp... these blokes could eat apple snails like M&Ms!

Fishbase says "Africa: widely distributed in Lake Tanganyika and the Congo basin." I've also heard they are not that common in Tanganyika and may not thrive there. I'd love to read more myself!

A bigg'un then.... buggerit....