The Puffer Forum

Hello all of you!

A friend has a question: he's got a 15 cm gibbiceps and wants to know if it's possible to keep a tetraodon palembangensis with the gibbi. Tank is about 250 ltr and will be heavenly planted.

Deddo wrote: Hello all of you!

A friend has a question: he's got a 15 cm gibbiceps and wants to know if it's possible to keep a tetraodon palembangensis with the gibbi. Tank is about 250 ltr and will be heavenly planted.

Does your friend have any idea how large his Gibby is going to get? My best friend has one that went from a baby to nearly 20" in 2 years. It's in a 100 gallon that is much too small, especially for the bio load (that thing is a poop machine)

All my palembangs would have at least 'a go' at the plec.
Would you want it harrassed if not eaten?

I don't put anything in with my palembang that I don't expect to be chewed up and/or eaten.

I wouldn't put them together. No fish however robust should be subjected to the stress of nips and bites from aggressive or inqisitve puffers.

Also that size tank is not big enough to house a large gibbiceps especailly if heavily planted. Large plecs and planted tanks do not mix. The fish are not very flexible and need a lot of space to manouver. The plants will get ripped out mate!!!

The problem with a puffer is that you never know. Different puffers have different personalities. But it's always a risk putting other fishes together with a puffer. This is from the PufferPedia about palembangensis: "Not overly aggressive. Some success housing them with their own or T. suvatti." But I wouldn't risk putting it together with a non puffer, though. Or rather, I wouldn't risk putting another fish with a puffer.

And, as it's mentioned above: the tank is far from big enough for a gibbiceps. They get really, really big, and they add a big bioload to the tank. One of the LFSs around here had a fully grown gibbiceps, and you should have seen the poop hanging from it! It was more than half a meter of poop!

I wouldn't recommend anything less than 500 liters (about 130 gallons) for a gibbiceps. And if it's not fully grown yet, it will be pretty soon! I've never had a faster growing fish! Mine has tripled his size in a few months!

ok, thanks for al the info. My friend has to decide now: keeping his gibby or keep a palembang

easy choice really if they are gonna stay with that tank size